(itOi^i(r/^//ic-(i/ nistribntiott of the Slull-rinflc hidiislry. i \ 



The search for the pr.rplf-hcaiir.j^- shell-fish seems to 

 have been one of the moti\es which lead the Thojiiicians 

 to explore areas further afield than their own immediate 

 shores. The .Kgean and the shores of Asia Minor were 

 visited b\- these ancient mariners, and Important fisheries 

 were established at several places both here and elsewhere 

 around the Mediterranean. 



Many of their stations are made known to us b}' 

 ancient writers, but the evidence of the existence of 

 others rests upon the discoveries of heaps of broken 

 shells. 



In Asia Minor fisheries for [)urj)lc-shells are cited b\' 

 Aristotle -' on the coasts of Caria, and the Kdict of 

 Diocletian mentions the purple cloths of Miletus.'" There 

 were purple d}eworks also at l'hoc;e.i in l,\-dia,-' and at 

 Hierapolis in rhr}'gia.'"' In Troas shells were fished at 

 Lectnm and at Sigeum," and one of the islands of the 

 Propontis ( Sea of Marmora ) was known as Porphyrione. ' 

 Vitruvius mentions the purple of I'ontus.^ In the /Egean 

 Sea the islands noted for purple were ]\hodes,''' Nisyros 

 (formerly Porphyris),'' Coos, Amorgos an.d Chios.""' 

 According to Herodotus, Itanus, at the eastern extremity 



-• Aristotle, ///>/. An., v., 15, ^. In ;lic lime (if Ildimr iIk- \Minicn 

 "I Caria trafficked in purple (//. iv., 141 1, 



- ' Edict. Diocl., 24, 6 «S: 7. 



-" Ovid, Met., vi., 9. Thvaurii in Lydia w:is celebrated for\ils purple- 

 dyeinii i</ Homer, //. iv., 141) : at Philippi a seller of purple fioni Thyatira 

 was convened by St. Paul (./</.>, 16, 14). 



"" cf. Hesnier, op. tit., p. 775. 



(.\i Coos, cliitii- were probably d>'-d 



