How did the color purple come about?

The story begins more than three thousand years ago, on the Mediterranean coast, in the Phoenician coastal city of Tyre. People discovered a very special color – purple. This was a super expensive, exclusive and smelly dye obtained from sea snails.

How did the color purple come about? – The snails were crushed and thoroughly fermented, and it smelled terrible.

The factories were located outside the cities because the smell was so strong that people avoided going near it.

It took thousands of snails to make one gram of purple dye. The snails are collected and crushed to squeeze a drop of whitish fluid from their glands. This, when exposed to air and sunlight, slowly turns yellow, then green… and finally purple – a shade that is not just purple, but alive.

Purple becomes the color of kings and emperors, and only they are allowed to wear it.

Color becomes so sacred that the law forbids the common man from even having access to it. The penalty for adulterating it is death. Color is no longer just an aesthetic – it becomes a symbol of public order.

When the Roman and Byzantine empires fell, so did the power of purple. Synthetic dyes came to the fore, and the skill of producing pure purple almost disappeared. Only a few scholars and historians are still able to recreate the ancient process.

Today we can buy a purple cloth bag or scarf for a few euros. We create digital images in any shade. But real Pure Purple, obtained from Murex snails, still costs hundreds or thousands of euros per gram and is rare – mainly in antique collections or for special rituals.

How did the color purple come about? – with snail sacrifices. They once paid a high price so that we could enjoy the luxury of purple today. Their silent sacrifice has left a lasting mark on culture and history. So a little respect every time you choose shades of purple – it’s not just style, it’s history.