BOETHIUS, CL., A. D. 510
Nor honey into wine they pour'd, nor mix'd
Bright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye.
De Consol. Philos. ii.
The Tyrians are chiefly known to us in commercial history for their skill in dyeing; the Tyrian purple formed one of the most general and principal articles of luxury in antiquity: but dyeing could scarcely have existed without weaving, and though we have no direct information respecting the Tyrian and Sidonian looms, we possess several ancient references to their excellence, the less suspicious because they are incidental. Homer, for instance, when Hecuba, on the recommendation of the heroic Hector, resolves to make a rich offering to Minerva, describes her as selecting one of Sidonian manufacture as the finest which could be obtained.
The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went
Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent;
There lay the vestures of no vulgar art—
Sidonian maids embroider'd every part,
Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore
With Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore.
Here, as the queen revolved with careful eyes
The various textures and the various dyes,
She chose a veil that shone superior far,
And glow'd refulgent as the morning star.
Iliad, vi.
Tyre appears to have been the only city of antiquity which made dyeing its chief occupation, and the staple of its commerce. There is little doubt that purple, the sacred symbol of royal and sacerdotal dignity, was a color discovered in that city; and, that it contributed to its opulence and grandeur. It is related that a shepherd's dog, instigated by hunger, having broken a shell on the sea shore, his mouth became stained with a color, which excited the admiration of all who saw it, and that the same color was afterwards applied with great success to the dyeing of wool. According to some of the ancient writers, this discovery is placed in the reign of Phœnix, second
