This week's theme: To Don The Purple

Phoenicia means "land of purple" and Tyrian purple - also known as royal purple or imperial purple, is thought to have been first used by the Phoenicians. It was particularly prized due to the fact that the colour became more intense with time rather than fading.The dye was made from the secretions of sea snails known at the time as Murex. Many thousands of snails were needed to produce just one ounce of dye. This made the dye expensive and exclusive to only the very wealthy. In some cases there were laws that restricted it's wear and what fabrics could be coloured with the dye. One such restriction was in ancient Rome. Emperors wore a solid purple toga giving rise to phrases "to don the purple" when an emperor was crowned and "born in the purple" when describing a child born to a reigning emperor. Purple is no longer an expensive or restricted colour, but our love of purple has never waned and it still maintains it's high rank in the list of most popular colours.