Damascus: Cotton Manufacturers

Arabic: Qaṭṭānīn

Date: Twelfth to sixteenth centuries

The term, qaṭṭānīn can refer to cotton merchants, cotton carders, and cotton manufacturers. These artisans had a market in al-Fusqār, and a mosque in al-Maqsallāṭ. The cotton itself was mainly imported from Hama. Information is drawn from the work of Ibn ʿAsakir (d. 1176), al-Nuʿaymi (d. 1521), al-Hadi (d. 1503), and al-Almawi (d. 1573). See also: Cotton spinners; Cotton weavers; Silk and cotton manufacturers; Dyers.

Citation: Elisséeff, Nikita. “Corporations de Damas sous Nūr al-Dīn: Matériaux pour une topographie économique de Damas au XIIe siècle”, Arabica 3.1 (1956): p. 71.