The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan...

10
The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple Author(s): Robert R. Stieglitz Reviewed work(s): Source: The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Mar., 1994), pp. 46-54 Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210395 . Accessed: 17/05/2012 05:38 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The American Schools of Oriental Research is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Biblical Archaeologist. http://www.jstor.org

Transcript of The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan...

Page 1: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

The Minoan Origin of Tyrian PurpleAuthor(s): Robert R. StieglitzReviewed work(s):Source: The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Mar., 1994), pp. 46-54Published by: The American Schools of Oriental ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210395 .Accessed: 17/05/2012 05:38

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The American Schools of Oriental Research is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The Biblical Archaeologist.

http://www.jstor.org

Page 2: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

The Minoan Origin

of Tyrian Purple By Robert R. Stieglltz

Tyrian purple, also known as 'royal purple,' was the most

expensive dye in the ancient world qensen 1963). Indi- rect evidence about its value is provided by Ugaritic

texts of the 14th century BCE, in which various types of dyed woolens are listed with their prices. Some of these textiles were evidently dyed with Tyrian purple, as their higher prices would suggest (Stieglitz 1979:19). Homer used the special term haliporphyros, 'sea-purple', to refer to this dye (Odyssey 6.53: 306), perhaps in order to distinguish it from purple-dye imi- tations. By the time of Diocletian, in 301 BCE, we know that wool dyed with Tyrian purple was literally worth its weight in gold, as is stated in his Edict on Maximum Prices 24.

The basic raw material for the dye production was a liquid, obtained directly from the hypobranchial glands of Mediter- ranean mollusks. The shellfish utilized in this dye manufac- ture were primarily Murex trunculus L. (=Hexaplex) and Murex brandaris L. (=Bolinus). A third variety, Purpura haemastoma L. (=Thais), was used occasionally. Each shellfish produced only

a few drops of the precious se- cretion, which

was then boiled in salt water to create the dye. In order to pro- duce Tyrian purple in com-

mercial quanti- ties, many thousands of shellfish were required. Pliny, writing in the first century BCE, provides the only actual recipe for the preparation of the dye solution. He reports (Natural Histony 9.62.135) that in order to dye 1,000 pounds of

wool, it was necessary to use some 200 lbs. of Purpura flesh (his term for this shellfish was bucinum), as well as 111 lbs. of

murex. In this process, the gland was extracted from the larger specimens only. The small shellfish were crushed, shell and all. Such a procedure was also observed earlier by Aristotle (Historia Animalium 5.15.22-25). The entire mass, with water, was then placed in leaden vats and simmered. The exposure of the liquid to light, coupled with the prolonged simmering of

The three types of purple shells, from left to right: Murex trunculus, Murex brandaris, Purpura haemastoma. These specimens were excavated by the author at Caesarea Maritima. Israel. Scale is in centimeters. Photographs by the author unless noted.

the flesh mass (it was cooked for nine days!), produced the notorious stench for which this industry was noted in antiq- uity. Pliny (Natural History 9.60.127) also states that in his day

46 Biblical Archaeologist 57:1(1994)

Page 3: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

the best Tyrian purple in Europe was produced in Laconica and the best in Africa at Meninx. In Asia, the best dye was manufactured at Tyre.

The bay of Palaikastro, with the headland in background.

Biblical Archaeologist 57:1 (1994) 47

Page 4: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

Since these shellfish had to be caught by rather laborious

fishing and/or diving in shallow water, the price of the dye, as noted above, was enormous. Therefore, a great variety of

dye substitutes was in use during Greco-Roman times, as we know from an ancient papyrus that lists recipes for producing purple dye substitutes (Lagercrantz 1913). These imitations were produced from plant as well as mineral sources. Still, none were as color-fast as the true "royal purple," hence the continued de- mand in antiquity for textiles colored by this highly prized dye.

The dye could be produced in a great variety of shades, depending upon the mixture of the different shellfish utilized. Variations could also be made by chemical means, such as light conditions and reduc-

ing agents. The resulting colors included red, blue, and dark purple, the latter being considered the most noble of the tints. All shades were utilized primarily to color ceremonial garments. Two of the best known

examples are the purple stripes on the Roman toga purpurea and the blue stripes on the Jewish tallit 'prayer shawl'. The Hebrew name for this blue dye was tekelet (Exodus 26:11; see Ziderman 1987), and we may note here that according to Rabbinic rulings, only the true tekelet

dye (made from mollusks) should be used for coloring the

prayer shawl (Tosepta Menachot 9,16). These religious rules were probably a response to the use of substitute dyes.

According to current theories, the production of Tyrian purple was originated and monopolized by the coastal Canaanites-those people called Phoenicians by the Greeks.

. Crete;. I- -

tPalmiknro

"--. ..,

? " ., . ". . . .

I

_ , t --- ......... ?

'• ?

.i - "! "6 .

r I4.

-

l- awow juanon

; ". .3 ' .

. " * "3. * U S UO O':0 7S U -'-

This development presumably occurred sometime in the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 BCE). Indeed, the earliest archae-

ological evidence for Canaanite purple dye production-the heaps of discarded shells and their fragments-are those unearthed at Minet el-Beida (the harbor of Ugarit), dated to the 15th-14th century BCE; Sarepta and Tel Akko (13th cen-

?:o.-.ckSe

--Il:i .?~ 4..

- ..

,-? .; '. " c

. . 7

. . . .. _" . .. 7

• . .. . '.

' ::,: .,:-. , ,.

" ,. .. ... . , : ,

" --.:. ..... .. -

,, .-

, :. . . ..

,

Cl,• 7•.i :,q .

," "... . . " . .. •. . 7:i:.-•+ '; 12 + + ,, . ,,.-:

. : .

- ... .

, . -. ... . - , . - . , - .

LIf:,. +: -:.*:.. ;:-. it rr n e

n, ..' ,.,.-- - - ? : d

?": '::-

... . . , . . : . " '?T lK ia

"- ... . , .. ".. 7 " - ' • ,• ' .. _ . , -

Page 5: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

. ....JOWL

po

?- - U r W

4 .Jltx&' *AC

2apw OIL..

VA.

tury BCE); and at Tel Keisan (11th century BCE; Karmon and

Spanier 1988:184). There are, however, archaeological and

epigraphic indications from the Aegean, which suggest that the 'royal purple' industry was first developed there, by the Minoans on Crete, before 1750 BCE.

The current scholarly theories attributing to the Phoeni- cians the origin of the Tyrian purple industry can actually be traced back to the Roman era. The Greek rhetorician Julius Pollux, in the second century BCE, relates a charming tale (Onomasticon 1.45-48) of how the hound of Herakles bit into a murex fish on the shore at Tyre and thus discovered its dye. Herakles then divulged this delightful discovery to Phoenix, the king of Tyre. This took place, according to Pollux, some seven generations before the war at Troy.

Now in the Roman era it was quite fashionable to dis- cuss and theorize on the origins of all sorts of inventions. The

purple industry-which was still quite an active art in that era-was not exempt from these speculations. Indeed, the Romans had themselves developed techniques for the artifi- cial breeding of murex and other shell-fish, in rock-cut pools called piscinae. A fascinating description of how to construct such fish-ponds, adjoining a sea-side villa, is provided by Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (De Re Rustica 8.16.7), about 60 BCE. The origins of the Tyrian purple industry were, therefore, of some interest to the Romans. However, evidence

The hill of Kastri at the Minoan site of Palaikastro, East Crete, from the south. The town is located south of the hill. The site offered a large sur- face deposit of Murex shells.

unearthed in the Aegean at the turn of the twentieth century suggested that the purple dye industry originated on Crete.

The first archaeological evidence of purple shells, consti-

tuting the debris of purple dye production, was already reported by Heinrich Schliemann (1880:115) at Troy. In 1903, the British archaeologist R C. Bosanquet found numerous murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island of Kouphonisi, off the southeast coast of Crete (Bosanquet 1904:321). However, he described the details of his finds only within the text of an unrelated article, which he published 37

years later (Bosanquet 1939-40). In 1904, Bosanquet also found purple shell remains at the large Minoan site of Palaikastro in Eastern Crete. He therefore proposed that the Minoan purple dye industry, dated to the Middle Minoan era (2000-1600 BCE), preceded the Phoenician industry, but few

accepted his opinion. We should note here that the murex shellfish are edible,

and when they are found in small numbers, such as at the Early Minoan site of Myrtos (Warren 1972:263), they are pre- sumably associated with the diet and not with the dye. But it is also likely that these Early Minoan fishermen also discov-

Biblical Archaeologist 57:1 (1994) 49

Page 6: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

41?

N6 41

. -j

41tv 'Avg

*#.% 14%

ered the dye, in the same way that the hound of Herakles did many centuries later.

In 1981, I set out to investigate sea-purple origins by analysis of pertinent archaeological and epigraphic data, starting with a coastal survey on Crete. At Palaikastro, which is identified with Classical Heleia, I found a large surface

deposit of murex remains on the southern slopes of the Kas- tri. Most of these were fragmentary, but some were small whole shellfish. These are, presumably, from the same

deposit noted by Bosanquet in 1904. In addition, numerous murex are located within the remains of a well-built stone structure located on a headland in the bay southeast of the Kastri.

On the island of Kouphonisi, which is identified with Classi- cal Leuke, I succeeded in locating the Minoan site visited by Bosanquet in 1903. It is situated on the slope of a hill overlook- ing the north shore of the island. Besides the murex remains, pottery fragments, and foundations of a large stone structure, it should be noted that there are quite a few obsidian chips on the surface of the site.

The water source for the modern fisherman is now locat- ed on the shore directly below the Minoan site. It was presumably also utilized in antiquity, for near it are remains of substantial industrial facilities. I believe that these are the remains of an actual purple dye factory, probably dated to the Hellenistic era. At that time, the island of Leuke was a center

On the north shore of Kouphonisi. The Middle Minoan site is mid- way between the chapel on the hill and the beach.

Murex fragments from the south slope of the Kastri at Palaikastro.

Murex frag- ments from the head- land in the bay of Palaikastro.

50 Biblical Archaeologist 57:1 (1994)

Page 7: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

C

4 ?r

r

i '' * C ??; .? ~,

.,~.'CLL"~ ~? ? Y

?- 9t~; :? .' .t

rr C i. ;5~?e

C?? )? -??. ~?i --;??-- _ -T

Stone structure remains at the Minoan site on Kouphonisi.

of Tyrian purple manufacture, as is known from Cretan

inscriptions of the second century BCE (Guarducci 1940:104). These manufacturing remains near the water source

include stone and clay vats, as well as basins and channels for the handling of liquids. The location of the site on the shore near a water source is ideal, since both sea-water and fresh-

?ne

I'

Remains of stone basins and well, near the shore on Kouphonisi.

water are required in the dye production. Some excavations of the Greco-Roman town of Leuke, located on the shore west of this area, have been undertaken (Papadakis 1983), but as far as I know, the industrial site itself has not been excavated, and its date is therefore still speculative.

In addition to Palaikastro and Kouphonisi, murex

The modem water source at Kouphonisi: a stone chamber was built over the spring.

Page 8: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

remains have also been found at other Aegean Bronze Age sites. These include the Middle Minoan levels of three major sites: Kastri on the island of Kythera (Coldstream et al. 1973: 36, 282), Knossos itself (Hutchinson 1962:239)-presumably from a near-by factory on the shore-and at the palace of Mallia (Vogler 1984). In the Late Helladic era, we find murex remains both in and outside of Greece: at Troy VI, dated to about 1425 BCE (Blegen 1937), and at Hala Sultan Tekke on

as. *". -it

~i- .:

Remains of a large stone-cut vat, about 2 m. in diameter (below). View in front of the broken spout (above).

Cyprus, dated to the Late Cypriote III period (Reese 1987:205). Akrotiri, on Thera, has now yielded remains suggesting "prob- able local production" of purple dye (Aloupi et al. 1990), dated to Late Minoan IA, ca. 1550 BCE.

To this archaeological evidence from the Aegean, we should also add a significant epigraphic find. The Mycenaean Greek term po-pu-re-ia 'purple' is found in several administrative Lin- ear B tablets from Knossos, which deal with textile allocations. One of these tablets (KN X976) actually contains the expres- sion wa-na-ka-te-ro po-pu-re-[ I 'royal purple'. This is the first written attestation of a term which in later ages became syn- onymous with 'Tyrian purple'. It is significant that this term is first attested in a Mycenaean Greek text from Knossos.

The Classical Greek root porphyr- is used to designate both the mollusk and its dye, but it is not an Indo-European word. Astour (1965) proposed, unconvincingly to my mind, to de- rive this term from a Canaanite root *parpar meaning 'to churn, to boil'. However, the Canaanite word for the purple mollusks was evidently hillazbn-a word of unknown origin attested

only in Talmudic Hebrew. The actual Phoenician terms for the shellfish and its dye are still not attested. As for the Mycen- aean term porphyr-, I would suggest that this was originally a Minoan word, borrowed by the Mycenaeans when they learned from the Minoans to produce the dye.

It may well be that Minoan art has preserved depictions of garments dyed with 'royal purple'. Probably the best known

Page 9: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

Minoan sarcophagus, dated to about 1450 BCE, is the one found at Hagia Triada that illustrates elegantly dressed men and women. Their garments are decorated with purple stripes of various shades. A famous Minoan priestess figurine, 1600 BCE, also has what appear to be purple decorations on her attire, as do the dresses of the noble ladies depicted on the frescoes of Thera, about 1550 BCE.

After Minoan power on Crete was supplanted by that of the Mycenaean Greeks, about 1450 BCE, the Greeks, Trojans, and the peoples of Anatolia continued to produce the purple dye. We should recall here the Homeric reference (Iliad 4.141) to

purple colored ivory (!) used by Maionian and Carian women. The Troad tradition of Tyrian purple manufacture was also noted by Aristotle (Historia Animalium 5.15.547), who mentions the waters off Sigeion, Lekton, and Caria as being rich in

purple shells. The Canaanite dye industry in the Levant was certainly

not a monopoly. Indeed, the Greeks, Phoenicians, and others continued to manufacture Tyrian purple throughout antiq- uity. By the Roman era, it was already unknown who had first invented the 'royal purple' dye, and it was only then attributed to a mythical Phoenician source and dated to the era before the Trojan war.

The archaeological evidence now available from the Aegean suggests that this industry was not of Mycenaean, nor of a Canaanite origin. It indicates that the Minoans on Crete and some Minoanized islanders, such as those on Kythera, were

already manufacturing sea-purple in the Middle Minoan per- iod, ca. 1750 BCE. It also seems certain that this dye was being produced by the people of Thera at the end of the Middle Minoan era.

The Mycenaeans, Trojans, Cypriotes, and Canaanites then continued to develop this industry in the Late Helladic period. The Bronze Age Canaanites and their Iron Age Phoenician descendants were not the actual originators of this dye. It was most likely a Minoan contribution, developed before 1750 BCE, which was then adopted by others, including the Canaanite- Phoenicians.

' " . . -. . .

DI ,

. r-

fl ' h1r

Hagia Triada sarcophagus, ca. 1450 BCE, depicting funerary rituals. The garments of the mourners bear colored stripes.

p . .

....

, ?-.. :i?: .,,

?• "•; , ?

Priestess from Akrotiri fresco, Thera, ca. 1550 BCE. She boasts red and purple stripes on her dress.

Acknowledgements This is a revised version of a paper first read at Cities on the Sea-Past and Present: 1st International Symposium on Harbors, Port Cities and Coastal Topography, Haifa, September 22-29,1986; and at the 1989 Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (Anaheim, CA), November 21, 1989. My conclusions were first reported by The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ, on February 8, 1982, p. 14. The fieldwork on Crete for this paper was made possible with the aid of a grant from the Rutgers Uni- versity Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, to whom I should like to express my sincere gratitide.

Bibliography Aloupi, E., et al.

1990 Analysis of a Purple Material found at Akrotiri. Pp. 488-490 in Thera and the Aegean World III, Vol. 1: Archaeology. Proceed- ings of the Third International Congress, Santorini, Greece (September 1989), edited by D.A. Hardy, et al. London: Thera Foundation.

Biblical Archaeologist 57:1 (1994) 53

Page 10: The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple - Tekhelettekhelet.com/pdf/steiglitz-minoan.pdf · The Minoan Origin of Tyrian Purple ... murex fragments at a Middle Minoan site on the small island

?' '

? .•

11

Robert R. Stieglitz received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1971. He has excavated in the U. S., Greece, and Israel and has surveyed throughout the Mediterranean world. Dr. Stieglitz is the recipient of numerous academic honors and awards and the author of some one hundred articles on the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. Formerly curator of the National Maritime Museum, Haifa, he is now excavating on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Stieglitz has taught at universities and institutes in Greece, Israel, and the United States. Currently, he is Associate Pro- fessor of Hebraic Studies at Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey.

Astour, M.C. 1965 The Origin of the Terms "Canaan," "Phoenician," and "Pur-

ple." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 24:346-350. Blegen, C.W.

1937 Excavations at Troy, 1937. American Journal of Archaeology 41:553-597.

Bosanquet, R.C. 1904 Some 'Late Minoan' Vases found in Greece. Journal of Hellenic

Studies 24:317-329. 1939-40 Dikte and the Temples of Dictaean Zeus. Annual of the British

School of Archaeology at Athens 40:60-77. Coldstream, J.N., et al.

1973 Kythera: Excavations and Studies. Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes. Guarducci, M.

1940 Contributi alla Topografia della Creta Orientale. Rivista di Filologia 18:99-107.

Hutchinson, R.W. 1962 Prehistoric Crete. Baltimore: Penguin.

Jensen, L.B. 1963 Royal Purple of Tyre. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 22:104-118.

Karmon, N. and Spanier, E. 1988 Remains of a Purple Dye Industry Found at Tel Shiqmona.

Israel Exploration Journal 38:184-186. Lagercrantz, O.

1913 Papyrus Graecus Holmiensis. Recepte fuer Silber, Steine und Purptur. Uppsala-Leipzig.

Minoan snake-goddess from Knossos, ca. 1600 BCE. Note elaborately decorated dress with its faded stripes, originally of dark blue.

Papadakis, N.P. 1983 Koufonisi Island: Delos of the Libyan Sea. Archaiologia 6:58-65

(Greek, with English summary). Reese, D.S.

1987 Palaikastro Shells and Bronze Age Purple-Dye Production in the Mediterranean Basin. Annual of the British School of Archaeology at Athens 82:201-206.

Schliemann, H. 1880 Ilios: The City and Country of the Trojans. London:

Stieglitz, R.R. 1979 Commodity Prices at Ugarit. Journal of the American

Oriental Society 99:15-23. Vogler, H.

1984 Die Spuren friiher Fierberei im Minoerreich auf Kreta. Deutscher Fierber-Kalender 88:193206.

Warren, P. 1972 Myrtos: An Early Bronze Age Settlement in Crete. The British

School of Archaeology at Athens Supplementary Volume 7. Thames and Hudson.

Ziderman, I. 1987 First Identification of Authentic Tek6let. Bulletin of the American

Schools of Oriental Research 265:25-33.

54 Biblical Archaeologist 57:1 (1994)