More specifically, it refers to “something that shall be boiled”. From a linguistic point of view, it is maintained that the word purple is directly derived from the Greek verb “porphyro”, which means to boil, a linguistic form of the Greek verb “phyro”. More recent theories, however, have rejected the myths and traditions linking the name of the Phoenicians to the discovery of Tyrian Purple.

The Phoenicians, who were the main producers of imperial purple in the 1st millennium BC, were also the principal traders of purple textiles. The shells of the Lebanese coast are also connoted. Perhaps this is why the early historians of ancient Greece used the word Phoenix to connote the meaning of “red”, in addition to that of the Phoenician national origin. Other myths portray King Phoenix, the brother of Europa and Cadmus of Thebes, as the founder of the city of Tyre, where the very best purple fabrics were made.

According to Pollux, this took place seven generations before the Trojan War. After observing the dog, nymph Phoenicia had discovered how to produce the Tyrian Purple colour. According to mythological tradition (Pollux – Onomasticon I, 45), Hercules’ dog turned red while chewing on a murex snail.

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