DYES AND DYEING - Archaeological Chemistry - page 373

Green Dyes
It seems that no green dyes were known in the ancient world. Most ancient
green-colored textiles appear to have been obtained using mixtures of dyes
having complementary colors, such as yellow and blue. Examination of
green textiles from Egypt, for example, revealed that the color was obtained
by mixing indigo blue with a yellow dye whose chemical nature was not
determined (Pfister 1935).
Purple Dyes
Two dyes were extensively used in antiquity for dyeing purple: archil and
Tyrian purple . Archil , also known as argol or lichen purple , is derived, as its
name suggests, from a variety of lichens. The best-known variety, Lecanora
tartara , grows on rocks in many Mediterranean islands. The preparation
of the dye entails a rather involved sequence of operations beginning with
maceration of the lichens, followed by oxidation of the macerated product,
and then fermentation of the oxidized solution, during which a powdery
residue is formed. The residue is archil , which is finally dried. The coloring
matter in the dye is the organic compound orcein .
Tyrian purple , also known as royal purple and purple of the ancients , was
undoubtedly, one of the most renowned and highly valued ancient dyes,
which had a high standing as a symbol of wealth and distinction. Cloth dyed
with Tyrian purple was very costly, and it seems that only royalty and priests
could afford it. The production of Tyrian purple flourished, as the name
suggests, in the ancient town of Tyre in southern Lebanon, on the shore of
the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Quite accurate information about the impor-
tance of purple in the ancient world has long been available, but only during
the twentieth century did its composition, the way it was produced, and its
true appearance become known. Although it is often claimed that ancient
purple possessed fastness and brilliance of color, purple-dyed fabrics actu-
ally had a reddish shade tending toward violet. The color that seems to have
dazzled the ancients actually fell short of the beauty of shades and tints pro-
duced by modern dyes; scientific research on Tyrian purple laid to rest a very
long accepted but unproved tenet.
Tyrian purple was derived from the “purple snail,” the common name
for what, in reality, are several species of mollusks of the genus Murex . Each
one of the mollusk species yielded a slightly different variety of purple. In
Tyre, where the most prized purple dye was produced, Murex brandaris snails
were those most abundant and generally used, while in Sidon, not far to the
north of Tyre, an amethyst purple variety of the dye was obtained from