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The production and use of the pigment extracted from the murex molluscs is discussed here in association with the purple textile dyeing industry in the Prehistoric Aegean. “True” purple has been identified in a number of archaeological finds dating from the early Late Bronze Age, found in old and recent excavations at three different but contemporary sites: Akrotiri and Raos on Thera, and Trianda on Rhodes. The chemical composition of the shellfish purple pigment either found in lump form or applied on wall paintings is discussed in relation to the archaeological context of several examined finds and with reference to Pliny’s purpurissum. The results of a comprehensive methodology combining new data obtained with molecular spectroscopies (microRaman and FTIR) and already reported data obtained with high performance liquid chromatography coupled with a diode array detector (HPLC–DAD) applied to samples of the murex purple finds are discussed in comparison to published data relating to few other instances of analytically proven murex purple pigment found in the Aegean over the timespan of its documented exploitation.

Durante la Edad Media el término púrpura identificaba un concepto cromático entre los colores rojo, violeta y azul a la vez que podía designar un tipo de tejido específico, pero no estuvo asociado, como en la Antigüedad, al tinte extraído del murex, porque este fue sustituyéndose por otras sustancias tintóreas igualmente exclusivas y de coste elevado como el quermes. El color púrpura se identificó con el poder y la excelencia social y su valor simbólico se vinculó a los tintes con que teñir tejidos o manuscritos y a materiales como el pórfido, apreciado por sus cualidades matéricas y su color purpúreo.

Sea shells were typical offerings in Carthaginian burials, yet archaeologists have rarely paid any attention to them and have therefore written very little about them. Given the Phoenician adoption of various Egyptian funerary customs and motifs, moreover, sea shells in Carthaginian burials are typically attributed the same meaning as those in Egyptian burials. Given our understanding of the Phoenician association with the sea and our understanding about specifically Carthaginian funerary customs and offerings, however, it is likely that there are distinctively Carthaginian reasons for the inclusion of sea shells in their burials.