Rediscovered, Ancient Color Is Reclaiming Israeli Interest

New York Times ^ | February 28, 2011 | Dina Kraft

[firebrand]

RAMAT GAN, Israel — One of the mysteries that scholars have puzzled over for centuries is the exact shade of blue represented by “tekhelet,” which the Bible mentions as the color of ceremonial robes donned by high priests and ritual prayer tassels worn by the common Israelite.

What was known about tekhelet (pronounced t-CHELL-et) was that the Talmud said it was produced from the secretion of the sea snail, which is still found on Israeli beaches.

Traditional interpretations have characterized tekhelet as a pure blue, symbolic of the heavens so that Jews would remember God. Not so, according to an Israeli scholar who has a new analysis: tekhelet appears to have been closer to a bluish purple.

[AnalogReigns]

“the knowledge of how to produce the tekhelet dye was lost after A.D. 70.”

I find that hard to believe...with all our technology today, we cannot figure out how the ancients...using rudimentary tools and techniques got a dye from a snail?

One of the earliest Christians in Asia Minor by the way, according to the book of Acts in the New Testament, was an (evidently Gentile), “woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God.” (Acts 16:14)

Since this book in never mentions the death of Saul/Paul rather ends during a (late) imprisonment it had to have been composed no later than say 64 or 65 CE. I wonder if Lydia was dealing in tekhelet fabric?

[madison10]

What a gorgeous shade of blue!

[madison10]

Yes it is symbolic, but the two blues are not the same. The blue on the Israeli flag is more of a sky blue, while the blue of the crustacean is closer to deep royal blue/purple. There is a sample picture.

[piasa]

crustaceans or mollusks?

[firebrand]

Part of the question seems to be “Which sea snail?” There is one that only washes up on the Israeli shore every 70 years. I’ll bet that’s the one.

[firebrand]

Also, part of the secret may lie in preserving the color. I once collected lots of bits of purple shell, from cherrystone clams, on the beach on Long Island, until someone informed me that the color was going to disappear. It was true. They eventually all turned white.

[Fred Nerks]

The dye substance consists of a mucous secretion from the hypobranchial gland of one of several medium-sized predatory sea snails found in the eastern Mediterranean. These are the marine gastropods Murex brandaris the spiny dye-murex, (currently known as Bolinus brandaris (Linnaeus, 1758)), the banded dye-murex Hexaplex trunculus, and the rock-shell Stramonita haemastoma.[3][4] [4]

In Biblical Hebrew, the dye extracted from the Murex brandaris is known as argaman (ארגמן). Another dye extracted from a related sea snail, Hexaplex trunculus, produced an indigo colour called tekhelet (תְּכֵלֶת‎), used in garments worn for ritual purposes.[5]

Dye chemistry

The main chemical constituent of the Tyrian dye was discovered by Paul Friedländer in 1909 to be 6,6′-dibromoindigo, a substance that had previously been synthesized in 1903.[18][19] However, it has never been synthesized commercially.[20][21]

In 1998, through a lengthy trial and error process, an English engineer named John Edmonds rediscovered the secret of how to dye Tyrian purple.[22][23] He researched recipes and observations of dyers from the 15th century to the 18th century. He explored the biotechnology process behind woad fermentation. After collaborating with an Israeli chemist, Edmonds hypothesized that an alkaline fermenting vat was necessary. He studied an incomplete ancient recipe for Tyrian purple recorded by Pliny the Elder. By altering the percentage of sea salt in the dye vat and adding potash, he was able to successfully dye wool a deep purple colour.[24]

WIKI

[Fred Nerks]

Hexaplex trunculusFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
Hexaplex trunculus

Hexaplex trunculus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Muricoidea
Family: Muricidae
Genus: Hexaplex
Subgenus: Trunculariopsis[1]
Species: H. trunculus
Binomial name
Hexaplex trunculus
Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
Murex trunculus L. 1758
Phyllanotus trunculus
Truncullariopsis trunculus L., 1758

Hexaplex trunculus (also known as Murex trunculus or the banded dye-murex) is a medium-sized species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails.

This species of sea snail is important historically because its hypobranchial gland secretes a mucus that the ancient Canaanites/Phoenicians used as a distinctive purple-blue indigo dye. One of the dye’s main chemical ingredients is indigotin, and if left in the sun for a few minutes before becoming fast, its color turns to a blue indigo (like blue jeans).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexaplex_trunculus

[TheOldLady]

Thank you for the great tip.

[cricket]

Hate these as well. . .and those that require access to Facebook info. Leeches for info. . .and cannot get enough of it.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Fred Nerks!

[Jeremiah Jr]

I've got a set, no, I've got two sets!!

http://www.tekhelet.com/