The Price of Purple
- Timothy Harolds
- Jun 5
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 13
"They dressed Him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and put it on Him. And they began to salute Him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'" Mark 15:17-18
When reading the Bible, the color of someone’s robe, tassel, or yarn might seem like a trivial detail. Especially in a modern, Western civilization, colors generally carry no universal significance. However, looking through the eyes of an Ancient Near Eastern or even Roman civilization may put this in another perspective. Throughout ancient history, the color purple was found many times in the robes of kings and incorporated in temple decor. In this article, we will dive into the historical and possible theological significance of the color by exploring its origin and use in ancient times.
The Color’s Origin
This particular color traces its roots back to the ancient Canaanite civilization, known for inhabiting the land that would later belong to the tribes of Israel. One thing about this civilization is that “the names ‘Canaanite’ and ‘Phoenician’ were used interchangeably since they were a single people…”¹ The name ‘Phoenician’ was given by the Greeks and is derived from the Greek ‘φοινικοῦς’ (phoinikous) meaning "purple’ or ‘crimson"². This is because “the Phoenicians worked in purple dye and thus were also called by the Greeks ‘purple people’.”³ “…the Phoenician coastland was the habitat of varieties possessing pre-eminent fast colors.”⁴ This made Ancient Phoenicia, and specifically the city of Tyre, known for its colorful dyes, especially purple. “If you were looking for the purple dye, then you had to go to this particular place.”⁵ The Bible attests this fact in the book of Ezekiel when he is prophesying to the city of Tyre, saying, “your awning was of blue and purple fabric from the coasts of Elishah” (Ezek 27:7).
Production Process
The production process was unlike our modern methods. The purple pigments were extracted from certain Muricidae sea snails in the Mediterranean and nearby waters. To create this purple dye, ancient Phoenicians would crush sea snails to reach a special gland inside. Although the fluid from the gland started out colorless, once it was punctured and exposed to air and light, the fluid slowly changed, revealing a surprising sequence of colors. The color shifted from white to yellow, then green, and finally became a rich purple. This process happened much more quickly when the fluid was placed in direct sunlight.⁶ The "Royal Purple" that emerged from this process would generally be something within a range of deep red-black to violet.⁷
Royal Purple
Royal Purple was a status symbol to the ancients. "The procedure used to extract the oil was a bit complex and expensive. Since this process was very expensive, only the rich people could participate in buying the dye.”⁸ For this reason, this purple was used by kings throughout the Near Middle East, for instance “…via temple décor, adornments, and offerings…”⁹—usually depicting wealth, power, and divine status. The Old Testament records this on multiple occasions. In Daniel 5:29–30, Belshazzar, king of Babylon, ordered Daniel to be clothed in purple “…and issued a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.” In Judges 8:22, after their victory over Midian, the people of Israel asked Gideon to become their ruler. Gideon refused and instead asked each of them to give him an earring from their plunder. In addition to the gold, they presented “…the purple garments on the kings of Midian…” (Judg 8:26). Using all that the people brought to him, “Gideon made an ephod [a sleeveless garment worn by Jewish priests] from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown…” (Judg 8:27).
Imperial Rome
When we fast-forward to the New Testament, Imperial Roman times, we find the same pattern. Around AD 77, Roman author and army commander Pliny the Elder wrote in his Natural History: “…it is this [purple from Tyre] that distinguishes the senator from the man of equestrian rank; by persons arrayed in this colour are prayers addressed to propitiate the gods…”¹⁰ For this reason, “the wearing of royal purple robes in Imperial Roman times…was forbidden by harsh laws to all but the inner circle of the ruling classes.”¹¹
Foreign Royalty
An interesting observation in Scripture is that all of these examples involve foreign royalty, rather than Israelite-Judean royalty. Most of the biblical references encompass rulers from the regions surrounding Israel (e.g. Mesopotamia & Rome). In fact, in all of Scripture, there is no Israelite or Judahite king recorded wearing purple. Some suggest this might have been “to emphasise a distinction between them and the divine.”¹² In the Ancient Near Eastern region, it was not uncommon for rulers to associate with divine powers. “Purple in the Mesopotamian texts consistently occurs in divine spheres – that is, associated with the gods…”¹³ Because the people of Israel and Judah believed in one sovereign God, their monotheistic worldview may have kept their kings from embracing the color purple, knowing its symbolic and religious weight in surrounding nations. On the occasion when they failed to do so, such as with Gideon, it led to idol worship and rebellion against Yahweh, resembling the worship performed by the nations around them.
When Purple Was Used
There was one occasion when the people of Yahweh did consistently use purple. In giving His people the blueprint for the tabernacle, God commanded Moses to “…construct the tabernacle itself with 10 curtains. You must make them of finely spun linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with a design of cherubim worked into them” (Exod 26:1). Again for the ephod of the high priest, the woven waistband was instructed to be of “…gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and of finely spun linen” (Exod 28:8). Several other times, the instructions involve blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. In Exodus chapter 25, God starts off by introducing these attributes as an “…offering from everyone who is willing to give,” which makes perfect sense in light of the high cost of these colored yarns, most likely produced in Tyre. Considering the symbolic meaning of purple, God may have commanded it to depict His divine power and status as their King.
Blue
The meaning of blue is not explicitly found in Scripture, so any interpretation remains speculative. What we know is that the color blue appears in Numbers 15:37-41 and is prescribed to be the color of the cord on the tassels that the Israelites had to wear on the corners of their garments. This was for them to “…remember all the Lord’s commands and obey them…” Commenting on this passage, the Talmud suggests that the color blue “is similar in its color to the sea, and the sea is similar to the sky, and the sky is similar to the Throne of Glory…” (Exod 24:10). Although this idea looks somewhat far-fetched and is, as far as we know, only the claim of one Jewish Rabbi, this book does generally present Jewish belief and tradition.
Scarlet
Although we usually see the pattern: blue, purple, and scarlet, we find a variation to this when Solomon is building the temple, specifically the Most Holy Place. Here we find that “he made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen…” (2 Chr 3:14). Interestingly enough, the colors scarlet and crimson appear symbolically in the first chapter of Isaiah.
“Come, let us discuss this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Both of these colors are associated with the sin of humanity and are contrasted with the purity of stainless white.
Biblical Significance
The records of the Bible align with ancient studies, arguing that in the Ancient Near Eastern (Old Testament) and Imperial Roman (New Testament) world, purple was commonly used by kings, especially those claiming to carry divine status. The kings of Israel and Judah abstained from associating with this color. This, in connection with their monotheistic beliefs, implies they understood its significance. The only times this color was prescribed by Yahweh, it seems to depict God’s divinity and kingship. Scripture does not lay out a clear explanation of what each color was intended to represent. However, it is very likely that, considering the purpose and contents of the tabernacle, God used colors like purple, blue, scarlet, and crimson to prefigure Jesus as the divine King, the Word made flesh, Who was going to carry our sin to the cross.
Recommended readings (affiliates)
Footnotes
G. C. Jensen, “The Royal Purple of Tyre,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 22, no. 2 (1963): 114.
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1062–1063.
History Titans, Ancient Canaanites: The Civilization of Canaan before the Israelites, Introduction, Kindle ed. (Independently published, 2019), Amazon link.
Jensen, “Royal Purple of Tyre,” 106.
History Titans, Ancient Canaanites, chap. 1.
Zvi C. Koren, “Chromatographic Investigations of Purple Archaeological Bio-Material Pigments Used as Biblical Dyes,” MRS Proceedings 1374 (2012): 30–31, https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2012.1376.
Jensen, “Royal Purple of Tyre,”113.
History Titans, Ancient Canaanites, chap. 1..
Ellena Lyell, “Perceptions of Power: Purple in Archaic Greek, Ancient Mesopotamian Inscriptions, and the Hebrew Bible,” AVAR 1, no. 2 (2022): 295, https://doi.org/10.33182/aijls.v1i2.2250.
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 9.60, trans. John Bostock, at Perseus Digital Library, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Nat.+9.60.
Jensen, “Royal Purple of Tyre,”: 104.
Lyell, “Perceptions of Power,” 299–300, https://doi.org/10.33182/aijls.v1i2.2250.
Ibid. 295
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