The Expense of Purple

I know you've all heard that purple used to only be for the elite class and that it was really expensive, blah blah blah. I now know why.  From 1600 BC to the Caesars, purple dye could only be produced from--get this-- the mucus of mollusks, and took 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of dye. 

The Mollusks were only to be obtained from one place: fathoms underwater, clinging to the rocks of the northern shore of Israel, which in ancient times was the location of Phoenicia. It is fitting, therefore, that the word Phoenicia literally meant "land of purple." To learn about the difficult process of acquiring the mollusks, read here. 

In Rome, the dye was called "Tyrian purple," because the purple came from the city of Tyre, located on the northern coast of Palestine. It is this purple dye that was used in textile furnishings of the Tabernacle, for the sacred clothing for the High Priest, and for use in both Solomon and Herod's temples in Jerusalem. 

And, a note to my blog-- Emperor Aurelian refused to let his wife buy a purple-dyed silk garment, because it cost its weight in gold. Sheesh!