The Romans and colour

Imperial Purple

Imperial Purple was a natural dye used by the Romans. The dye came from a shellfish called murex. The city of Tyr in Phoenicia was famous for producing this dye which is also called Tyrian Purple. The dye was very expensive because of the large number of shells required to make it, and the hard work it took to prepare the dye. Over 1200 shells were used to make 1 gram of the purple dye. It is said that there are hills outside Tyr and Sidon today which are solid murex shells, left overs from the production of Imperial Purple.

 

The Romans collected so many of the shells that they almost made the murex shell extinct!

Julius Caesar and Augustus, Emperors of Rome, both decreed that only the Emperor could wear purple. When Nero became Emperor, the wearing of purple and even the sale of purple was punishable by death! By the time of Alexander Severus, who was Emperor in Rome from 222 to 235 AD, all the workers who made Imperial Purple worked for the Emperor. Later, magistrates were allowed to wear togas decorated with purple ribbons.