Purple dye is extracted from the glands of the molluscs Hexaplex trunculus, Bolinus Brandaris and Stramonita Haemastoma which, through a chemical reaction of photosynthesis, produces hues ranging from dark red to bluish purple colour. The importance of purple dye since ancient times as a status symbol, a sign of royal and religious power is well documented. Less well known is sea silk, a precious fibre derived from the tufts of the pen shell, Pinna nobilis, a UNESCO protected species, with which the mollusc anchors itself to the seabed. These tufts, once cleaned and bleached, take the aspect of golden thread. Only a handful of artisans on Sardinia still have the knowledge of how to work these fibres, the knowledge having been transmitted orally for generations.

In this new review of latest research, 17 papers concentrate on two marine resources used in ancient textile manufacture: shellfish purple dye and sea silk. Papers include the study of epigraphical and historical sources, practical experiments, as well as, highlighting the presence of purple dye in the Mediterranean area in the archaeological data and in new research contexts; linguistic issues pertaining to terminology, archaeological investigation, the study of the physical and chemical properties of sea silk and the step-by-step practical working of sea silk fibres.

The comprehensive multifaceted overview makes this collection a valuable resource for anyone interested in ancient textiles, dyes and textile technology.

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Byssus and sea silk: a linguistic problem with consequences
• 3. Morphology, Properties and Microscopical Identification of Sea Silk
• 4. Tangled threads. Byssus and sea silk in the Bronze Age: an interdisciplinary approach
• 5. Finds of Pinna nobilis, Hexaplex trunculus and evidence for specialized textile production in Aetolian Chalkis
• 6. Taras and sea silk
• 7. Dal bisso grezzo al filato di bisso/From raw sea silk to byssus thread
• 8. Dyeing wool and sea silk with purple pigment from Hexaplex trunculus
• 9. Recent advances in the understanding of the chemistry of Tyrian purple production from Mediterranean molluscs
• 10. Mari(ne) purple: western textile technology in Middle Bronze Age Syria
• 11. The spread of purple dyeing in the Eastern Mediterranean – a transfer of technological knowledge?
• 12. Sacred colours: purple textiles in Greek sanctuaries in the second half of the 1st millennium BC
• 13. “A Lydian chiton with a purple fringe ...”: The gift of the garment to the Hera of Samos and Hera of Sele
• 14. Purple for the masses? Shellfish purple-dyed textiles from the quarry workers’ cemetery at Strozzacapponi (Perugia/Corciano), Italy
• 15. Historical outline and chromatic properties of purpura rubra Tarentina and its potential identification with purple dye extracted from Bolinus brandaris
• 16. “Purple Wars”: fishing rights and political conflicts concerning the production of marine dyes in Hellenistic Greece
• 17. Purpurarii in the Western Mediterranean