Born To The Purple 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Tyre, which is located in modern day Lebanon, is one of the oldest, most continuously inhabited cities in the world. It was founded as a Phoenician city sometime between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, although historians believe that people had been living at the site since the Bronze Age. After the great historian Herodotus visited the city c. 450 BC, he wrote that he had been told that the city had been occupied for 2300 years. The city's first historic king, Hiram I, who was mentioned in the Old Testament, is credited with making Tyre the leader among all of the Phoenician city-states around 969 BC, especially in the areas of trade and shipbuilding.

According to the Greek tragedian Aeschylus, the mythological King Agenor was born in Egypt, one of the twin sons of Poseidon and Libya. While his brother stayed and ruled Egypt, Agenor went to rule Tyre, according to Apollodorus. Herodotus vaguely said that Agenor was born 1600-1000 years before his visit to Tyre; according to the historian Malalas, Agenor ruled Tyre for sixty-three years.

Europa was the daughter of Agenor for whom the continent of Europe is named. The story is that Zeus was infatuated by Europa's beauty and decided to try and seduce her. He turned himself into a white bull, which, of course, was noticed by Europa and her ladies as they picked flowers. When Europa got on his back, he ran to the sea and took her to Crete, making her the first queen of the island. There she gave birth to their son, King Minos.

King Agenor, enraged by his daughter's abduction, sent all his sons out to look for her. While the "Illiad" clearly states that Phoenix was Europa's father, other sources claim he was her brother. With his other siblings he searched high and low for his sister, and when she was not found, he returned to Tyre and eventually became king.

John Malalas, a Byzantine scholar from the 5th century AD, wrote the main part of the story contained within the quiz. He said Heracles the Tyrian was the man who actually discovered the purple dye while walking with his dog on the beach. According to ancient sources, Heracles was the Greek name that was given to the Phoenician god Melqart, who was the guardian of Tyre.

It makes sense that such an important god would discover the secret of making the precious purple dye. And - while making it appear that all the dog had to do was bite the shell to retrieve the dye - the story preserved the secret of making the precious cloth, which was only known to other Phoenicians who were experts at making the famous purple dye.

The shell that was used to make the dye came from a sea snail called the murex. When alarmed or attacked, it secretes the mucus that was the raw material used for the dye. It was a very long, tedious process - not nearly as easy as just biting into the shell.

Finely woven cloth made of wool, cotton, linen, and silk was an important item of trade in Tyre, and the other Phoenician city-states as well. Raw materials needed to manufacture the textiles came from many different locations. The finished product wasn't better than what people could weave in other areas, but what made it special was that it was highly decorated - either with embroidery or beautiful colors. While it may seem perplexing that the Phoenicians and other ancients thought that purple could look like blood, I must remind you that Phoenician purple was really more crimson in color than the purple we know today. So - whenever you see nobles in the old movies portrayed as wearing today's purple - they didn't get it right.

A shepherd thought the dog was bleeding (another smart move to tie the story into the local wool manufacturing industry), and rushed forward with some cloth to wipe the wound. What a surprise when, after dabbing the wound, the cloth turned out to be a beautiful color! The shepherd gave the cloth to Heracles, who, in all his wisdom, took it to King Phoenix. He liked it so much that he wanted to have a cloak made with it. He proclaimed that only the people who ruled Phoenicia could wear the color, as they were the only ones "born to the purple".

The Phoenicians, who took their name from King Phoenix, weren't the only ones who restricted the use of the special cloth. In the first place, it was expensive, so only the wealthy could afford the price. Nobles and priests could be seen wearing it until it was legislated by law - in places like Imperial Rome and the Byzantine Empire - that only the leader's family could wear it. Originally, it was so restricted that only those who were born while the leader was ruler could wear the cloth, so that left out some members of the family who were born too soon, so to speak. Later, any of the ruler's children were given the right.

Please be sure to check out the cover photo. It is called "The Discovery of Purple by Hercules's Dog" (c. 1636) by Theodoor van Thulden. You can clearly see the dye on the animal's mouth; however, the artist didn't use the correct seashell: murex are spiny creatures. Peter Paul Rubens had a similar creation called "Hercules' Dog Discovers Purple Dye", which was done around the same time. Some versions of the story say the dog belonged to the shepherd rather than the philosopher!