The Greeks reportedly figured the word phoínix to signify a reddish-purple color, an allusion to the purple fabric for which the Phonecians were famed.Īlternatively, as another popular theory goes, the word could also associate with King Phonix, to whom it is attributed the introduction of purple dye in the city of Tyre, one of the earliest Phoenician cities and today also one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities.ġ9-th century depiction of Phoenician sailors and merchants. It was the ancient Greeks who came up with the name “Phonecian,” a designation thought to associate with the color purple. It was a civilization unlike any other as there was no one kingdom by the name Phonecia but a series of cities inhabiting land that spanned the coast of the Levant. The Phoenicians reigned the Mediterranean basis with their mighty triremes during the first millennium B.C.

As it became a symbol of wealth, abundance, and royalty, Phoenician purple also played a crucial role in shaping and defining the economic practices of the Phoenician culture. It required tremendous amounts of resources and extensive labor to produce it.

On the photo, fabrics dyed from different species of sea snail, Photo credit: TeKaBe, CC BY-SA 4.0

Phoenician purple was acquired from sea snails extraction.

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