ROMAN DYES & CLOTHING

ROMAN DYES

$1.25

Monday, February 17, 2014

Vol XCIII, No. 311

Tyrian purple ( Latin: purpura or Imperail Purple)

Types of Dyes

The color of purple and its association with the Roman Emperors is due to vast expense of producing clothing made of such a color. The purple color was produced from an extremely expensive dye called Tyrian purple which originated in Tyre in Lebanon. The Phoenicians owned the monopoly on this purple dye which was was made by crushing thousands of sea shells - Mediterranean Murex. It took 10,000 Murex mollusks to make dye just one toga! This purple dye was worth more than its weight in gold and came to symbolize both the wealth and the power of the Roman Emperors.

Types of Colours Produced

Main Colors of Roman Clothing

Shades of colors were produced by adding various elements as detailed above and combination colors such as orange were also produced. The main Colors of Roman Clothing include the following colors :

• White
• Purple
• Blue
• Red
• Scarlet
• Yellow
• Green
• Brown
• Black
• Indigo

Blue and Yellow

The common color of blue was produced by using a cheap dye used for Roman clothing. The cheaper colors of yellow were produced from Woad. Woad was a European herb (Isatis tinctoria) of the mustard family grown for the blue dyestuff yielded by its leaves - cultivated as a source of blue dye. The leaves were dried, crushed and composted with manure. The dye was produced through fermentation over several weeks. Used to produce Roman clothing cloth dyed in various colors and shades of blue.

That's for yellow dye right? No? Blue!?

Sumptuary Laws

Some of the Rules

Saffron Yellow

The Roman Sumptuary Laws ensured that the clothes that the Romans wore provided information about the status of the person. This was dictated by the wealth of the person and reflected their social standing. For instance, only Roman citizens were allowed to wear the Toga.

• Only the Emperor was allowed to wear the 'trabea' which was a toga entirely colored in purple
• Only the augurs were allowed to wear a saffron toga
• The number of stripes on the tunic (clavus) were regulated according to social rank
• Only Roman matrons (married women) were allowed to wear a stola
• Prostitutes and women condemned for adultery, were not permitted to wear the stola and therefore called togatae
• Emperor Honorius (d. 423) issued a decree prohibiting men from wearing "barbarian" trousers in Rome

This is the female part of the saffron plant that would be used. Since the only way of extraction is to pick it by hand, Saffron was exceptionally expensive, led only by the imperial purple dyes.

To put that price in perspective this one ounce tin of Iranian saffron is $139 in today's money!

The rich, colorfast, color of yellow was produced by using an expensive dye used for Roman clothing. The yellow saffron dye comes from the bright red stigmas of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) which was found in areas of the Mediterranean including Spain and Greece . The Crocus sativus stigmas are the female part of the flower and saffron dye was produced by drying these and boiling with other plants then drying to produce the vibrant yellow colors.

Indigo (the redder blue or bluer purple?)

MAD SHADES OF RED

Rose Madder is the common name for the most abundant of Rome's richer color dyes. Extracted from the common madder plant Rubia tinctorum, this color was one of the cheapest dyes one could obtain. Like many other dyes it must ferment before its use, for as long as 28 months according to Ancient Egyptian writings. This plant produces many different shades of red from a mild orange-red to dark brown to pink.

The color of indigo was produced by using an expensive dye. Indigo dye held colors fast and this rich color was worn by the wealthy and should not to be confused with the color blue which was produced by using cheap blue dye obtained from plants such as woad. The source was the indigo plants (Indigofera tinctoria of India) and the dye was imported from India at great expense. Indigo dye and its rich colors were produced by a process of fermentation, filtering and finally drying into cakes of dye.

Black

The madder plant.

At such an expense you were certainly hoping this cake was not a lie.

While specifics on how to obtain black dye are not listed by many, in early Rome it was quite popular to dye your hair black. Pliny the Elder states that black is far more preferred than red. He also goes to explain how he gets his black dyes, he would soak rotted leeches in red wine for 40 days.

Crimson

Green

EWWWW!

Crimson, or Kermes, was a rather expensive shade of red. obtained from the dried bodys of insects (Kermes vermilio Planchon and Kermes ilicis), that were found on the Kermes oak. This dried insect powder dates back to ancient egyptian times, where the dried dead body would , once again. ferment then be dried and used as crimson dye.

Green, the by far most common of color dyes available and the least valued by the 'cool kids of Ancient Rome'. It was most commonly acessed from Lichen, a very common plant that grows on trees and rocks. From this plant they could achieve many shades of green from the fermented Lichen. While not as popularly stated it was commonly used in clothing.

Kermes Oak

Bibliography

Video Link on Dying Process

"Roman Sumptuary Laws." Roman Sumptuary Laws. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.

"Tyrian Purple." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Nov. 2014. Web. 13 May 2014.

"Colouring Fabrics and Other Materials." Dyeing Fabrics and Leather. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.

"Royal Purple - Elite Purple Dye of Roman and Medieval Period, Royal Purple." About.com Archaeology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.

Gannon, By Megan. "Lost 'Biblical Blue' Dye Possibly Found in Ancient Fabric." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 01 Jan. 2014. Web. 13 May 2014.