Historical Data Kermes with an alum mordant dyes wool and silk a bright red. On wool, this red has a light yellow tinge and thus approaches the warm colour of the madder red. In the antique period, kermes dyeing was of great importance in the Near East and Southern Europe . The origins probably go back to the Sumerians, that is, to the 3rd millennium BC. The most important red dye known to the ancient Mesopotamians was kermes (from the Ar. girmis). It has already been surmised that kermes was obtained from the oak on the basis of philological evidence. In a lexical text, "red worm" is equated with "red drug of the thicket". Another substance, a "drug for dyeing" mentioned in a text with oak-manna, may well refer to kermes. A text from Nuzi seems to complete the evidence for the use of kermes and reads as follows: "One woman of the palace for five talents of copper, Ili-ittiya, the merchant took.
