Purple

ארגמן , Exo 25:4, &c; πορφυρα, Mar 15:17; Mar 15:20; Luk 16:19; Joh 19:2; Joh 19:5; Rev 17:4; Rev 18:12; Rev 18:16. This is supposed to be the very precious colour extracted from the purpura or murex, a species of shell fish; and the same with the famous Tyrian dye, so costly, and so much celebrated in antiquity. The purple dye is called in 1Ma 4:23, “purple of the sea,” or sea purple; it being the blood or juice of a turbinated shell fish, which the Jews call חלזון . (See Scarlet.) Among the blessings pronounced by Moses upon the tribes of Israel, those of Zebulun and Issachar are, “They shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand,” Deu 33:19. Jonathan Ben Uzziel explains the latter clause thus: “From the sand are produced looking glasses, and glass in general; the treasures, the method of finding and working which, was revealed to these tribes.” Several ancient writers inform us, that there were havens in the coasts of the Zebulunites, in which the sand proper for making glass was found. The words of Tacitus are remarkable: “Et Belus amnis Judaico mari illabitur, circa ejus os lectae arenae admixto nitro in vitrum excoquuntur.” “The river Belus falls into the Jewish sea, about whose mouth those sands mixed with nitre are collected, out of which glass is formed.” But it seems much more natural to explain “the treasures hid in the sand,” of those highly valuable murices and purpurae which were found on the sea coast, near the country of Zebulun and Issachar, and of which those tribes partook in common with their Heathen neighbours of Tyre, who rendered the curious dyes made from those shell fish so famous among the Romans by the names of Sarranum ostrum, Tyrii colores. In reference to the purple vestment, Luk 16:19, it may be observed that this was not appropriately a royal robe. In the earlier times it was the dress of any of high rank. Thus all the courtiers were styled by the historians purpurati. This colour is more properly crimson than purple; for the LXX, Josephus, and Philo, constantly use πορφυραν to express the Hebrew ארגמן , by which the Talmudists understood crimson; and that this Hebrew word expressed, not the Tyrian purple, but that brought to the city from another country, appears from Eze 27:7. The purple robe put on our Saviour, Joh 19:2; Joh 19:5, is explained by a Roman custom, the dressing of a person in the robes of state, as the investiture of office. Hence the robe brought by Herod’s or the Roman soldiers, scoffingly, was as though it had been the pictae vestes usually sent by the Roman senate. In Act 16:14, Lydia is said to be “a seller of purple.” Mr. Harmer styles purple the most sublime of all earthly colours, having the gaudiness of red, of which it retains a shade, softened with the gravity of blue.

The famous and costly Tyrian purple, the royal color of the ancients, is said to have been discovered by the Tyrian Hercules, whose dog having by chance eaten a shellfish called Purpura, and returning to his master with his lips tinged with a purple color, occasioned the discovery of this precious dye. Purple, however, is much more ancient than this, since we find it mentioned by Moses in several places. Two kinds of purple are mentioned in the Old Testament:\par 1. Argamon, rendered in our version "purple," denoting a reddish purple obtained from a species of muscle or shellfish found on the coasts of the Mediterranean.\par 2. Techieleth, rendered in the English Bible "blue." This was a bluish or cerulean purple, likewise obtained from another species of shellfish. The "scarlet" or "crimson," for the two words denote essentially the same color, was produced from the coccus in sect, coccus ilicis. All these were sacred colors among the Jews; and the latter was used for the highpriest’s ephod, and for veils, ribbons, and cloths, Exo 26:1,4,31,36 28:31 Num 4:6-12 15:38.\par The "purple" of the ancients seems to have included many different tints derived originally from the shellfish, and modified by various arts in which the Tyrians excelled. As each fish yielded but a few drops of coloring matter, the choicest purple bore a very high price. Purple robes were worn by the kings and first magistrates of ancient Rome, and Nero forbade their use by his subjects under pain of death. Our Savior was clothed with a royal robe of purple, in mockery of his title, "The King of the Jews" Joh 19:2,5 . Compare also Jdg 8:26 Gen 8:15 Pro 31:22 Dan 5:7 Luk 16:19 . Moses used much wool dyed of a crimson and used much wool dyed of a crimson and purple color in the work of the tabernacle, and in the ornaments of the high priest, Exo 25:4 26:1,31,36 39:1 2Ch 3:14 . The Babylonians also clothed their idols in robes of a purple and azure color, Jer 10:9 Eze 23:15 27:7,16.\par

argan. Obtained by the Tyrians from the shell fish Murex purpura, and Murex conchylium. (Exo 25:4; Exo 35:25; Jdg 8:26; Pro 31:22).

Purple. Exo 25:4. The purple dye so famous among the orientals of ancient days was produced from a species of shellfish peculiar to the Mediterranean Sea. As each fish yielded but a few drops of coloring matter, the choicest purple bore a very high price. Purple robes were worn by the kings and first magistrates of ancient nations. Est 8:15. Comp. Luk 16:19.

A colour often mentioned with blue and scarlet in connection with the tabernacle. Exo 25:4, etc. Among the spoils taken from the Midianites under Gideon was "purple raiment that was on the kings," and it is used as a symbol of royalty. Jdg 8:26. In derision the soldiers put a crown of thorns and a ’purple’ robe on the Lord, as king of the Jews. Mar 15:17; Mar 15:20; Joh 19:2; Joh 19:5. The rich man in Luk 16:19 was clothed in purple; and papal Rome is seen as a woman clothed in purple and scarlet, royalty and splendour. Rev 17:4; Rev 18:12; Rev 18:16.

PURPLE.—The adj. πορφύρεος had originally no connexion with a particular colour either by derivation or by use (see Liddell and Scott’s Lex. s.v. πορφύρω). Similarly in the Latin poets purpureus regularly stands for nothing more than ‘bright.’ In Greek, after the discovery of the purple dye, the notion of colour became inherent. The gradations of colour were φοῖνιξ (darker shades—purple to crimson), πορφύρεος (brighter red, rosy), κόκκινος (scarlet). In Mat 27:28, Mar 15:17; Mar 15:20, Joh 19:2; Joh 19:5, the last two words are used indiscriminately for the same colour (see art. Scarlet). Manufactured purples were of various kinds, all extracted from the juice of sea molluses. The following is a summary of their varieties, though the terms employed to describe them were not always confined to their proper use.

(1) Purple proper; of a bright red hue; obtained from the purple-snail (τορφύρα, purpura). This was used sometimes pure (called blatta), sometimes diluted (conchylium). Of the pure there were two sorts—(a) Tyrian, the most celebrated, which was ‘twice-dyed’; (b) amethystine, of a paler tint. One pound of wool dyed with Tyrian purple cost 1000 denarii, with amethystine 100 (Plin. HN ix. 38, 63). The use of such purples (especially the former) is mentioned frequently in satirists and historians as a feature of ancient luxury (cf. Juv. Sat. vii. 134 ff.; Mart. viii. 10, etc.); hence Christ’s expression in Luk 16:19.

(2) Common purple; of a violet hue (i.e. φοῖνιξ rather than πορφύρεος); obtained from the trumpet-snail (κῆρυξ). This was much less esteemed. Its colour apparently could even be compared to the dark blue of an Eastern sky (Josephus Ant. iii. vii. 7): but probably there were different tints.

The fiery-red purple (proper) of antiquity had practically no resemblance, as a colour, to the modern purple: the latter could never be described, even approximately, as ‘scarlet’ (Mat 27:28). Yet, independently of the hue, the name carries with it in both cases the distinction of being the royal colour. Under the Roman Empire restrictions were imposed from time to time as to its general use; and the purple toga was the garb of the Emperor alone. It was as the badge of kingship that the purple formed part of the soldiers’ mockery (Mar 15:17; Mar 15:20 ||).

Literature.—Becker, Gallus, Excursus ii. p. 446 ff.; Schmidt, Forschungen auf dem Gebiet des Alterthums, pp. 96–212. An older work upon the subject is Amati, de Restitutione Purpurarum.

F. S. Ranken.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Wilhelm Nowack

Mention is made in the Old Testament of two kinds of purple, or purple dye: (1) "argaman" (Aramaic, "argevan"; Greek, πόρφυρα), probably the bright-red purple, which was costliest when it had the color of coagulated blood, and appeared black when viewed directly, but lustrous red when viewed obliquely; (2) "tekelet" (Greek, ὑάκινϑος), which, according to Philo and Josephus, resembled the color of the sea, the air, or the clear sky, and was, therefore, termed also blue. In instances it was black or dark-colored.

It is now possible to ascertain from what source the ancients obtained their purple dye. There are remains of the old workshops for making purple at Tarentum, in the Morea, and especially at Tyre. These consist of concrete hill-shaped masses of spiral-like shells. An examination of these heaps has up to the present revealed only two kinds of murex, found on the Mediterranean coast, Murex brandaris and Murex trunculus; the former at Tarentum and in the Morea, and the latter at Tyre. Without doubt, of the two kinds of murex described by Pliny, the one which he calls "purpura" or "pelagia" is not the species now so called, but Murex brandaris, as he mentions not only the spines on the whorl of the shell, but also the duct which is a prolongation of the aperture. This duct he thought contained the tongue, though, as a matter of fact, it holds the respiratory organ of the mollusk. Probably he included Murex trunculus under the same name.

Besides these two, another species of the present genus Purpura is found in the Mediterranean, Purpura hœmastoma, the purple juice of which is even now occasionally used by the inhabitants of the coast for marking linen. Although shells of these mollusks have not yet been found among the remains of ancient purple dye-works, it is likely that the ancients knew and used them, as they answer better than Murex trunculus to Pliny's description of the second species mentioned by him, Murex buccinum.

The pigment is secreted by a gland in the lining of the stomach. The juice is at first whitish, but changes on exposure to the atmosphere, and becomes successively yellowish and greenish, and atlast either reddish (in the species Murex brandaris and Purpura hœmastoma) or violet (in Murex trunculus). The moliusks were found on the Phenician coast, on the Palestinian shores, farther south (as at Dor), on the coast of Caria in Asia Minor, on the Laconian coast of Greece, on the shores of the strait of Euripus, and on the North-African coast. It is remarkable that in the Old Testament mention is made of purple imported into Tyre, but not of that made in Phenicia itself, although the Phenicians were regarded by the ancients as the discoverers of purple-dyeing, and the manufacture of purple was known to them in very early times.

Purple fabrics were very costly. Both kinds of purple were used for the carpets and curtains of the tabernacle, and for the high priest's gala dress, as also for the curtain of the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Bluish purple was used more extensively for sacred purposes than reddish. Blue material was used for the entire outer garment of the high priest as well as for the covers put over the sacred chattels in transportation. Red was used only in the cloth of the altar of burnt offerings. The loops holding the curtains of byssus in the tabernacle (Ex. xxxvi. 11), the "lace" fastening the high priest's breast-plate and miter (ib. xxviii. 28, 31, 37, 39), and the threads of the tassels on every Israelite's outer garment had to be made of bluish purple.

No mention is made of purple garments of Israelitish kings, with the exception of the reddish-purple seat (covering?) of Solomon's chariot (Cant. iii. 10), whereas references occur to the reddish-purple raiment of the kings of Media (Judges viii. 26), and the blue raiment of Assyrian "captains and rulers" (Ezek. xiii. 6). At the Babylonian court the bestowal of reddish-purple raiment was a mark of the highest favor (Dan. v. 7, 16, 29; comp. I Macc. x. 20, 62, 64; xi. 58; xiv. 43 et seq.; II Macc. iv. 38).

PURPLE.—See Colours, § 5.

An emblem of penance. used during the penitential seasons of Lent and Advent, except on saints’ days and on the two Sundays when rose may be substituted.

pûr´p’l (ארגּמן, ’argāmān; Chaldaic ארגּון, ’arg^ewān (2Ch 2:7); compare Arabic ’urjuwân, and Persian ’arghawân; πορφύρα, porphúra, πορφύπεος, porphúreos Septuagint and New Testament)):

Purple dye was manufactured by the Phoenicians from a marine mollusk, Murex trunculus. The shell was broken in order to give access to a small gland which was removed and crushed. The crushed gland gives a milky fluid that becomes red or purple on exposure to the air. Piles of these broken shells still remain on the coast at Sidon and Tyre. The purple gland is found in various species of Murex and also of Purpura.

Purple cloth was used in the furnishings of the tabernacle (Exo 25:4, etc.) and of Solomon’s temple (2Ch 2:14; 2Ch 3:14); in the palanquin of Solomon (Son 3:10); and in the hangings of the palace of Ahasuerus (Est 1:6). The kings of Midian had purple raiment (Jdg 8:26); the worthy woman of Pro 31:22 has clothing of fine linen and purple. Mordecai was clothed with purple by Ahasuerus (Est 8:15); Jesus by the Roman soldiers (Mar 15:17, Mar 15:20; Joh 19:2, Joh 19:5). The rich man of Luk 16:19 and the scarlet woman of Rev 18:12, Rev 18:16 were arrayed in purple. In Son 7:5 the bride has hair like purple. Purple is in the merchandise of Babylon (Rev 18:12). It is surprising that Ezekiel speaks of the Tyrians as obtaining purple from the isles of Elisha (Eze 27:7) and from Syria (Eze 27:16). See COLORS; DYE, DYEING.

See Colours.

Son 7:5 (c) In this passage the color of our Lord’s hair is purple. In the fifth chapter it is black, while in Revelation 1 it is white. These three colors of His hair represent three wonderful characteristics of our Lord.

- the black hair tells us that He is a young King upon His Throne, with mighty power, vigor, vision and activity.

- the purple hair reminds us that He is the King of kings, Lord of lords, and the sovereign of eternity. He is part of the royal family. He has a right to wear the purple because of His majestic greatness.

- the white hair reminds us of His ageless life. He was from the past eternity through the coming eternity. He is the Ancient of days. He has wisdom, knowledge, discretion and understanding. He has experience of every kind. He is the Eternal One.

Joh 19:2 (c) The purple was placed upon our blessed Lord in mockery. He had claimed to be their King, but the Romans derided His claim, and in order to insult Him and show their hatred they clothed Him in mockery with the royal garments. Thus they exposed the wickedness of their hearts. (See also Mar 15:17).

Rev 17:4 (c) The royal color on this woman represents apostate Christendom. It indicates that she takes the place of being a royal ruler, even as the Roman Catholic church does today. This church exercises sovereign and supreme power in many countries. Her gorgeous robes, her magnificent processions, her priceless images and idols, her marvelous temples, her cruel power, her secret procedures all tell the story of a church that seeks to be king of kings, and lord of lords in the place of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. One day she will be utterly destroyed, as this chapter reveals.