The dye was produced from murex a trumpet shaped marine snail still found among rocks in the eastern mediterranean today.
How did tyre make awnings of purple and violet.
In ancient times extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labor and as a result the dye was highly valued.
Tyrian purple aka royal purple or imperial purple is a dye extracted from the murex shellfish which was first produced by the phoenician city of tyre in the bronze age.
The economy of the ancient city of tyre was partially dependent on the selling of purple dye and a number of inscriptions etched on stone proudly attest to the activity of purple traders there.
And by extracting the secretions of the seashell bolinus brandaris also called murex brandaris found on the beaches of the eastern mediterranean they could make a highly prized purple dye.
They discovered that by heating silicon oxide found in unlimited quantities in the sands of the mediterranean beaches they could make glass.
A lament for tyre 6 of oaks from bashan they made your oars.
7 of embroidered fine linen from egypt they made your sail which served as your banner.
It is a secretion produced by several species of predatory sea snails in the family muricidae rock snails originally known by the name murex.
Of wood from the coasts of cyprus they made your deck inlaid with ivory.
Vestiges of purple dye industry tyre grew rich from the sale of a purple dyed textiles that were used to denote royalty.
The main chemical is 6.
Your men of skill o tyre were there as your.
The name tyrian refers to tyre lebanon.
Its difficulty of manufacture striking purple to red colour range and resistance to fading made clothing dyed using tyrian purple highly desirable and expensive.