by Aldus Marius on Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:26 am
Salvete, vestitores!
And yet Colleen McCullough, who has done more reasearch for fun than many academics have done for money, says "Tyrian purple" was more of a carmine (reddish) color. There's good evidence on both sides; and, as Rome did not have the sort of mass-production, all-samples-alike industry that we have, the actual color is likely to have varied from tunic to tunic, toga to toga, according to where and by whom they were made. I would imagine there were regional variations too, depending on the availability and cost of those snails. Too, I've seen a different aquatic snail species cited as the source for the dye. The dye itself was not made from the shells, but from the "ink" inside the snail. Apparently the snails were quite small, and it took a buttload of them to make enough dye for a batch of tunics--re vera, the dye-color may have varied among the individual snails themselves! (How's that for a windy non-answer?) >({|8-)
There's also a perennial argument about the placement of the tunic-stripe. Was there one stripe down the front and back, or one over the right shoulder, or one over each shoulder? (I'm a carmine/two-shoulder sort of fellow; vide the Board's little rank-icons.)
In amicitia et fide,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.