MUItlCID^E. — WHELK. 205 



and that vast heaps of the shells of the Murex had been 

 discovered.* 



Aufrere, in 1 789, describes a hill called Monte Tes- 

 taceo, behind the Alcantarine Convent, at Tarento, 

 consisting chiefly of the shells of Murex brandaris 

 which were supposed to have produced the purple dye,f 

 and according to Dr. Bizio, the Tyrian purple was pro- 

 duced from this Murex brandaris, and the amethystine 

 purple from Murex Iruncnlus. Romulus employed the 

 purple dye for the trabea. It was purple and white, 

 something similar in cut to the toga, and was the royal 

 robe worn by the early kings. Servius mentions two 

 other kinds of trabea besides the one already described, 

 one wholly of purple, which was sacred to the gods, and 

 another of purple and saffron, which belonged to augurs. 

 Julius Cassar appears to have been the first of the Ro- 

 man emperors who wore the toga entirely of purple. 



As long as the Empire of the East lasted, this dye 

 continued to be appropriate to imperial use. Its 

 manufacture seems to have expired with the capture 

 of Constantinople by the Turks, for, in 1464, Pope 

 Paul II. authorized the substitution of scarlet for 

 purple in the vestments of the church. J 



The best purple dye was stated by the ancients to be 

 exceedingly durable ; and when Alexander took pos- 

 session of Susa, he found amongst its treasures 5000 

 talents in weight of purple cloth, from Hermione in 

 the Peloponnesus, which had been laid up there for 180 

 years, and yet retained all the freshness and brilliancy 



* Pliny, « Nat. Hist.' see note, vol. ii. bk. vs.. ch. 63 (39). 

 f Aufrere's ■ Travels.' 



% Schmidt, ' Forschungen/ p. 209, as quoted in ' Phoenicia/ by John 

 Kenrick, M.A. 



