Purple: From Snails To Emperors

There is always hierarchy, even when it comes to colours. Purple is a great example. It was the dominant colour for Pagans, then adopted by the Roman emperors, then by the Catholic Church and also monarchs.

The reason was more economic than aesthetic. Purple used to be the most expensive dye to produce. In the city of Tyre, currently in Lebanon, thousands of tiny Mediterranean sea snails called the murex had to be found, removed from shells and left to soak. Then a tiny gland was removed and the juice extracted and put in a basin, which was placed in the sunlight. The juice would slowly turn white under the sunlight, then yellow-green, then green, then violet, then a red that turned darker and darker. The process had to be stopped at exactly the right time to obtain the desired colour.

BBC Radio Four’s weekly religious podcast ‘Beyond Belief’ examines the social and religious meaning and implications of the colour purple. The guests are Right Reverend Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Ripon, the Jewish artist and colour expert Nicola Green, and the British Classicist and art historian Professor Robin Cormac, who is an expert on Byzantine and Islamic art. There is also a surprise guest: a purple-haired witch who shares her views on why purple matters so much to the witchcraft.