WORLD CIVILIZATION

Detailed explanation-1: -Tyrian purple dye was first manufactured by the Phoenicians in the 16th century BCE. According to the legend recorded by the Greek scholar Julius Pollux in the 2nd century CE, the dye was discovered by the Phoenician god Melqart while walking along the seashore with his dog and the nymph Tyros.

Detailed explanation-2: -For centuries, the purple dye trade was centered in the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre in modern day Lebanon. The Phoenicians’ “Tyrian purple” came from a species of sea snail now known as Bolinus brandaris, and it was so exceedingly rare that it became worth its weight in gold.

Detailed explanation-3: -In the RYB color model historically used by painters, purples are created with a combination of red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in printing, purples are made by combining magenta pigment with either cyan pigment, black pigment, or both.

Detailed explanation-4: -This purple was made from local sea snails found along the coast. The local Phoenicians were named Phoinikes for Tyrian Purple. The Greek historian Herodotus tells us that the Greeks first bestowed the name Phoenicians or “Purple people” because their skin was always stained by the dye.