Two species of sea snail were used, Murex trunculus and Murex brandaris. The dye itself was not particularly complicated to make, but the process was labor-intensive. Since a murex shell is only about one and one-half inches long, it is clear that these shell piles represent the industry's use of millions of sea snails. Huge piles even a hill of murex shells have been found around the sites of the dye works, indicating the great productivity of the dye workers. Here, locally woven white linen, silk, and wool fabrics were colored in vats cut out of rock.
The cities of Tyre and Sidon were the main centers of the Phoenicians’ famous dyeing industry. Purple-dyed clothing, then, was a luxury usually reserved for kings. Since each murex produced only a few drops of dye, however, fabrics colored by the murex were extremely expensive.
It was then processed to produce the color known as Tyrian purple. The source of this dye was a small sea snail, the murex, which was collected in vast quantities from the warm Mediterranean waters just off the Phoenician coast. Perhaps the most unusual of their commodities was one of their own natural resources, rare and beautiful purple dye.
As the ancient world's greatest sea traders, the Phoenicians dealt in a variety of fabulous items.
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