Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T11:28:32.069Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Industrial Exploitation of Murex Shells: Purple-dye and Lime Production at Sidi Khrebish, Benghazi (Berenice)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

David S. Reese
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Since time immemorial attractive colours have held man's attention. Occasionally he has assigned to them symbolic significance, often as religious or status insignia. The various shades of reds and purples have been especially chosen; some see in them the colour of blood, the sun or fire. The presence of ochre and haematite in Palaeolithic burials may be the first instance of the high regard for these colours.

Probably the most famous red–purple colour associated with religion, status and general elitism is the shell-based purple-dye of the ancient Mediterranean, known variously as Royal purple, Tyrian purple or Imperial purple. The recent discovery of crushed purple-dye producing shells at Berenice provided a welcome addition to this field, a study which Alexander Dedekind, in the 1890s, termed “Pourprologie”.

Before examining the Berenice shells and their context a brief survey will be made of the world-wide usage of shell purple-dye, its Mediterranean origin and distribution, the basic method of production and the contemporary Mediterranean history of the Berenice finds.

Purple-dye is obtained from the hypobranchial gland found in the mantle cavity of living Murex and Thais (or related Purpura and Nucella) marine snails. The purpose of this gland is unclear, though it may be the reason such shells are avoided as food by marine life (and are thus not a useful fish bait). The dye might also be ejected by the mollusc as a defence mechanism, much like the black ink of the octopus or squid.

Type
Research Article
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 11 , 1980 , pp. 79 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I thank Dr. John A. Lloyd for suggesting I write this paper, and for providing details on the Sidi Khrebish murex deposits, though their interpretation is my own. Dr. John A. Riley kindly provided the sample from House H at Sidi Khrebish for study.

References

Amati, , ed. 1784. De Restituitone Purpurarum. Caesenae. (Detailed account of all classical passages related to the purple-dye).Google Scholar
Barker, Graeme (forthcoming) “Economic Life at Berenice: The Animal and Fish Bones, Marine Molluscs and Plant Remains.” in Lloyd, J. A. (ed.) Excavations at Sidi Khrebish, Benghazi (Berenice). Vol. II. Department of Antiquities. Tripoli. In press. I am indebted to Dr. Barker for allowing me to read his manuscript in advance of publication.Google Scholar
Berenice i, see under Lloyd, J. A.Google Scholar
Berenice ii, see under Barker, GraemeGoogle Scholar
Blanc, Alberto Carlo. 1958. “Residu di manifatture de porpora a Leptis Magna e al Monte Circeo” in Bartoccini, Renato “Il Porto Romano di Leptis Magna.” Bollettino del Centro Studi per la Storia dell' Architettura. No. 13. 1958 Supplement. Rome. pp. 187–210. 1 Figure. Plates XCIII-XCIX and C.Google Scholar
Boekschoten, G. J. 1962. “Note on Roman purple winning at Chersonisos, Crete.” Basteria. Vol. 26, Nos. 3 and 4. pp. 59–60. 1 Figure.Google Scholar
Bonacelli, B. 1931. “Le antiche risorse dei mari dell'Africa.” Riv. Colonie Ital. pp. 913–926Google Scholar
Born, Wolfgang, 1937. “Purple.” Ciba Review. Vol. 1. pp. 106–111, 124–128. Illustrated.Google Scholar
Bouchier, E. S. 1913. Life and Letters in Roman Africa. Blackwell, B. H.. Oxford. 126 pp. (purple on p. 3, 16, 107)Google Scholar
Bruehl, L. 1929. Die Rohstoffe des Tierreichs. Vol. 2. Lief 2. Berlin, pp. 358–379. (A survey of purple)Google Scholar
Bruin, Frans. 1966. “Royal Purple and the dye industry of the Mycenaeans and Phoenicians.” Societes et compaignes de commerce en Orient dans l'Ocean Indien. Mollat, Michael, ed. Actes du huitieme colloque international d'histoire maritime. Biblioteque Generale de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. Vie Section. Beyrouth, pp. 73–90. 6 Figures.Google Scholar
Coldstream, J. N. and Huxley, G., eds. 1972. Kythera. Faber and Faber Limited. London. 319 pp. 96 Figures. 88 PlatesGoogle Scholar
Colonna, F. 1616. De Purpura. Rome. (Reprinted with notes by Major, D., Kiel, . 1675)Google Scholar
Daremberg, C. and Saglio, E. 1877. “Purpura” in Dictionnaire des Antiquites Grecques et Romaines d'apres les textes et les monuments. Hachette. Paris. Vol. VI, 1. pp. 769–778Google Scholar
David, J. and Herber, . 1938. “La pourpre de Getulie.” Hesperis. Vol. 27, pp. 97–99Google Scholar
Dedekind, Alexander. 1898–1911. Ein Beitrag zur Purpurkunde. Berlin. 3 VolumesGoogle Scholar
Edey, Maitlandet al. 1974. The Sea Traders. Time–Life Books. New York. p. 61 (“The Royal Purple—and How it was Manufactured”)Google Scholar
Faymonville, K. 1900. Die Purpurfärberei der verschiedenen Kulturvölker des Klassichen Altertums und der frühchristlichen Zeit. HeidelbergGoogle Scholar
Forbes, R. J. 1956. Studies in Ancient Technology. Vol. VI. E. J. Brill. Leiden, pp. 112–144Google Scholar
Haywood, R. M. 1938. “Roman Africa.” in An Economie Survey of Ancient Rome. Frank, Tenney, ed. John Hopkins Press. Baltimore, pp. 1–119. (purple-dye on p. 24, 54, 73)Google Scholar
Jackson, J. Wilfrid. 1916. “The Geographical Distribution of the shell-purple industry.” Memoirs of the Manchester Philosophical Society. Vol. LX. Part 2. No. 7Google Scholar
Jensen, Lloyd B. 1963. “Royal Purple of Tyre.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Vol. 22. pp. 104–118. ChicagoGoogle Scholar
Jensen, Lloyd B. and Frances., 1965. The Story of Royal Purple. 400 copies privately published. Sarasota (Florida). 53 ppGoogle Scholar
Joudin, A. 1967. Les etablissements du roi Juba II aux iles purpuraires (Mogador), Tangier, pp. 253–259Google Scholar
Lloyd, John A., ed. 1978. Excavations at Sidi Khrebish, Benghazi (Berenice). Vol. I. Department of Antiquities. TripoliGoogle Scholar
Moatsou, P. G. 1932. The Porphyra. Alexandria. (In Greek)Google Scholar
Papier, A. 1879. “Des coquillage a pourpre et des anciennes usines a teinture en Afrique.” Bull. Acad. d'Hippone. No. 14Google Scholar
Parri, W. 1932. “Relitti di manufatture de porpora a Tobruk.” Riv. Cononie Ital. pp. 720–723Google Scholar
Reinhold, Meyer. 1970. History of Purple as a Status Symbol in Antiquity. Collection Latomus. Vol. 116. Bruxelles. 73 ppGoogle Scholar
Riley, John A. 1979. “The Petrological Investigation of Roman and Islamic Ceramics from Cyrenaica.” Libyan Studies. Tenth Annual Report of the Society for Libyan Studies pp. 35–41. 3 Figures. 3 PlatesGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, W. A. 1892. “Die Purpurfärberei und der Purpurhandel im Altertum.” in Die Griechischen Papyrusurkunden der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin. Berlin, pp. 96–213Google Scholar
Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth. 1947. A Glossary of Greek Fishes. Oxford University Press. London, pp. 209–218Google Scholar