woman painting
Tyr purple is a purple dye that was historically extracted from molluscs of the genus Murex, which inhabit the shallow waters of the Mediterranean. This ink became a status symbol in the ancient world as it was difficult and time consuming to obtain, and came to be used as a symbol of royalty because only royalty could afford it. Today, a variety of synthetic dyes are used instead, and in fact the formula and process for making Tyr purple have been lost, although some people have tried to replicate this historic dye.
The Phoenicians are believed to have been the first to dye Tyr purple in the city of Tyre, which gives this ink its name. The first references date from around 1600 a. C., and for 400 a. C., the dye “weighed in silver”, according to contemporary historians. Legend has it that the dye was developed by chance, when a dog bit into a mollusk and released the dye, sparking interest in using it to dye fabrics and cosmetics.
This shade of purple is also sometimes called royal purple or imperial purple. When you think of these colors, you probably think of a deep, rich purple with lots of blue. Tyr’s purple was actually much closer to magenta, and the raw dye looked like “coagulated blood”, according to Pliny the Elder, who wrote about the process of making this dye. This dye did not fade, an unusual feature for dyes at the time, and it did not fade.
To make Tyr purple, people had to collect thousands of clams and let them partially decompose before extracting a mucus secretion produced by the clams. This secretion was later processed in a series of steps not known today, although the site of processing appears to have affected the color of the dye, with people processing in the shade or sun for specific colors, suggesting it was sensitive to ultraviolet radiation, at least in the early stages.
This dye has not been successfully replicated, although people have created a range of colors that can come close to Tyr’s purple. Evidence shows that the Phoenicians produced everything from a crimson red to an indigo blue using Murex secretions, suggesting that a variety of processing techniques were likely used. While we can’t reproduce Tyr’s purple, the color’s fame certainly lives on.