Tyrian Purple was the most valued dye for many centuries. According to an edict from 301 AD in Rome, it cost three times more than its weight in gold. This red-violet colour was associated with wealth and nobility in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. While traces of the famous pigment were discovered by archaeologists, the way to prepare it was forgotten by the 15th century.
This dye gets its name from the Phoenician city of Tyre, which produced this colour on a commercial scale. The Phoenicians were also referred to as 'purple people' owing to their flourishing trade in the expensive colour.
According to some ancient writers, the colour looked like a deep reddish-purple hue tinged with some black colour, resembling congealed blood. According to Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer, the colour appeared luminous when viewed against the light. This dye gained fame due to its brilliant pigment and exceptional longevity.
Also, its worth came through who could wear it. Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, is said to have dyed her boats’ sails with this colour. Certain Roman emperors were known to wear this colour alone. According to some historians, any other person found wearing the Tyrian Purple colour would be put to death.
Unlike other vegetable dyes, the Tyrian Purple was extracted from the clear mucus secreted by the Murex sea snail. These sea snails belonged to three species: Hexaplex trunculus, Bolinus brandaris, and Stramonita haemastoma.
The snails were caught either manually or using baits. The mucus glands were stripped out manually using a sharp knife, whereas smaller snails were simply crushed to obtain the shade. The glands were fermented for 3 days and subjected to gentle heat processing in tinned containers. On the 10th day, a piece of cloth would be dipped in the process mixture to check whether the desired colour had developed.
It took immense labour to produce the Tyrian Purple dye. Approximately 10,000 sea snails were required to manufacture a single gram of the dye material. There are large heaps of shells at ancient manufacturing places because of mass production.
It was an extremely complicated process too. The slime of the snail did not have the dye. It had some colourless substances which would form the well-known dye under certain conditions. Each workshop protected its own recipe, and the most important techniques were never written down.
How the famous recipe disappeared
The decline started due to overtaxation that hampered the production processes. The last nail in the coffin was when the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople in 1453. It marked the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire along with the famous dye-making factories. With no workers left to guard their secret, this craft faded slowly.
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