Laura Manach :bongoCat: on Nostr: Now, porphyra referred to a very specific purple dye produced by treating the ...

Now, porphyra referred to a very specific purple dye produced by treating the secretions of a snail called the spiny dye-murex.

Thousands of these snails — only found in parts of the Mediterranean — had to be harvested to make even a small amount of this dye.

This practice of using the spiny dye-murex to create purple dye goes back 4000 years.

It was common in the ancient city of Tyre, and so the particular shade of purple it produced, came to be known as "Tyrian purple".