Textile production in the Early Byzantine period
  The high-quality Byzantine textile was made of silk, which in the Early Byzantine period was imported in its raw state from the Far East to be made into cloth in state-controled Byzantine workshops. Textile production is documented in cities such as Constantinople, Alexandria, Tyr and Sidon. According to Prokopios, a pair of monks smuggled the first silkworm eggs into the empire around 553-554, thus making supplies more secure, although both raw silk and made-up cloth continued to be imported. Byzantine silk was decorated with woven geometric patterns, animals, birds and floral motifs. Precious and easily portable as it was, it made an ideal diplomatic gift to send with embassies to the West, where some of it was used to wrap the relics or bodies of saints, clerics and kings. Early Byzantine textile production is further illustrated by the linens and wools of Coptic Egypt. Strips and patches with woven decoration using a range of geometric motifs, schematized plants, animals and humans, were sewn onto larger pieces of plain cloth which were used as hangings or to make clothing. Large colourful tapestries display both secular and religious - pagan or Christian - imagery.