The revolution in textiles in Eretz Israel and Syria in the Middle Ages

In the wake of the Arab conquest of Eretz Israel and Syria (al-Sha'm), there was a veritable revolution in the production of and trade in textiles, as part of extensive changes and developments throughout the Near East. One such change was the great increase in commerce and the rise of a merchant class, a development in which textiles played an important role. Commerce in diverse fabrics and garments became an important economic factor. An analysis of written sources and archaeological finds shows that in al-Sha'm there was a revolutionary change in agriculture and industry, both of which adapted to the new conditions in the Near East. The raising of flax gradually disappeared in Eretz Israel, even though linen was one of the country's finest exports during the period of the Mishnah and the Talmud and was widely used in the production of clothing during the Middle Ages. Now, most linen products were imported from Egypt and other countries. Cotton growing and the production of silk very limited during the Byzantine period, greatly developed and expanded over wide areas following the Arab conquest. As a result, the cultivation of white mulberry trees, on whose leaves the silkworms fed, was also greatly increased. Cotton gradually replaced flax as one of the major crops raised in al-Sha'm. In the Fatimid period we are witness to a process of regional specialization in the production of more precious cloths out of cotton or silk. The best known of such centers, both for production and trade, were in Ramla and Ascalon. It is quite probable that facilities formerly in use for the production of linen were now partly converted to the cotton industry, while those used for the making of papyrus served to produce paper from remnants of cotton. This process was most evident in the Hula Valley and was probably connected to the fact that there were many scribes active in Tiberias.