In ancient Rome, purple was associated with royalty, power, and wealth. Only nobles were qualified to wear purple clothing. However, the process of extracting purple dye was very complicated, and even had unbearable...
Dyers need to crack open the shells of the murex snails to extract the mucus that secretes purple pigment. After extraction, the mucus is placed under the sun to dry for a period of time, and the timing must be carefully controlled; if it is too long or too late, it will affect the depth of the color. Based on this, from 250,000 dye murex snails, only about 14.17 grams of dye can be extracted, which is enough to dye one Roman toga.
In the year 547 AD, the purple dye made from the secretion of the bone snail was considered priceless. This type of bone snail was not found everywhere, being primarily produced in the Mediterranean and other regions. At that time, there were no advanced breeding techniques, so obtaining this type of bone snail was extremely difficult.
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But in fact, the body of the sea snail has a foul smell, and the process of extracting the dye is even more odorous, so the dye extraction and production process is carried out in the suburbs far from the palace. However, even though the dyed fabrics may have a kind of marine creature's fishy smell, it does not affect the Roman royal nobles' love for purple at all. They would rather endure the unpleasant smell than not wear it!
Although fashion changes over time, the production of Tyrian purple remains low, making it very precious. Therefore, for a long period, it was used by the most esteemed individuals in ancient Rome.
From then on, purple and royalty became an unbreakable symbol in the hearts of Europeans.
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