"They have trees whose leaves possess a peculiar property; they reduce them to powder, and then strip them in water; this forms a dye or coloring matter with which they paint on their garments the figures of animals. The impression is such that it cannot be washed out; it appears, indeed, to be woven into the cloth, and wears as long as the garment itself."We are informed by another ancient writer that the pagan nations were accustomed to array the images of their gods in robes of purple. When the prophet Ezekiel took up a lamentation for Tyre, he spoke of the "blue and purple from the isles of Elishah" in which the people were clothed. This reference is said to doubtless refer to the islands of the Aegian Sea, from whence many claim, the Tyrians obtained the shell-fish,--the murex and papura, which produced the dark-blue and bright-scarlet coloring materials, the employment of which contributed so much to the fame of ancient Tyre.
Pliny the younger confirms this statement:
"The Tyrian-purple was the juice of the Purpurea, a shell-fish, the veins of its neck and jaws secreting this royal color, but so little was obtained that it was very rare and cost one thousand Denarii (about $150.00) per pound."A more modern writer in discussing a crimson or ruby color says:
"By a mistaken sense the Latin word purpurus, has been called purple, by all the English and French writers."Arbuthnot, London, 1727, in his book "Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures," as the result of his examinations of the most ancient records estimates:
"The Purple was very dear; there were two sorts of Fishes whereof it was made, the Pelagii, (which were those that were caught in the deep)and the Buccini. The Pelagium per Pound was worth 50 Nummi, (8 s. 10 3/4 d.), and the Buceinunt double that, viz. 17 s. 8 3/4 d. (Harduin reads a hundred Pounds at that price.) The Tyrian double Dye per Pound could scarce be bought for L35 9 s., 1 3/4 d."The very ancient writers state that the most esteemed of the Tyrian purples were those which compared in color with "coagulated bullocks' blood."This estimation seems to go back to the time of the Phoenicians, who were excessively fond of the redder shades of purple which they obtained also from several varieties of shell-fish and comprehended under two species; one (Buccinum) found in cliffs, and the other (Pelagia) which was captured at sea. The first was found on the coasts of the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
The Atlantic shells afforded the darkest color, while those of the Phoenician coast itself yielded scarlet shades of wonderful intensity.
Respecting the cost and durability of the Tyrian purple, it is related that Alexander the Great found in the treasury of the Persian monarch 5,000 quintals of Hermione purple of great beauty, and 180 years old, and that it was worth $125 of our money per pound weight. The price of dyeing a pound of wool in the time of Augustus is given by Pliny, and that price is equal to about $160 of our money. It is probable that his remarks refer to some particular tint or quality of color easily distinguished, although not at all clearly defined by Pliny. He also mentions a sort of purple, or hyacinth, which was worth, in the time of Julius Caesar, 100 denarii (about $15 of our money) per pound.
The best authorities of the present day, however, are of opinion that the celebrated Tyrian-purple was extracted from a mollusk known as the Janthina prolongata, a shell abundant in the Mediterranean and very common near Narbonne, where the Tyrian purple dye-works were in operation at least six hundred years before Christ.
The price current of some of the inks and colors of antiquity, as quoted by Arbuthnot, are cited herewith:
Armenian purple 30 hs.=4 s. 10 1/3 d.
India purple from one Denarius, or 7 3/4 d. to 30Denarii, 19 s. 4 1 2 d.
Pelagium, the juice of one sort fishes that dyed purple, 50 hs.=8 s. 0 7/8 d.
Buccinum the juice of the other fish that dyed purple, 100 hs.=16 s. 1 3/4 d.
Cinnabar 50 hs.=8 s. 0 7/8 d.
Tarentine red purple, price not mentioned.
Melinum, a sort of colour that came from Melos, one Nummus,=1 15/16 d.
Paretonium, a sort of colour that came from aegypt, very lasting, 6 Denarii,=3 s. 10 1/2 d.
Myrobalanus, 2 Denarii,=1 s. 3 1/2 d.
The last-named substance is the fruit of the Termi-nalia, a product of China and the East Indies, best known as Myrabolams and must have been utilized solely for the tannin they contain, which Loewe estimates to be identical with ellago-tannic acid, later discovered in the divi-divi, a fruit grown in South America, and bablah which is also a fruit of a species of Acacia, well known also for its gum.
No monuments are extant of the ancient Myrabolam ink.
Antimony and galls were used by the Egyptian ladies to tint their eyes and lashes and (who knows)to write with.
Many of the dyes employed as ink were those occurring naturally as animal and vegetable products, or which could be produced therefrom by comparatively simple means, otherwise we would not be confronted with the fact that no specimens of ink writing of natural origin remain to us.
The very few specimens of ink writing which have outlasted decay and disintegration through so many ages, are found to be closely allied to materials like bitumen, lampblack obtained from the smoke of oil-torches or resins; or gold, silver, cinnabar and minium.
Josephus asserts that the books of the ancient Hebrews were written in gold and silver.
"Sicca dewat" (A silver ink standeth), as the ancient Arabic proverb runs.
Rosselini asserts:
