CIVILIZATION
PHOENICIAN
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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A dog ate a snail and its mouth turned purple.
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The Greeks thought of Phoenicians as purple people.
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Himilco discovered it on European shores.
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Cleopatra discovered it and dyed her ship sail purple.
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Detailed explanation-1: -In Pollux’s story, Hercules and his dog were walking on the beach on their way to court a nymph named Tyro. The dog bit a sea snail, and the snail’s blood dyed the dog’s mouth Tyrian purple . Seeing this, the nymph demanded a gown of the same color, and the result was the origin of purple dye.
Detailed explanation-2: -Once the snails were harvested from the sea, the mucus glands were removed and placed in a lead pot filled with brine. The pot was then slowly heated for about ten days until the mixture turned a reddish-purple color.
Detailed explanation-3: -Tyrian purple is a pigment made from the mucus of several species of Murex snail. Production of Tyrian purple for use as a fabric dye began as early as 1200 BC by the Phoenicians, and was continued by the Greeks and Romans until 1453 AD, with the fall of Constantinople.
Detailed explanation-4: -According to the 2nd-Century Greek grammarian Julius Pollux, purple was serendipitously stumbled across by the beachcombing dog of the demigod Heracles (the Roman god Hercules), who was on his way to canoodle with a nymph when his four-legged friend paused to gnaw on a sea snail on the seashore.