In this article, the 3rd one in is a brief on the royal Tyrian purple used by the Roman elite: https://www.fastcodesign.com/90165072/the-crazy-stories-behind-6-of-the-worlds-rarest-colors Additionally, here is a YouTube video about it as well:
Nice video! Murex shells are devices on coins of ancient Phoenicia. Here's a writeup of a shekel, including some anecdotes about Tyrian purple excerpted below: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-a-coin-from-the-purple-people.250752/ The murex shell represents Phoenicia’s namesake and prized product: purple dye. Manufactured from decomposed sea snails, the resulting purple dye is remarkably colorfast. Items dyed with Tyrian Purple in ancient times still retain their color today. Historical records indicate Phoenician purple dye was worth its weight in silver in some trading locales. Royal purple indeed; you’d have to be wealthy to afford a purple garment. Mythologic tradition credits the discovery this dye to Herakles’s dog. Per second century mythographer Julius Pollox, Herakles was strolling on the beach and noticed his dog chewing on a rotting murex snail. The dog’s mouth was stained vibrant purple.Rubens painted the scene but apparently he didn’t study marine biology. The sea snail in this painting is a nautilus, not a murex. PHOENICIA, Byblos. Uzzibaal. 350-335 BC* AR dishekel, 13.3 gm Obv: Three hoplites with shields in war galley left, roaring lion's head on prow, waves below galley; hippocamp left below, with murex shell below it; Z O (N O?) in field Rev: Phoenician inscription*; lion attacking bull left Ref: SNG Copenhagen 132, BMC 26.95, 4. acquired August 2014
A Roman Republic moneyer also used the murex-shell on his denarii. His family's cognomen of Purpurio, similar to the Latin word for purple "Purpura", was granted after an ancestor wore the purple as he triumphed at the end of the Second Punic War. Roman Republic AR Denarius(18.8 mm, 3.99 g, 12 h), Furius Purpurio, moneyer, circa 169-158 B.C. Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, X. Border of dots / Luna in biga right, holding reins of nearer horse in left hand and reins of further horse and goad in right hand; above, murex-shell; below, PVR; in linear frame, ROMA. Line border. Crawford 187/1; Sydenham 424; BMCRR Italy 420; Babelon Furia 13; Russo RBW 797. Ex RBW Collection, ex Crédit Suisse 5, 4/18/86, lot 246
Fantastic posts! Juba II & Cleopatra Selene's Kingdom of Numidia and Mauretania also provided Tyrian purple for Rome: REX IVBA Diademed head right BACIΛICCA KΛEOΠATPA Star and crescent. 25 B.C.-23 A.D 17 mm, 2.62 gm MAA 85; SNG Copenhagen 590; Mazard 300. VF, toned Scarce Ex-ANE Juba II was the only son and heir of his father King Juba I. King Juba I was the King of Numidia and ally to Pompey the Great. He fought against Julius Caesar at the battle of Thapsus and lost commiting suicide soon after. His son Juba II was taken away to Rome to be paraded in Caesar's Triumph's. He was then raised in Caesar's houshold and educated in both Latin and Greek excelling in his studies. He was praised as one of Rome's most educated citizens and at age 20 even published a work entitled Roman Archaeology. He became life long friends with Julius Caesar's heir Octavian. He accompanied Octavian on several campaigns during the turbulent times after Caesar's death even fighting at the battle of Actium against his future wifes parents...Antony and Cleopatra VII. Augustus restored Juba II as the king of Numidia between 29 BC-27 BC and Numidia become one of the most loyal client kings that served Rome. Between 26 BC-20 BC, Augustus arranged for him to marry Cleopatra Selene II (daughter of Antony and Cleopatra) giving her a large dowry and appointing her queen. She also had been paraded in a Triumph in Rome after the battle of Actium. It was probably due to his services with Augustus in a campaign in Spain that led Augustus to make him King of Mauretania. Cleopatra is said to have exerted considerable influence on Juba II's policies. Juba II encouraged and supported the performing arts, research of the sciences and research of natural history. Juba II also supported Mauretanian trade. Mauretania traded all over the Mediterranean and exported fish grapes, pearls, figs, grain, wooden furniture and purple dye harvested from certain shellfish, which was used in the manufacture of purple stripes for senatorial robes. Juba II sent a contingent to Iles Purpuraires to re-establish the ancient Phoenician dye manufacturing process. Cleopatra Selene seems to have inherited the same qualities of both Antony and Cleopatra VII. She was strong willed and maintained her Egyptian/Greek heritage. She seems intent on continuing the Ptolomaic line of strong women rulers using the same titles as her mother. She died sometime before Juba II. The Greek Historian Plutarch describes Juba II as 'one of the most gifted rulers of his time'. Between 2 BC-2, he travelled with Gaius Caesar as a member of his advisory staff to the troubled Eastern Mediterranean. In 21, Juba II made his son Ptolemy co-ruler. Juba II died in 23 AD. He had two children by Cleopatra Selene, Ptolomy of Mauretania (1 BC- 40 AD) and Drusilla of Mauretania (born in 5 AD). He was burried in the Mausolium he constructed for himself and his wife which is still visible today.
Well, LOL, @red_spork beat me to the posting and blew me away on his gorgeous Denarius! I have a much more humble version to throw on the board! RR Furius Purpurio 169-157 BCE Roma Luna Lucifera Biga Linear Frame murex shell Cr 187-1
This Gallienus AE28 of Tyre jumped into my collection because of the shell reverse right (of Diomedes). Yes, I would prefer a better one. CNG sold a Valerian with shell left. Who has a better one? https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=237390
Gillian Bradshaw, who writes a lot of historical fiction set in the late-Roman - Byzantine eras, has a novel called Imperial Purple about a slave who makes the purple die for the emperor. (I forget which one.) I just checked bookfinder.com, and there are several used copies available for less than $5, including shipping. If you like historical fiction, it's worth checking out.
Since I posted Juba II in this thread I should post his son (Antony and Cleopatra's grandson) who was killed by Caligula because of his purple cloak AUGUSTUS & PTOLEMY OF NUMIDIA AE semis AVGVSTVS DIVI F bare head of Augustus right C LAETILIVS APALVS II V Q, REX PTOL (Ptolemy, King) within diadem Carthago Nova, Spain, under sole 'duovir quinqunennales' C Laetilius Apalus. 18.5mm, 5.3g. RPC 172. Ex-Incitatus Ptolemy of Numidia was the son of King Juba II of Numidia and Cleopatra Selene II. He was also the grandson of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII on his mohter's side. He was named in honor of the memory of Cleopatra VII, the birthplace of his mother and the birthplace of her relatives. In choosing her son's name, Cleopatra Selene II created a distinct Greek-Egyptian tone and emphasized her role as the monarch who would continue the Ptolemaic dynasty. She by-passed the ancestral names of her husband. By naming her son Ptolemy instead of a Berber ancestral name, she offers an example rare in ancient history, especially in the case of a son who is the primary male heir, of reaching into the mother's family instead of the father's for a name. This emphasized the idea that his mother was the heiress of the Ptolemies and the leader of a Ptolemaic government in exile. Through his parents he received Roman citizenship and was actually educated in Rome. Amazingly he grew up in the house of his maternal aunt, and Antony's daughter Antonia Minor, the youngest daughter of Mark Antony and the youngest niece of Augustus. Antonia was also a half-sister of Ptolemy's late mother, also a daughter of Mark Antony. Antonia Minor's mother was Octavia Minor, Mark Antony's fourth wife and the second sister of Octavian (later Augustus). Ptolemy lived in Rome until the age of 21, when he returned to the court of his aging father in Mauretania. Ptolemy was a co-ruler with his father Juba II until Juba's death and was the last semi-autonomous ruler of Africa. On a visit to Rome in 40 AD he was seen by the Emperor Caligula in an amphitheather wearing a spectacular purpal cloak. A jealous Caligula had him murdered for his fashionable purple cloak.
