i heir shape when he says (< ant vii, 5), " The hair of
thine head is like purple," meaning that tic tresses (Sept. itXokiov KE<pa\rje, Vulg. coma capitis) were tied up in a spiral or pyramidal form on the top. others Say that the word "purple" i- here used like the Latin puipureus, for beautiful, etc.. and instance the "pur- purei olores," " beautiful swans" ol Horac. . iv, 1,
Kit. and the " purpureus capillus" of Virgil (Georg 1. 405); but these phrases are not parallel. The juice of the whole shell-fish was not used, hut only a little thin liquor called the flower, contained in a while vein or vessel in the neck. The larger purples were 1, token at the top in e-ei at this vein without injuring it. but the smaller were pressed in mill- (Aristot. Hist. An. v. 13, 75; Pliny, Hist. Nat. ix. 60). The Murex trunculus lias been demonstrated to he the species used by the ancient Tyrians by Wilde, who found a concrete mass of the shells in sonic of the ancient dye-pots sunk in the rocks of Tyre (Narrative | Dublin, 1840 I. ii. 482). It is of common occurrence now- on the same coasts (Kit to, Physical History .;/' Palestine, p. 118), and throughout the whole of the Mediterranean, and even of the \llantie. In the Mediterranean, the countries iiio-i celebrated for purples were the shores of l'clo-
I i. -u- and Sicily, and in the Atlantic th. coasts of
Britain. Ireland, and France. Horace alludes to the African (Cai-m. ii, l'i. 35). There is. indeed, an essen- tial difference in the color obtained from the purples of different coasts. I bus the -lull- from the Atlantic are -aid to give the darkest juice; those of the Italian ami Sicilian coasts, a violet or purple; and those of the Phoenician, a crimson. Ii appears from the experi- ments of Reaumur and Duhamel that the tinging juice is perfectly white while in the vein: hut upon being laid on linen, it soon appears first ol a light- green color, and. if exposed to (he air and sun. soon alter changes into a deep green, in a lew minutes into a sea-green, and in a few more into a blue; thence it speedily heeomes of a purple red, and in an hour more of a deep purple red. which, upon being washed in scalding water and soap, ripens int.. a most bright and beautiful crimson, which is permanent. The ancients applied the word translated "purple" nol in one color only, hut to the whole class of dyes manufactured from i he juices of shell-fish, as distinguished from the vege- table dyes (colores kerbacei), and comprehending not only what is commonly called purple hut also light and dark purple, and almost every shade between. Various methods were adopted to produce these different colors. Thus, a sullen blue was obtained from the juice of i lie line, mum alone: a plain red. yel al-o deep and brown, from the pelagia; a dark red by dipping the wool. elc. first in the juice ol the purpura, and then in that of the buccinum ; a violet (which was the ame- thyst color so much valued by the Romans) by revers- ing the process; and another, the most valued and ad-
PURPLE
8i;
PURPLE
mked of all — the tyriamethystus — by again clipping the amethyst in the juice of the pelagia. This Pliny calls dibapha Tyria; so named, he says, because "bis tincta" (Hist. Nat. ix, 39). No reference to this proc- ess occurs in the Scriptures, but it is often alluded to in Roman authors. Thus, Horace (Epod. xii, 21): " Mu- ricibus Tyriis iteratas vellera lanae" (the wools with Tyrian purple double dyed). Other varieties of color may have been produced by the use of various species of mollusks, and of those from different coasts. The Phoenicians also understood the art of throwing a pe- culiar lustre into this color by making other tints play over it, and producing what we call a shot color, which seems to have been wonderfully attractive (Pliny, ix, 41).
Purple was employed in religious worship both among Jews and Gentiles. It was one of the colors of the curtains of the tabernacle (Exod. xxvi, 1) ; of the veil (ver. 31); of the curtain over the grand en- trance (ver. 36) ; of the ephod of the high-priest (xxviii, 5. 6), and of its girdle (ver. 8) ; of the breastplate (ver. 15); of the hem of the robe of the ephod (ver. 33); (comp. Ecclus, xlv, 10); of cloths for divine service (Exod. xxxix, 1; comp. Numb, iv, 13), resumed when the Temple was built (2 Chron. ii,7, 14 ; iii. 14). The material upon which the Jews used purple and other brilliant colors, at least in their sacred paraphernalia, seems to have been exclusively wool, which, it is well known, takes colors better than linen. See Taber- nacle. Pliny records a similar use of it among the Romans: " Diis advocatur placandis" (Hist. Nat. ix, GO; Cicero, Epist. ad Atticum, ii, 9). The Babylonians arrayed their idols in it (Jer. x, 9; Bar. xii, 72). It was at an early period worn by kings (Jtulg. viii. 26). Homer speaks as if it were almost peculiar to them (//. iv. 144: 1 Mace, viii, 14). Pliny says it was worn by Romulus and the succeeding kings of Rome, and by the consuls and first magistrates under the republic. Suetonius relates that Julius Caesar prohibited its use by Roman subjects, except on certain days; and that Nero forbade it altogether, upon pain of death. The use of it was bestowed by kings upon favorites, etc.; Josephus says by Pharaoh on Joseph (Ant. ii. 5, 7). It was given by Ahasuerus to Mordecai (Esth. viii, 15); to Daniel by Belshazzar (Dan. v, 7, 16, 29). It was the dress of an ethnarch or prince, and as such given by Alexander to Jonathan (1 Mace, x, 20, 62, 64, 65; comp. 2 Mace, iv, 38). In the last chapter of the Proverbs it is represented as the dress of a matron (ver. 22). It was at one time worn by Roman ladies and rich men (Livv. xxxiv, 7, and Valerius Max. ii. 1). See also the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke xvi, 19). In Esth. i, 6, it appears as part of the royal furniture of Ahasuerus; and in Cant, iii, 10, as the covering of the royal chariot.; and Pliny refers to its general use, not only for clothes, but carpets, cushions, etc. (ix, 39). The robe in which the Praetorian guard ar- rayed the Saviour, called vXcut'c kokkiv)] by Matthew (xxvii, 28), and irop<pvf>a by Mark (xv, 17, 20), and \\ia~iov Tropcpvpoiif by John (xix, 2), and which ap- pears to have been the cast-off sagum of one of their officers, was no doubt scarlet — that is, proper crimson, as will hereafter appear — of a deeper hue and liner texture than the sagum or chlamys of the common soldier, but inferior in both respects to that of the emperor, which was also of this color in the time of war, though purple during peace. The adjectives used by the evangelists are, however, often interchanged. Thus a vest, which Horace (Sat. ii, 6, 102) calls "rubro cocco tincta." in 1. 106 he styles "purpurea." Brau- nius shows that the Romans gave this name to any color that had a mixture of red (De Vestitu Sacerdo- tum [Lugd. Bat. 1680], i. 14). Ovid applies the term " purpureas" to the cheeks and lips (A mo?: i, 3). In Acts x, 14, reference is found to Lydia, of the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple cloth. The manufacture seems to have decayed with its native city. A col-