Purples
Purples
Purple
Fig. 302Murex trunculus
There is no reason to doubt that this color was obtained, like the far-famed Tyrian purple, from the juice of certain species of shell-fish. The dye called purple by the ancients, and its various shades, were obtained from many kinds of shellfish all of which are, however, ranged by Pliny under two classes: one called ‘buccinum,’ because shaped like a horn, found, he says, in cliffs and rocks, and yielding a sullen blue dye; the other called ‘purpura,’ or ‘pelagia,’ the proper purple shell, taken by fishing in the sea, and yielding the deep red color which was chiefly valued. Both sorts were supposed to be as many years old as they had spirals round. The juice of the whole shell-fish was not used, but only a little thin liquor called the flower, contained in a white vein or vessel in the neck. The larger purples were broken at the top to get at this vein without injuring it, but the smaller were pressed in mills. The Murex trunculus was the species used by the ancient Tyrians. It is of common occurrence now on the same coasts, and through-out the whole of the Mediterranean, and even of the Atlantic. The ancients applied the word translated ‘purple,’ not to one color only, but to the whole class of dyes manufactured from the juices of shell-fish, as distinguished from the vegetable dyes, and comprehending not only what is commonly called purple, but also light and dark purple, and almost every shade between.
Purple was employed in religious worship both among Jews and Gentiles. It was one of the colors of the curtains of the tabernacle; of the vail; of the curtain over the grand entrance; of the ephod of the high priest, and of its girdle; of the breast-plate; of the hem of the robe of the ephod, etc. The Babylonians arrayed their idols in it. It was at an early period worn by kings (Jdg 8:26). Homer speaks as if it were almost peculiar to them. In Act 10:14, reference is found to Lydia, of the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple cloth. The manufacture seems to have decayed with its native city. A colony of Jews, which was established at Thebes in Greece in the twelfth century, carried on an extensive manufactory for dyeing purple. It ultimately became superseded by the use of indigo, cochineal, etc. whence a cheaper and finer purple was obtained, and free from the disagreeable odor which attended that derived from shell-fish.
Blue
Fig. 303Helix ianthina
Blue, a color almost constantly associated with purple, is supposed to have been obtained from another purple shell-fish of the Mediterranean, the conchylium of the ancients, the Helix ianthina of Linnaeus. The Scriptures afford no clue to this color: some suppose it to be dark-colored and deep purple, but Josephus evidently takes the Hebrew word to mean ‘sky-color.’ These statements may be reconciled by the fact, that in proportion as the sky is clear and serene, it assumes a dark appearance, which is still more observable in an eastern climate. The chief references to this color in Scripture are as follows:The robe of the high-priest’s ephod was to be all of blue (Exo 28:31); so the loops of the curtains to the tabernacle; the ribband for the breast-plate, and for the plate for the miter; the people were commanded to wear a ribband of blue above the fringe of their garments (Num 15:38).
Crimson
Crimson occurs in 2Ch 2:7-14; 2Ch 3:14. This word is by some supposed to signify another kind of shell-fish, yielding a crimson dye, so called because found on the shore near Mount Carmel.
Scarlet
Fig. 304Coccus ilicis, on a branch
Scarlet, often associated with purple and blue. It is supposed to have been derived from the coccus, from which the ancients procured a blood-red crimson dye. It was the female of this remarkable insect that was employed; and though supplanted by the cochineal, it is still used for the purpose in India and Persia. It attains the size and form of a pea, is of a violet black color, covered with a whitish powder adhering to plants, chiefly various species of oak, and so closely resembling grains, that its insect nature was not generally known for many centuries. The word ‘scarlet’ signified crimson in the time of our translators, rather than the color now called by that name, and which was unknown in the time of James I. This insect is widely distributed over many of the south-eastern countries of the ancient world. It occurs abundantly in Spain, and is found on the Quercus coccifera, or kermes oak in Palestine.