Other resources, such as Walker, maintain that cotton was available and utilized as that fabric mentioned in the book of Esther. She cites Pasanius, who recorded the events of 480 B.C.. He writes of cotton grown in his land of Judea, noting it was yellower than Egyptian cotton.
Cotton has been found in the cloths of mummies. The word "calico" comes from Calcutta India. Women in Israel and the rest of the Holy Land have done spinning and weaving of fabrics for many centuries. Such handiwork was a gift to the temple.
The cotton plant is a bush with creamy yellow or pink flowers and the leaves are lobed like an ivy. The seed vessel will burst open and swell out with the cotton fibers.
Esther 1;5-6 R.S.V. And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the capital, both great and small, a banquet lasting for seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace. There were white cotton curtains and blue hangings caught up with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and marble pillars...
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