Purple Reign

May 8, 2024 9:58 AM

A rare archaeological object – thought to be the only one of its type in the former Roman Empire – has been discovered in Carlisle, England. The remnants of the Roman bathhouse at the Carlisle Cricket Club have revealed an extremely rare chunk of Tyrian purple dye, the first of its kind ever discovered in northern Europe and possibly the entire Roman Empire. [...] Known as “imperial purple,” tyrian purple was an extremely valuable dye in ancient Rome because of its rich, vivid color, which denoted imperial authority, wealth, and status. It took a lot of resources and labor-intensive procedures to produce even small amounts, as it was made from thousands of crushed sea snails (Bolinus brandaris) from the Mediterranean. This rarity and exclusivity meant that it was more valuable than gold, sometimes up to three times as much by weight.

Fun fact: If a buyer wanted to know if there was something fishy about their exquisite dye, they could always see if it passed the smell test -- read the straight poop inside.

MeFite peeedro offers some amusing historical context from a 2019 post:

Tyrian purple dye works were famously odoriferous, as it was made from the liquid collected after thousands of crushed shellfish were left to putrefy in the sun. The rich purple producing cities of Tyre and Sidon were "unpleasant to live in" because of the smell according to Strabo even though the dye works were well outside of the cities.

But, unlike a tannery, the finished Tyrian purple cloth smelled just as bad as the process that made it. "Neither the stink nor the color is reduced by washing; perfume would have been necessary to disguise the smell, even after washing and long periods of airing." Pliny the Elder called Tyrian purple "among the most abominable of odors" and wondered how something so smelly could be highly valued. The Roman poet insult comic Martial wrote a diss track full of misogyny and antisemitism about a particular woman saying, in part, that he would prefer to smell a "fleece twice dipped in Tyrian purple" than smell her. Smelling worse than double-dipped fleece of Tyrian purple was quite the sick burn of the day.

No word on if the archaeological find at Carlisle was still a smelly one.

posted by Rhaomi (16 comments total)

Could have done without the repeat dose of ancient misogyny, but otherwise, I'm always excited to learn new things about Tyrian purple.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:09 AM on May 8 [1 favorite]

Well this is extremely relevant to my interests because I am currently reading Mauve and the author specifically gives a backgrounder that includes Tyrian purple.
posted by jessamyn at 10:11 AM on May 8 [8 favorites]

I'm wondering how something so valuable ended up in the sewer? Even if it was accidentally dropped in while making paint for the bathhouse, it seems like it would be well worth retrieving (or making a slave retrieve, most likely.)
posted by tavella at 10:12 AM on May 8

I would imagine that, if you wanted to hide something that valuable and funky, a sewer would be the perfect place to hide it. Maybe too perfect.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:20 AM on May 8 [7 favorites]

It’s still purple? … anaerobic environment for millennia, or the dye is just that good, or what?
posted by clew at 11:44 AM on May 8

"Coloring Gravity's Rainbow" suggests that "Tyrone" as in Slothrop echoes Tyrian (purple).

a-and on page 166, "Tyrian purple, alizarin and indigo, other coal-tar dyes are here, but the important one is mauve. William Perkin discovered it in England, but he was trained by Hofmann, who was trained by Liebig. There is a succession involved. If it is karmic it's only in a very limited sense..."

It's a wonderful paper, and a wonderful book, well worth reading, plus anyway today is Thomas Pynchon's 87th birthday.
posted by chavenet at 12:23 PM on May 8 [6 favorites]

my mother
always said that in her
day a purple ribbon
looped in the hair was thought
to be high style indeed

— Sappho through Barnard
posted by clew at 12:31 PM on May 8 [6 favorites]

"Who fished the murex up? What porridge had John Keats?"
posted by cyanistes at 1:23 PM on May 8 [2 favorites]

Also, I did not know that Tyrian purple stank so bad even after it was processed and used. I wonder if it was true for paint as well as cloth?
posted by tavella at 2:55 PM on May 8 [1 favorite]

This dye was also used on ancient tallitot strings (jewish prayer shawls), but.....lost to time or whatever.
posted by atomicstone at 3:25 PM on May 8 [2 favorites]

'In Israel, a 3,000-Year-Old Purple Factory
Archaeologists have revealed a major production site for one of history’s most luxurious, and smelliest, colorants.' March 5, 2024.
posted by clavdivs at 5:06 PM on May 8 [3 favorites]

@atomicstone: That's where my wandering mind went as well. Wikipedia has some delightfully erudite info, including snails, colors, tzitzit, and a history of rabbinic opinions on this and related matters.
But: there's no mention of the stench, and no explicit mention of royal purple. That, despite the info that both snails allegedly originated from the same stretch of Eastern Med from Tyre and points south. I leave it to others to connect the dots.

Harold, where are you now that we need you?
posted by Citizen Cane Juice at 7:38 PM on May 8 [2 favorites]

You too, @clavdivs!
posted by Citizen Cane Juice at 7:40 PM on May 8 [1 favorite]

Youtube video about a contemporary maker of the dye. "Making authentic Tyrian purple dye starts with extracting a murex snail gland. After a series of painstaking steps, Tunisian dye maker Mohamed Ghassen Nouira turns as much as 45 kilograms of snails into a single gram of pure Tyrian purple extract. When he's done, he can sell it for $2,700. Some retailers sell a gram of the pigment for over $3,000. In comparison, 5 grams of synthetic Tyrian purple costs under $4."
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 5:08 AM on May 9 [3 favorites]

Artificial dye has a spectrum very close to Tyrian purple, maybe identical. The real thing is only used these days for restoring ancient artifacts. Or maybe mostly used that way.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:34 AM on May 9

TIL that Tyrian purple is a simple mixture of colored indigo derivatives, that syntheses for these have been known for over 100 years, and that it is still too expensive to find use as a fabric dye in modern use. Though I also learned that there is a Chinese group who have developed a genetically-engineered E. coli that makes 6,6'-dibromoindigo (the principle pigment of the dye) in quantity starting from tryptophan.

I bet the stink reported by the ancients was an artifact of their dyeing processes, their inability to adequately purify the dye, and their inability to adequately launder the dyed items, in some combination.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 6:56 AM on May 9 [1 favorite]