Tyrian Purple

Tyrian purple is a pigment made from the mucus of several species of murex snail. In nature, the snails use the secretion as part of their predatory behavior to sedate prey. The snail also secretes mucus when it is attacked by predators, or physically antagonized by humans. Production of Tyrian purple for use as a fabric dye began as early as 1200 BC by the Phoenicians. It continued with the Greeks and Romans until 1453 AD, with the fall of Constantinople. The pigment was expensive and time-consuming to produce, and items colored with it were associated with the elite. The pigment was the most expensive product in antiquity – worth more than three times its weight in gold, according to a Roman edict in 301 AD

The ultimate status symbol in Rome were robes dyed Tyrian purple. The colour, named for Tyre, its place of origin, was made from the Hexaplex trunculus snail. It took 13,000 snails to produce just 1.4 grams of dye, enough for the trim on one garment. In Republican Rome only the wealthiest men, the equites, were allowed to wear it. In Imperial Rome it was restricted to the Emperor.

In 40 AD, the king of Mauretania was killed in Rome on orders of Caligula. Despite being a friend to the Romans, the unfortunate royal had caused a grave offence when he strode into an amphitheatre to watch gladiatorial games wearing a purple robe. Archaeological data from Tyre indicate that the snails were collected in large vats and left to decompose. This produced a hideous stench. Little is known about the mass production of the most highly prized "blackish clotted blood" colour. It may have been achieved by double-dipping the cloth, once in the indigo dye of H. trunculus and again in the purple-red dye of B. brandaris.

Tyrian purple may first have been used by the ancient Phoenicians as early as 1570 BC. The dye was prized in antiquity because the colour did not easily fade, but instead became brighter with weathering and sunlight. Phoenicia means 'land of purple.' True Tyrian purple, like most high-chroma pigments, cannot be accurately displayed on a computer display.

A Tunisian man has pieced together a secret linked to ancient emperors: how to make a prized purple dye using the guts of a sea snail. No historical documents clearly detail the production methods used. Production of the dye was among the main sources of wealth for the ancient Phoenicians, and then for the Carthaginian and Roman empires. Whole economies depended upon it's production. Even today the dye can cost $2,800 per gram from some European traders, and prices can reach up to $4,000. To obtain one gram of pure purple dye, 100 kg of the ill smelling murex need to be shelled.