#byssus

No big deal 🥰

There are several mentions of Byssus in ancient texts but some people seem to interpret them as simply "fine material" (linen cotton or other) instead of actual sea silk. I have seen that the earliest known mention of clearly sea-silk comes from 2nd century AD from a Greek sophist writer named Alciphron and his work "Letters". To one of them which is the letter called "Galenus to Cyrton" he mentions:

καὶ πρῴην, ὅτε ἐκ Μουνυχίας ἐπέμψαμεν αὐτῶ κομιοῦντα τοὐψώνιον Ἕρμωνα τουτονὶ τὸν μειρακίσκον, σπόγγους ἡμῖν ἐπέταττε κομίζειν καὶ τὰ ἐκ τῆς ἁλὸς ἔρια, ἃ φύεται ἐπιεικῶς ἐναβρυνομένης εἰς λῆμνον Recently, when we sent the young Hermon to him from Munychia with the fish, he sent him to shop some sponges for us and the sea silk that grows in relative abundance in the lake of Eurynome

Also from a similar era a bit later from a piece of literature of a man called Tertulianus and his work "Liber de Pallio"

Nec fuit satis tunicam pangere et serere, ni etiam piscari vestitum contigisset: nam et de mari vellera, quo mucosae lanusitatis plautiores conchae comant “Nor was it enough to comb and sow the materials for a tunic, It was necessary also to fish for one’s dress; For fleeces are obtained from the sea, where shells of extraordinary size are furnished with tufts of mossy hair.”

The terms seem to be used represent, surprisingly, different materials in order to create a terminology for example ἔραίας θαλασσίας "sea wools" in Greek and lana marina "sea linen" in Latin.

A mention from Saint Basil the Great Bishop of Caesaria in Cappadocia seems to make an interesting connection between the Golden Fleece of the Argonautica and the sea silk by pinna as

“Unde pinnae auream lanam nutriunt, quam insectorum nullus hactenus est imitatus.” From that place the golden linen nourished by pinna, which no insect has ever made before

(Translation by me)

So essentially even if it is not mentioned by the myth exactly, Saint Basil seems to interpret the golden fleece like the sea silk by the pinna. The mention of the work of Procopius in Byzantine times (c.a 6th century AD) in his work "De Aedificiis" he mentions some Armenian nobles arriving to the court of Justinian wearing rich clothes that involve the sea silk

χλαμὺς ἡ ἐξ ἐρίων πεποιημένη, οὐχ οἷα τῶν προβατίων ἐκπέφυκεν, ἀλλ’ ἐκ θαλάσσης συνειλεγμένων. πίννους τὰ ζῷα καλεῖν νενομίκασιν, ἐν οἷς ἡ τῶν ἐρίων ἔκφυσις γίνεται. χρυσῷ δὲ ἡ τῆς πορφύρας κατηλήλειπτο μοῖρα, ἐφ’ ἧς εἴωθεν ἡ τῆς ἁλουργίδος ἐμβολὴ γίνεσθαι their cloaks was made out of wool but not the one that is produced by sheep but collected from the sea, I believe they are the animals called pinna from which a production (of wool) occurs similar to sheep. It is covered with color of gold or of porphyra while it was attached with a pin

(Translation by me)

The emperor Diocletian seems to mention the "sea wool" in his price catalog Edictum de Pretiis Rerum Venalium which essentially is an edict that dictates the highest possible prices for salable goods he names the "sea wool" or "sea silk" being priced 150 dinarii per italcum libra or else "roman pound" c.a 327,45 grams In today's money is hard to be estimated but that would be roughly 100 denarii would make one silver argenteus (the 1/10th of a solidus) so it would be roughly 1.5 argentei for a little over 300 grams. Of course the prices are more as a logistic value instead of actual coinage value but it is one of the pricey goods.

I am not sure if we have way too many mentions in more ancient texts and as I said the mention of the word "byssus" in ancient texts seems to be more associated with some rich garment rather than sea silk (for example Herodotus mentions it to the mummification process so most likely he speaks on good quality linen instead)

A bombshell blonde! Mollumortar the iron shell

Here's a question I bet you've never asked yourself: what gives mussels their, um, muscles? I never asked myself that question, either. But I read an interesting article recently about how mussels are able to “glue” themselves to rocks and things underwater. It all comes down to their “byssus,” and yes, “byssus” is the Word of the Day. 

A “byssus” (rhymes with “kiss us”) is a bundle of filaments secreted by certain bivalve mollusks, like mussels, which are used to attach the mollusk to a rock, or the seabed, or just about any other thing that’s handy and not moving. 

If you’ve ever cooked fresh mussels, you’ve had to remove the “beard” before cooking. That inedible beard is the byssus. 

The byssus is made up of keratin – the same kind of protein that makes up hair, nails, horns, claws and hooves among us land animals – and “polyphenolic proteins,” which are a naturally occurring biological “glue.” 

The stuff a byssus is made from is strong. Really strong. So strong that if you remove a mussel that has attached itself to a rock, you’re very likely to chip off some of the rock face in the process. 

Scientists are really interested in how the byssus adhesive works, because unlike most adhesives, the “glue” of the byssus doesn’t degrade in water. Heck, even Spider-Man’s webs dissolve after about an hour! A team of chemical engineers in South Korea has been studying mussels and their byssus (byssuses? byssi?) to try to develop an equally strong and water-resistant adhesive. 

There’s one other, lesser known use for the byssus. The “noble pen shell” or “fan mussel” (Pinna nobilis), a really large mussel native to the Mediterranean, secretes long filaments that can be harvested, spun and woven into a fabric that’s finer than silk, extremely light and warm. The popular name for it is “sea silk,” although in Chinese it’s sometimes called “mermaid silk.” 

“My grandmother wove in me a tapestry that was impossible to unwind,” Vigo said. “Since then, I’ve dedicated my life to the sea, just as those who have come before me.”

Like the 23 women before her, Vigo has never made a penny from her work. She is bound by a sacred ‘Sea Oath’ that maintains that byssus should never be bought or sold.

Instead, Vigo explained that the only way to receive byssus is as a gift. […]

“Byssus doesn’t belong to me, but to everyone,” Vigo asserted. “Selling it would be like trying to profit from the sun or the tides.”

More recently, a Japanese businessman approached Vigo with an offer to purchase her most famous piece, ‘The Lion of Women’, for €2.5 million. It took Vigo four years to stitch the glimmering 45x45cm design with her fingernails, and she dedicated it to women everywhere.