Phoenician Purple Dye Industry - Term Paper Example

?Your Phoenician Purple Dye Industry There is no generally accepted definition of Phoenicians as people on basis of an acknowledged territory they owned, overall cultural and historical background, and an adequately homogeneous language they spoke. The subject of Phoenician background remained controversial due to a range of different theses. However, these theses don’t elaborate the perception about Phoenicians rather lead to confusions and misunderstandings among scholars due to their assumed nature (Moscati 17).This paper studies the Phoenician origin, and their trade in particular the purple dye and its manufacturing practice. Phoenician culture and their origin is the primary source of conflict. Some believe that the origin dates back to 2nd or 3rd millennium B.C., while others attribute early Iron Age (around 1200 B.C.) as Phoenician origin. Uncertainties about their name probably led to the uncertainties about their origin as well. There are instances when references for the Phoinikes for people and Phoinike for region were identified in as far back as Homeric times. There is a definite association between these terms and common noun phoinix, which refers to “purple-red” and stems from traditional Phoenician purple dying industry. There is a possibility that the name was used earlier, may be occasionally, in the 2nd millennium B.C. in Mycenaean writings. It is because the feminine adjective po-ni-ki-ja meaning “red” that refers to a chariot was also used in Mycenaean time (Moscati 17). The concept of nationality or national unity was quite blurring among Phoenicians. Therefore, there were no commonly established which distinguish the cities. In 3rd millennium B.C., the term “Canaanited” was used to refer people and “Canaan” to refer the region, but it refers to the whole Syro-Palestinian region. The term is also used to denote Phoenicians, in particular, in the Old Testament, and it reside on the Mediterranean areas. Later, Saint Augustine said that the peasants attributed themselves as Kena’ani while talking about the people of Africa. Ancient wedge-shaped text reveals that the word “Canaan” is also attributed with the idea of “purple-red”. However, the term “Canaanites” may hold a broader meaning than the term “Phoenician”. Undoubtedly, it refers to Phoenicians sometimes, however, it does not refer to them alone (Moscati 17).Furthermore, Moscati states that: It is quite different thing with another name “Sidonians,” which is actually too specific: both in Homer and in the Bible, it is used to denote the Phoenicians as a whole, but it seems obvious that this is because of the suzerainty at some time, in some place of the city from which the name derives, Sidon. In other words, it is an extended meaning, a linguistic phenomenon that once again emphasized the lack of unity awareness among the Phoenicians. (18) Phoenicians as Nation Around 1200 B.C., until the early days of Iron Age, Syro-Palestinian history does not distinguish centers on the coasts which constitute Phoenicia, from the centers in the interior. There was no substantial differentiation is made in coasts and hinterland. The language, religion, or craftsmanship was also not distinguished to a considerable extent. It refer to the Phoenicians who have Syrian civilization in the broader sense, therefore Syro-Palestinian is more common term rather than Phoenicians(Moscati 18).While talking about the reason of Phoenician isolation from the hinterland, Moscati states that: For the very reason they were isolated and concentrated together along the coastline, the cities that we can now rightly call Phoenician strengthened the links among themselves and worked more closely together in  reciprocal affairs. Moreover, the closure of the hinterland, or the difficulty of expanding inland (we are obviously talking of commercial which was always typical of coastal cities) led to new paths being opened, paths towards the western Mediterranean. Thus began the great phenomenon of colonization: sporadic visits at first, and then true colonization, an outstanding feature of the Phoenician age, a phenomenon that was quite absent in pre-Phoenician times. And with it came encounters and clashes with the expansion of Greece, and therefore an interrelated Mediterranean situation. (19) Furthermore, invention and dissemination of the alphabet, emergence of new divinities, assertion of different linguistic elements with the evolution of complex languages spoken in the region, and increasing influence of Egyptian crafts were among various factors that made Phoenician into an autonomous civilization from 1200 B.C. onwards. It is crucial to note that Phoenician civilization emerged as a result of new events which transformed the contingent circumstances. It might sound paradoxical, Phoenician civilization was a continuation not an emergence as a result of innovation taking place in surrounding areas. In this way, we can analyze the phenomenon of continuity and innovation which gave rise to the Phoenician nation, though people remained stick to the city-state structure and ignored actual unity (Moscati 18). Geographical Boundaries    While considering their geographical boundaries and cities, Markoe writes that Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Arwad were all rival cities and were entirely independent. They never collaborated with each other except in rare instances of threats. The Old Testament describe about Trrians, Sidonians, Byblians, and Arvadites. There is no single reference of Phoenician confederation or any kind of state. The commonalities between them remained hidden even today (p.10).In geographical terms, Markoe further states: [Geographically] the Phoenicians are no more easily defined. According to the ancient classical authors, they occupied the entire Levantine coast between the Suez and the Gulf of Alexandretta. In actuality, however, their heartland was considerably smaller, consisting of a narrow coastal strip between the Lebanon Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea stretching from northern Palestine to southern Syria-a slightly extended version of modern Lebanon. The dichotomy suggests that the term “Phoenician” in antiquity was broadly applied to any Semitic sea-trader. (pp. 10-11) The above confusion may lead to the reality because unlike their Syrian or Palestinian counterparts, Phoenicians were more of a confederation of traders rather than a state defined by its geographical boundaries. Phoenician empire was not a piece of land but a random distribution of merchant communities. Maritime trade rather than land or geographic boundaries shaped their sphere (Markoe 11). The Lost Civilization Phoenicians civilization can be attributed as lost in various respects. The histories and mythologies that they recorded on papyrus in a diligent manner disappeared due to human or environment caused interventions. There is no single Phoenician manuscript in its original or translated form which is survived. The great libraries of Tyre and Carthage vanished due to Roman invasion or Macedonian fatal accident. It seems ironic that the people who gave alphabet to the West left very little as their legacy in written form (Markoe 11). Phoenician Commerce and Trade Phoenician trading capabilities took them away from home markets. During eighth century B.C.E when Greeks revived and dominated commerce in the region again, Phoenicians have to expand their markets, therefore, they moved toward west and started shipping goods to the whole Mediterranean and discovered the ways from one region to another (Marston 16).With surplus amounts of cedar wood and monopoly in purple dye industry, Phoenician merchant empire started to establish after 2000 BCE. Enterprising and hardworking Phoenicians quickly realized that terrestrial caravans would not let them realize their ambitious dreams. They needed to reach other countries around Mediterranean Sea within the shortest time through their ships. Phoenicians didn’t need to horn their maritime skills from scratch as they remained fishermen on Persian Gulf during their early days. They were aware of the art of seamanship and equipped with the techniques of navigation (McNeil 128). Phoenicians are known for their maritime traditions, and the technique they used for building ships with a keeled hull. These particular skills opened their ways in the sea, another inherent skill of enterprising combined here to make them flourishing traders(Khalaf).Phoenicians also carried out transit trade, especially in the manufactured products from Egypt and Babylonia(Herodotus qtd. in Khalaf).Regular trade routes from the territories of the Euphrates and Trigris led to the Mediterranean. Phoenician traders quickly strengthened in Egypt. They were the only ones who maintained a profitable trading relationship in the times of anarchy, such as, the 22nd and 23rd dynasties (945-c.730BC). Phoenicians didn’t have colony in Egypt, however, the Tyrians had their own residences in Memphis. Arabian caravan trade of spices, perfumes, and incense had to pass through Phoenicians in order to reach Greece and West (Herodotus qtd. in Khalaf).Explaining about Phoenician’s role in trade, Khalaf states that: The role that tradition especially assigns to the Phoenicians as the merchants of the Levant was first developed on a considerable scale at the time of the Egyptian 18th dynasty. The position of Phoenicia, at a junction of both land and sea routes, under the protection of Egypt, favored this development, and the discovery of the alphabet and its use and adaptation for commercial purposes assisted the rise of a mercantile society…an Egyptian tomb of the 18th dynasty depicted seven Phoenician merchant ships…to sell their goods, including the distinctive Canaanite wine jars in which wine, a drink foreign to the Egyptians, was imported. (Khalaf para.3) Phoenician merchants were the subject of stories as, Werket-el of Tanis in the Nile Delta, the merchant who owned 50 ships and sailed between Tanis and Sidon. Sidonians were famously attributed as traders, pirates, craftsman, and slave dealers in Homer poems (qtd. in Khalaf).Furthermore; prophet of Ezekiel (chapters 27, 28) recorded the wide-spread nature of its commerce in his famous denunciation of Tyre (qtd. in Khalaf). Export goods from Phoenicia included Tyrian purple dyed clothes, cedar and pine wood, fine linen of Tyre, Sidon’s embroideries, Byblos, Berytos, glazed faience, metalwork and glass, dried fish, salt, and wine. In return of these exports, they import raw materials which include, ivory, silk, amber, papyrus, ostrich eggs, ebony, incense, horses, precious stones, jewels, spices, gold, silver, tin, copper, and iron(Khalaf para.4). Phoenicians Influence and Mediterranean world Phoenician started emerging as a seafaring, manufacturing, and trading nation when Cretans, who was the early master of Mediterranean, was defeated by Greeks. Phoenicians not only exported fine wares of Eastern countries to the Western barbarians, but they also acquired the skills of producing such wares on their own. In particular, they learnt metalwork, glass, and cloth making. One of the most significant Phoenician contributions is a syllabic writing which they invented in 1000 BC at Byblos. Greek word biblia (books) and subsequent English word, Bible are originated from this city’s name (Guisepi). Phoenicia had two great cities, Sidon which was the hub of glass industry, and Tyre, which was the centre of Tyrian dye industry. During 10th century, Tyre became the leading city of Phoenicia. Friendly relations were established and promoted with Hebrews, and King Solomon. The good relationship was maintained not only for importing materials, but also for getting skilled workers in order to build the temple. Despite the fact that there were no major Phoenician settlements were there in north of Arvad, Phoenician influence reached into Cilicia in the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. There are uncertainties around the emergence of Phoenician culture in twelfth and eleventh centuries B.C. With the collapse of major Mediterranean civilizations, trade was affected in Late Bronze Age. In the aftermaths of such collapse and destruction, Phoenicia emerged as a flourishing settlement in order to fill the created power vacuum. Phoenicians replaced the major centers, such as, Ugarit on north Syrian coast. Now rather than being importers of Aegean wares, Phoenician cities started exporting goods and services (Guisepi).When it comes to politics and war, Guisepi states that: The Phoenicians supplied the great Persian fleets with which Darius and Xerxes attacked Greece…they submitted readily to foreign conquerors and paid tribute. In return they were allowed to pursue their commercial enterprise... Alexander the Great took tyre in 332 BC… greatest sieges of history. In 64 BC Phoenicians came under the control of the Romans. (Para. 6) Phoenician Purple Dye From ancient times, Phoenicians came up with the most successful biotechnological industries. They manufactured and sold royal purple dye or Tyrian which proved to be the longest-lasting business venture throughout history. Phoenicians established their early dye settlement on now known as Lebanese coast in about 1600 B.C. Tyrian purple was the most beautiful purple hue that colored wool quickly. It was very expensive, therefore, it established as a sought-after symbol of wealth and elegance. With the expansion of Tyrian purple market, Phoenicians expanded the manufacturing process to other sites as well. They took purple dye to every reachable land throughout Mediterranean by their ships and sent it to other lands through Middle East. Initially Phoenicians found eager customers in Egypt and Etruria, later the eagerness also shifted in Greeks and Romans. Tyrian purple is very crucial in Jewish tradition as there are a few Biblical references to it as well. The demand for purple dye was as high that it exceeded the supply for centuries, this scenario guaranteed that the price will always remain as high. Throughout its long history, there were the times when Tyrian purple was sold for ten to twenty times of its weight in gold (Agosta 136-137). The cost involved in manufacturing the Tyrian purple limited it to only rich and royals who could afford it. At that time, it became a symbol of wealth and especial prerogative of state officials of higher rank and ecclesiastics. With the arrival of Romans, the access to purple dye became even more restricted. In the first century, Nero ordained that only emperor might wear Tyrian purple garments. The obsession reached its climax in his reign as he declared death penalty for violating this order. Though, the later emperors disregarded this law, however, the influence stayed. During fourth century, Romans nationalized the purple dye industry; they limited the manufacturing of purple dye to only imperial dying factories. The purple die industry flourished until the demise of Roman Empire in fifth century. Later, it completely disappeared after the Ottoman invasion in fifteenth century (Agosta 138). The Secret Source of Tyrian dye For centuries, Phoenicians maintained their monopoly on the purple dye industry by concealing the source of Tyrian purple. However, it finally revealed in about A.D. 60, when a complete process of manufacturing the purple dye and its source was elaborated in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History. Pliny revealed that the Tyrian purple source is sea snail. Though, he elaborated the process in different terms, there are several marine snails which produce a secretion that was utilized as precursor chemical for preparing dye. The chemical undergoes slow process of chemical changes when exposed to light and oxygen, and the chemical process lead to the formation of Tyrian purple (Agosta 137). According to another account, Phoenicians observed thousands and thousands of shellfish. Legend reveals it that a dog owner observed the purple stream of liquid coming out of the shell that his dog bit. Phoenicians were not amongst those who wasted anything, due to their curious nature, they started experimenting that what can be done with shellfish in order to convert its massive amounts into some marketable product. This pervasiveness paid them surprising amounts of dividends for centuries (McNeil 127). The origin of dye’s source seems to be unusual; however, discovering it does not seems to be as unusual. During Phoenician period, snails were common food item. During food preparation, there must be frequent instances when people get exposed to snails’ dye-forming secretions. They might have unintentionally stained their hands with the color made from the secretion. Phoenicians were not alone when it comes to discovering the source of purple dye. Snails are common in coastal areas, and ancient Chinese and Peruvians both discovered the dye independently and used it for quite long (Agosta 137). Manufacturing process of the purple dye There are two families of shellfish which were found to be providing the secretion for producing purple dye, the Murex and the Purpura. The liquid was extracted and distilled into usable color dye which varied in color from blue to deep crimson. Clothing which is dyed in this dye exhibit vibrant and long lasting colors. The purple dye, in particular, became famous and transformed the port city where its manufacturing factories were located and Phoenicians into rich and wealthy people (McNeil 127). There are two known ways in which Phoenicians acquired dye from mollusks. In the first one, a hole was made in the side of the shell, and fish was completely removed. The remaining pouch contained the coloring secretions or liquids. The liquids are inside a vein like structure which starts from the animal head and by twisting with the spiral shell, it ends on tortuous line. The secretions were very carefully extracted when the animal is still alive or immediately after death. It is because any delay in extraction of the liquid proved to be negatively affecting the quality of purple dye. This technique was used with the large species of Purpure in which pouch attained a considerable size (qtd. in Guisepi). The second method was used for smaller species. No efforts were made to extract the liquid from sac, but the whole fish with its seashell was pressed to crush. After that, salt was added in a specific proportion (twenty ounces for hundred pounds of pulp), and for three days the material is left for maceration. Then the material is heated, and when the coarse components were removed through repeated skimming, the dye was obtained in the bottom in a liquid state. It was crucial to use lead vessel for the final process because iron or bronze vessel added a certain undesirable tinge to the dye (qtd. in Guisepi). According to Pliny, the Phoenicians used baited wicker baskets in order to catch snails for the dye manufacturing process. During manufacturing, they removed hypobranchial glands and collected them. After that they heated the glandular secretion in large open vessels containing salt water for about ten days. Treating nearly ten thousand mollusks in this way, Phoenicians manufactured about only one gram o Tyrian purple. Therefore, the dye was very rare and expensive. Phoenicians established dye manufacturing factories wherever they identified large beds of snails around Mediterranean. Heaps of uncounted and crushed shells are still found near seacoast that reminds this importance of this lucrative enterprise (Agosta 137). According to Zvi Herman account, “a ten-pound ream of purple silk cost the equivalent of $30,000 in the year 300 CE”(qtd. in McNeil 127).The influence is no doubt deep rooted, as even today, purple is attributed to be a color of royalty. Babies born in royal families during twentieth century are yet characterized as “born to the purple”(qtd. in McNeil 127).Moreover, Roman Catholic bishops who were promoted to the rank of cardinal are said to be “promoted to the purple”(qtd. in McNeil 127).According to Corral, the purple garments were the most prestigious and their value could be attested everywhere. High commercial value of the dye can be estimated by the fact that Hebrew term used for purple was meant as “tribute” in both Ugaritic and Hittite. Hittite texts depict paying tribute to kings in the form of purple garments. Furthermore, their texts also highlight the importance of purple for international relations during that period (132).Consequently, the cost involved in producing the purple colored clothing limited it to only rich and royals who could afford the expensive dye. It became a symbol of wealth and especial for higher rank dignitaries and royals. With slight difference in different era, the influence of color purple fluctuated. Some restricted its use for only emperors while some produced on massive scales. However, the royal associations of the color purple linked with Phoenician purple dye strengthened to the extent that we can find its traces even in 20th century. Work cited Agosta, William.Thieves, Deceivers, and Killers: Tales of Chemistry in Nature. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2001.Print. Corral,A.Martin.Ezekiel’s Oracles Against Tyre: Historical Reality and Motivations.Italia:E.P.I.B.-Roma,2002.Print. Guisepi, R.A. “The Phoenicians: History of the Phoenicians including their cities, kings, cultures, achievements, and contributions to civilization.”history-world.org.History World International, n.d.Web.23 May.2011. Khalaf, G.Salim. “Phoenician Enterprising.”phoenicia.org.Phoenician Canaanite Encyclopedia, 1996.Web.24 May.2011 Markoe, E.Glenn. People of the Past: Phoenicians.Barkeley, Los Angeles, California: British Museum press.2000.Print. McNeil, F.William.Visitors to Ancient America: The Evidence for European and Asian Presence in America Prior to Columbus. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2005.Print. Marston,Elsa. Cultures of the Past: The Phoenicians. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2002.Print. Moscati, Sabatino. “Who were Phoenicians?”The Phoenicians.Ed.Moscati, Sabatino.London & New York: RCS Libri S.p.A.17-20.Print. Read More