Tyrian purple was once the most noble shade and expensive pigment of ancient times. Made from the mucus and secretions of three species of sea snails, this valuable dye was the color of “strength, sovereignty and money.” For the BBC, Zaria Gorvett writes a fascinating account of this most-celebrated shade in history: its origins, its disappearance, and now its revival, thanks to a Tunisian man who has spent years replicating the dye.
Nouira, who works as a consulting manager, was immediately reminded of a story he had learned at school – the legend of Tyrian purple. He raced to the local harbour, where he found many more snails, exactly like the one on the beach. Their little spiral bodies are covered in spikes, so they often become trapped in fishermen’s nets. “They hate them,” he says. One man was plucking them out of his net and putting them in an old tomato can – which Nouira later took back to his apartment.
To begin with, Nouira’s experiment was extremely disappointing. That night, he cracked the snails open and looked for the vivid purple entrails he had seen on the beach. But there was nothing there except pale flesh. He put it all in a bag to throw away, and went to bed. The next day, the bag’s contents had undergone a transformation. “At that time, I had no clue that the purple was initially transparent – it’s like water,” he says.
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