CIVILIZATION
PHOENICIAN
|
Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
|
|
|
It had contained a liquid used for dying clothes.
|
|
|
Its shell was popular for jewelry.
|
|
|
Its smell was commonly used in perfumes.
|
|
|
It was a delicious shellfish that many people ate.
|
Detailed explanation-1: -The main natural resources of the Phoenician cities in the eastern Mediterranean were the prized cedars of Lebanon and murex shells used to make the purple dye.
Detailed explanation-2: -Production of fabric in antiquity demanded substantial labor, more so than other crafts. In the case of Phoenician purple, extracting this dye required tens of thousands of sea snails, called Murex initially. The process further demanded an army of laborers. The biological pigment was extracted from the snail mucus.
Detailed explanation-3: -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.