Murex brandaris, also known as the Spiny dye-murex

The chemical structure of 6,6′-dibromoindigo, the main component of Tyrian Purple

A space-filling model of 6,6′-dibromoindigo

Tyrian purple (Greek: πορφύρα, porphura), also known as royal purple or imperial purple, is a purple-red dye made by the ancient Canaanites/Phoenicians in the city of Tyre, from a mucus-secretion of the hypobranchial gland of a marine snail known as the Murex brandaris or the Spiny dye-murex. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1280x801, 128 KB) Murex brandaris. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1280x801, 128 KB) Murex brandaris. ... Binomial name Haustellum brandaris Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Murex brandaris The Spiny dye-murex was the mollusk species used by the ancients to produce Tyrian purple fabric dye. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1100x496, 25 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Tyrian purple ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1100x496, 25 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Tyrian purple ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1100x543, 145 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Tyrian purple ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1100x543, 145 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Tyrian purple ... This is a calotte model of cyclohexane. ... Yarn drying after being dyed in the early American tradition, at Conner Prairie living history museum. ... This article is about the land called Canaan. ... Phoenician sarcophagus found in Cadiz, Spain; now in Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. ... The Triumphal Arch Tyre (Arabic , Phoenician , Hebrew Tzor, Tiberian Hebrew , Akkadian , Greek Týros) is a city in the South Governorate of Lebanon. ... The name snail applies to most members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells. ... Binomial name Haustellum brandaris Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Murex brandaris The Spiny dye-murex was the mollusk species used by the ancients to produce Tyrian purple fabric dye. ...

The Phoenicians also made a purple-blue indigo dye, called royal blue or hyacinth purple, which was made from a related species of marine snail, called the Murex trunculus or the Banded dye-murex. Indigo dye indigo molecule Indigo dye is an important dyestuff with a distinctive blue color (see indigo). ... This article or section should be merged with Trunculus Murex Binomial name Murex trunculus Murex trunculus is a mollusc, source of the royal Tyrian purple. ...

Tyrian purple was expensive: the fourth-century BC historian Theopompus reported, "Purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon" in Asia Minor.^[1] Theopompus, a Greek historian and rhetorician, was born at Chios about 380 BC. In early youth he seems to have spent some time at Athens, along with his father, who had been exiled on account of his Laconian sympathies. ... Colophon (Greek Κολοφών; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was a titular see of Asia Minor. ...

The fast, non-fading dye was an item of luxury trade, prized by Romans, who used it to colour ceremonial robes. Pliny the Elder described the dyeing process of two purples in his Natural History^[2]: This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ... Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ...

... the Tyrian hue ... is considered of the best quality when it has exactly the colour of clotted blood, and is of a blackish hue to the sight, but of a shining appearance when held up to the light; hence it is that we find Homer speaking of "purple blood."

The ancient method for mass-producing the two murex dyes has not yet been successfully reconstructed, but this special "blackish clotted blood" color, which was prized above all others, is believed to be achieved by double-dipping the cloth, once in the indigo dye of H. trunculus and once in the purple-red dye of M. brandaris. Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ...

The Roman mythographer Julius Pollux, writing in the second century BC, asserted (Onomasticon I, 45–49) that the purple dye was first discovered by Heracles, or rather, by his dog, whose mouth was stained purple from chewing on snails along the coast of the Levant. Recently, the archaeological discovery of substantial numbers of Murex shells on Crete suggests that the Minoans may have pioneered the extraction of Royal purple centuries before the Tyrians. Dating from colocated pottery, suggests the dye may have been produced during the Middle Minoan period in the 20th–18th century BC.^[3][4] Julius Pollux (2nd century CE) was an Alexandrian grammarian and sophist who taught at Athens, where he was appointed professor of rhetoric at the Academy by the emperor Commodus— on account of his melodious voice, according to Philostratus Nothing of his rhetorical works has survived except some of their... Hercules, a Roman bronze (Louvre Museum) For other uses, see Heracles (disambiguation). ... The Levant Levant is an imprecise geographical term historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east. ... For the famous World War II battle, see: Battle of Crete For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation). ... The Minoans were an ancient pre-Hellenic civilization on what is now Crete (in the Mediterranean), during the Bronze Age, prior to classical Greek culture. ...

The main chemical constituent of the Tyrian dye was discovered by Paul Friedländer in 1909 to be 6,6′-dibromoindigo, a substance that had previously been synthesized in 1903. However, it has never been synthesized commercially.^[5][6] Paul Friedländer: Paul Friedlaender (chemist) Paul Friedländer (philologist) Category: ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...

Web colour

The true colour of Tyrian purple, like most high chroma pigments, cannot be accurately displayed on a computer display, nor are ancient reports entirely consistent, but these swatches give an indication of the likely range in which it appeared: Web colors are colors used in designing web pages, and the methods for describing and specifying those colors. ... The RGB color model is an additive model in which red, green and blue (often used in additive light models) are combined in various ways to reproduce other colors. ... Red may be any of a number of similar colors at the lowest frequencies of light discernible by the human eye. ... Green is a color with many different shades, all within a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nm. ... The term Blue may refer any of a number of similar colors. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Cyan is a pure spectral color, but the same hue can also be generated by mixing equal amounts of green and blue light. ... Magenta is a color made up of red and blue light. ... Yellow is any color of light that stimulates both the red and green cone cells of the retina, but not the blue cone cells. ... Black is not a colour. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... An image with the hue altered The hue of this Painted Bunting is adjusted over the spectrum. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Chromaticity. ... Brightness is an attribute of visual perception in which a source appears to emit a given amount of light. ... In biology, pigment is any material resulting in color in plant or animal cells which is the result of selective absorption. ...

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This is the sRGB colour #990024, intended for viewing on an output device with a gamma of 2.2. It is a representation of RHS colour code 66A ^[7], which has been equated to "Tyrian red" ^[8], a term which is often used as a synonym for Tyrian purple. The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Gamma correction is the name of an internal adjustment made in the rendering of images through photography, television, and computer imaging. ... The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 as the London Horticultural Society, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert. ...

References

See also

• Indigo dye
• Purple
• Hexaplex trunculus

Indigo dye indigo molecule Indigo dye is an important dyestuff with a distinctive blue color (see indigo). ... The term purple in its widest sense refers to a wide variety of shades of color occurring between blue and red. ... Binomial name Hexaplex trunculus Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Murex trunculus Phyllanotus trunculus Truncullariopsis trunculus Hexaplex trunculus (known as the trunculus murex, purple murex or banded dye-murex) is a marine snail that produces a distinctive purple dye, considered valuable in ancient times and often used to dye fabrics; if left in...

External links

• Silver, M. Ancient Economies I (continued), Topic V: The Argonaut Epos and Bronze Age Economic History, Economics Department, City College of New York
• Link page to external chemical sources.