Murex

Murex was a very expensive purple dye manufactured from the sea shells of the Murex Sea Snail during the Roman Period and used on the robes of Emperors and High state Officials.
The Greeks referred to makers of Murex as the Phoinikes (purple people), giving the Phoenicians their name.

Tyre:
- The most famous factory for Murex was its manufacture by the Phoenicians in Tyre, Lebanon.
- It was called Tyrian Purple or Royal Purple or Imperial Purple:
Mogador:
- In c. 600 BCE The Phoencians from Tyre set up a subsidiary Purple Dye factory on the Island of Mogador, ‘Les Iles Purpuraires’, Morocco, in front of the Ancient City of Mogador, modern Essaouira.
Girba:
- Girba is known today as Djerba. It is an island in the Bay of Syrtis Minor. Pliny the Elder stated that the town of Meninx was the second greatest producer of the purple dye Murex, after Tyre.

In Mogador The Purple Dye was extracted from the shell of the Sea Snail Murex Trunculis also called Hexaplex Trunculis.
In Tyre, the Sea Snail used was called the Murex Brandaris.
60,000 Murex Sea Snails were needed to produce one pound (1.4 grams) of Purple Dye.
The Dye was extracted from the Mucus of the Sea Snail produced from the Hypobranchial gland
During its production ancient authors refer to it as producing a foul stench.
The Dye was then used in Royal Garments and other Ceremonial Clothing of High Office
It did not fade in sunlight but became a deeper colour

Theopompus of Chios
- A Greek Historian (b.380 BCE) who stated that it was so expensive that it was worth its weight in silver.

Pliny the Elder
- A Roman Historian (23-79 CE) who described its manufacture in detail his ‘Natural History’.

Tyre, Lebanon