The Tyrian Color-Purple
by: Richard J. Karam, J.D.

Official Color - Purple
The two special commodities upon which the Phoenicians built their initial prosperity (in addition to timber) was purple cloth and glass. The "Tyrian color," a purple dye, according to Greek legend was discovered by Melqart, king and deity of Tyre, when he and the nymph Tyros were strolling along the Mediterranean shore with their dog. Biting into a large sea-snail or mollusk, the dog stained its mouth purple. Melqart promptly dyed a gown with the new-found substance and presented it to his companion. The dye is an extract from the Mediterranean mollusk species (Murex trunculus, M. brandaris, and Purpura Haemostoma,) whose hypobranchial glands contain the chemical precursors for the purple dye. These mollusks come into the shallow water along rocky shorelines of Lebanon to mate in the late spring.

In the succeeding centuries, the Canaanite city-states on the Levantine coast completely dominated the purple dyeing industry. Even their name---Phoenician--is derived from the Greek root "purple." To promote this industry, dye factories were set up at certain Phoenician colonies---most notably, along the coasts of Tunisia, Malta, Sicily, and Spain.

Biblical texts (Ezekiel 27:7, 16, 24; II Chronicles 2:7,14) are more informative about the involvement of Phoenician city-states, especially Tyre, in the industry. The use of purple in early Israelite religion (e.g., in the tabernacle curtains and the High Priest's vestments--Exodus 26:1, 31; 28:4-6; 39:1, 28-29; II Chronicles 3:14) shows considerable Phoenician influence.

The purple dye was difficult to produce as thousands of mollusks were needed to make an ounce of the dye, and as a result it was worth more than its weight in gold. It was no wonder then that purple became a mark of status, both religious and political, and of wealth. One example of a conspicuous display of wealth was the purple sail of Cleopatra's ship at the Battle of Actium in the first century B.C. One hundred years later, Nero issued an edict that permitted only the emperor to wear purple. Production of the molluscan dye continued until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D. In 1465, Pope Paul II issued an edict instructing cardinals to substitute kermes, an insect-derived scarlet dye, for the royal purple the church had been using to dye its vestments. The phrase "Born in Purple" came from this early appreciation of the dye. The Phoenician nation has been referred to as "The Purple Empire" because of its development and trade in the purple dye.

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A Resolution Adopting Purple as the Official Color of the SFSLAC
WHEREAS, The original inhabitants of present day Lebanon, the coastal regions of present day Syria, and most of ancient Palestine, were people known as "Canaanites" who occupied the land known as Canaan; and,

WHEREAS, The word "Canaan" or "Canaanite" is derived from an old Semitic word meaning "purple." The connection stems from the fact that a valuable purple dye was manufactured by the Canaanites from sea mollusks under a secret process known only to them for which they became world renown; and,

WHEREAS, The name "Phoenicians", used later in the 12 Century B.C. by the Greeks to identify the Canaanites of the area, was also derived from the Greek word for "purple." It was the purple dye that continued to characterize the people of that area. In their own language however, the Phoenicians called themselves Kena`ani or "Canaanites". In the Semitic language, the word kena`ani has a secondary meaning of "merchant," a term that Encyclopeadea Britannica states "well characterizes the Phoenicians"; and,

WHEREAS, What became identified as the land of Phoenicia after the 12th Century B.C. included not only present day Lebanon, but also the Mediterranean coastal cities of Syria and hence, historically speaking, portions of ancient Syria were part of a greater Lebanon, a process that would reverse itself in later centuries when Lebanon became part of a greater Syria; and,

WHEREAS, In time the northern portion of Phoenicia came to be called "Syria". The term "Syrian" is the Greek version of "Aramaean" and, throughout the Bible, the terms "Aram" and "Aramaean" are translated as "Syria" and "Syrian", respectively, but Aramaic remained as their language. The term "Syria" stems back to a Babylonian word "Suri," for a district along the upper Euphrates; and,

WHEREAS, The name "Lebanon" referred originally to the two parallel mountain ranges which crossed the country, hence the phrase "Mount Lebanon." The name is derived from the Semitic word for "white" because of its snowy peaks. Eventually, the name was applied to the entire country; and,

WHEREAS, Purple, the color of that valuable dye which was produced by our ancestors and for which they became world renown, and from which is derived the names for Canaan and Phoenicia, has unique historic significance to Syria and Lebanon; and

WHEREAS, the SFSLAC should adopt the color Purple as the Official color of this Organization.

NOW THEREFORE, LET IT BE KNOWN, that the Official Color of the SFSLAC shall be the color Purple which shall be utilized in the Official Emblem and the Official Flag of this Organization and wherever else appropriate.