236 On the Economical Uses of some species of Testaceu. 



makes mention of it in several places, and he used much wool of a 

 purple color in the works of the tabernacle, and in the garments of 

 the High Priest.* This the Israelites must have brought out from 

 Egypt with them, and from the quantity in their possession it cannot 

 have been very scarce in that country. It was used as royal robes 

 by the kings of Midian, B. C. 1249 ;t and B. C. 606, the Baby- 

 lonians covered their idols with garments of purple. J At the same 

 time it was also the royal color among these people, and we find that 

 Daniel, after explaining the writing on the wall, as a special mark of 

 favor, was clothed in it.§ Alexander Balus, king of Syria, sent 

 Jonathan Maccabeus a crown of gold, and a purple robe, allowing 

 him to take the tide of king's friend. || The band or Cydaris, which 

 formed the essential part in the old Persian diadem, was composed 

 of a twined substance of purple and white ; and any body below the 

 royal dignity presuming to wear these colors, unsanctioned by the 

 king, was guilty of a transgression of the law deemed equal to high 

 treason. IF 



Although in after times it was almost exclusively known by the 

 name of Tyrian purple, yet it appears to have been only on the de- 

 cline of that great commercial city that it was manufactured there. 

 It is mentioned by Ezekiel,** B. C. 588, as being imported from the 

 Isles of Elisha, (Peloponnesus ;) and Aristotle,ff as late as B. C. 

 340, makes no mention of its being brought from Phoenicia. In his 

 time the best and largest shells were from Sigeum and Lectum on 

 the promontory of Troas, and the smaller and inferior from Euripus 

 and Caria. When, however. Tyre had lost its commerce, and be- 

 come an inferior place, the chief supply of Europe was drawn from 

 it, though we find it imported into Rome from Lacedemon, and 

 manufactures of it in various parts of Italy as late as A. D. 14. J J 

 During the earlier periods of the Roman republic it was solely worn 

 by the kings and patricians, but in later times Pliny§§ informs us that 



* Exodus XXV. 14. xxviii. 5 — 6. Josephus, Act. Jud. lib. iii. c. vii. § 7. 



t Judges viii. 26. t Jeremiah x. 9. Baruch vi. 12. § Daniel v. 7. 



II Maccabees i. 20. These references are from Calmet's Dictionary, Art. Pur- 

 ple, where they are distinctly understood to refer to the dye from the shell. 



H Sir Robert Ker Porter's Travels in Georgia, &c. Volume ii. p. 154, quoted in 

 Home's Introd. to the Holy Scriptures, Vol. i. ch. iii. sec. 3. § 3. 



** Ezekiel xvii. 7. tt Aristot. de Hist. Animal, lib. v. cap. 15. 



W Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, Vol. i. p. 124. Juvenal, Sat. viii. 101. 



§§ Plin. Hist. Nat. lib, ix. cap. 36. lib. xxxi. cap. 10. from which all the informa- 

 tion with respect to the Romans is drawn, where not otherwise pointed out. 



