
MUREX TYRIAN PURPLE DYE FULL
The heavy armed legionary seeing the near naked celt charging at him full tilt without regard to personal safety would be pretty unsettling too. JanuConagen starts first commercial production of sustainable Tyrian purple for textile dye A new era for green tech alternatives to replace petrochemical synthesized dyes. Of course it could also work the other way too. Indeed, commonly, this dye was known as Tyrian purple. Production of Tyrian purple for use as a fabric dye began as early as 1200. The process of extracting the dye is complex and labor-intensive, requiring a significant amount of time and resources. (in modern Lebanon), extracted from a type of shell fish known as Murex brandaris. Tyrian purple is a pigment made from the mucus of several species of Murex snail. Again the pyschological effect the armoured and disciplined legions had on their opponents must have been quite tremendous. The tropical sea snail that is used to make tyrian dye is the purple dye murex or spiny dye-murex), its scientific name being Haustellum brandaris (also Murex brandaris or Bolinus brandaris). Tyrian purple is an ancient and rare dye that is derived from the murex snail, which is found in the Mediterranean Sea. That's interesting to know about the armor being polished and kept looking its best especially before going into actual battle. Tyrian purple, also known as Imperial purple, was used to dye royal and ceremonial robes by the ancients as early as 1600BC. Perhaps them all wearing the same color gave a degree of uniformity that was even more intimidating to the enemy than seeing a heavily armoured legion coming at them. I figured that Roman soldier's tunics were more likely to be off white but I've also heard of the theory that Roman soldiers might have worn red.

There is absolutely no Roman armour that I know of that was blacked or blued in this way.įor detailed information on how Praetorians actually looked see Boris Rankov, The Praetorian Guardįor detailed information on how Praetorians actually looked see Boris Rankov, The Praetorian GuardInteresting. Described by Aristotle and Pliny among other ancient writers, Tyrian purple or imperial purple was a dye extracted from shellfish along the Levant coast and favoured by emperors and kings in a. Blued or 'black' seems more prevalent in some medieval manuscript illuminations because armour was often depicted using silver leaf, which looked great at the time but has tarnished to black over the centuries.

According to the Roman author Pliny the Elder, thousands of snails were needed to produce just one ounce of dye. First, the sea snails had to be harvested. The source of the dye was the mucus produced by predatory sea snails found in the Mediterranean Sea. Armour was, on the contrary, kept as shiny as possible and was polished before battle, because that was a way of emphasising it to often unarmoured opponents.īlued armour was fashionable in the late medieval period, largely because fashions come and go. The Timna analyses demonstrated that sea purple was produced from three species of murex indigenous to the Mediterranean Sea: The Banded Dye-Murex (Hexaplex trunculus), the Spiny Dye-Murex (Bolinus brandaris) and the Red-Mouthed Rock-Shell (Stramonita haemastoma). Tyrian purple dye was so costly because it was difficult to make. Hollywood also has this weird idea that armour has to be dull or dirty all the time or that segmenta was made of leather - again, see Gladiator. There is some debate over the standard colour of Roman soldiers' tunics (including those of Praetorian Guards) and general consensus is that they were white, russet red or both (red for field use and white for parade). The royal red of antiquity is named after Pupura Lapillus, the shellfish which excretes the purple dye, also called Tyrian dye. Thousands approximately 10,000 or (54 kilograms (119 lb. It is an invention of the props designers of Gladiator and has no basis in history at all. Current producers extract and harvest Tyrian purple from the murex shellfish in much the same way as the ancient Phoenicians. If (slot) slot.addService(googletag.On Roman re-enactment forums I frequent, this Hollywood 'black praetorian' armour is referred to derisively as 'Darth Vader Praetorian'.

Whelks occur worldwide, and there are several traditions of these animals being used to create a fast purple-coloured dye. (function (a, d, o, r, i, c, u, p, w, m) cal precursors of the famous dye and pigment, variously referred to as Tyrian, Imperial, Byzantine or Royal Purple.4 It should not be thought that whelk dyeing was an activity restricted to the eastern Mediterranean region. Biblical royal purple dye from snails recreated by Tunisian enthusiast - The Jerusalem Post
