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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

DYE, DYEING, DYER

Method of coloring textiles practiced in the Near East with natural materials even before the time of the patriarch Abraham. The Bible mentions four colors of dyes: purple, blue (actually a shade of violet), crimson, and scarlet. The purple and blue dyes were extracted from small murex shellfish found along the Phoenician coast. The dye, a glandular secretion of the mollusk, changed color on exposure to air from whitish-yellow to red, violet, or purple, depending on how it was treated. Because that dye was costly to produce, only the rich could afford purple clothing; purple, therefore, became a symbol of royalty and luxury. The dye was commonly known as “Tyrian purple” because the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon were the major suppliers (Ez 27:16).

Crimson and scarlet were among several shades of bright red obtained from the kermes insect, a grub that feeds on a species of oak growing in southern Europe and Asia Minor. Some Syrian dyers still use the kermes in spite of the availability of artificial European dyes. The “tanned rams’ skins” mentioned in Exodus 25:5 are still made in Syria. The tanned skin is rubbed with dye made by boiling the kermes in water. When dry, the skin is oiled, polished, and used for Bedouin slippers and other beautiful leather articles.

The “purple goods” sold by Lydia of Thyatira (Acts 16:14) were actually a dull red, now sometimes called “Turkey red.” It was produced from the root of the madder plant, both for export to Europe and for local use in dyeing cotton and wool for rugs and clothing. Cultivation of madder was a major industry in Cyprus and Syria. A father customarily planted a new madder field for each son born, which would eventually be that son’s inheritance. Thyatira had a dyers’ guild.