Purple-dyed textiles were worn by the Roman social elite to demonstrate their affluence and to distinguish themselves from the less wealthy through their clothing. It was a very expensive colorant. In A.D. 301, the Roman emperor Diocletian issued an imperial edict which listed the cost of one Roman pound of Tyrian-dyed silk at 150,000 denarii, the equivalent of three Roman pounds of gold!
The discovery of traces of Tyrian purple in the gypsum burials of Roman York, therefore, sheds exciting light on the wealth and prestige of those employing such textiles in life and in death. It is the result of painstaking sampling and laboratory analysis of the gypsum casings.
Tyrian purple in written sources
Tyrian purple was a dye made from either crushing murex marine molluscs or cutting out their hypobranchial glands to extract a substance which yielded "the famous flower of purple" (Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories 9.60-63). It was produced in various locations in the Mediterranean, but primarily in the city of Tyre in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) from whence it gets its name.
Already in the Bronze Age, the Phoenicians had perfected the art of extracting the dye and labour-intensively manufacturing it for export in the many "dye-houses for purple" in Tyre (Strabo, Geography 15.2.23).
Archaeological evidence in Europe and Britain
Ancient Roman literary sources on social customs in Rome itself refer to the sumptuous raiment and rich Tyrian purple clothing in which members of the upper echelons were laid out at their funerals in preparation for burial. Not only emperors, but also senators, triumphal generals, and aristocrats wore garments coloured with this dye that added radiance to their apparel.
The archaeological evidence indicates that the socially elite in the provinces also adopted this rare and expensive dye for their ostentatious clothing. In France, high-status third- and fourth-century burials of a child aged 11-14 years in Jaunay-Clan and a roughly 12-year-old child in Naintré were found with wool and silk garments dyed with Tyrian purple; the Naintré textile also had gold thread decoration. More recently, and currently undergoing conservation, a large ornate purple textile with gold thread bands in plant or floral motifs was found in a lead coffin of the fourth century in Autun.
In Roman Britain, Tyrian purple textiles are very rare finds. They include the most famous find of a damask silk garment which incorporated purple-dyed wool bands and gold threads in the contemporary burial of a woman in London (Spitalfields).
Tyrian purple in York
For the first time, we can now add the remnants of textiles from two of the third- and fourth-century gypsum burials in York to this illustrious group of Roman luxury clothing. Traces of purple dye were detected in the folds of cloth in the hardened gypsum in both instances.
The first is an infant wrapped in textiles who was interred between the legs of two adults in a stone sarcophagus (YORYM : 2007.6126). The second and more remarkable gypsum casing is that of an infant buried in a lead coffin (YORYM : 2007.6212). That infant’s body may have been wrapped in linen bands first, but we cannot see this level of detail. What we can see are the imprints of two layers of textiles: on top of the body was a cloak or shawl with tassels, and this was overlain by a fine textile of Tyrian purple and gold threads. This particular cloth would have been visible and on display before the coffin lid was closed.
Although not enough of the textile survives to reconstruct the piece, the combination of purple and gold means that it is of the highest possible status and luxury in the Roman empire. It is not the first child we know of to have been given purple and gold textiles for burial (for example, the 10-year-old child at Naintré), but it is truly remarkable at York that such a coveted display piece was used for the interment of a baby no more than a few months old. The demonstration of family wealth is evident here, as is the family’s willingness to sacrifice some of it to give their child a luxurious send-off.
Detecting the Tyrian purple
For each of the two burials examined for dye residue so far, a minimal section of coloured gypsum was scraped off the surface to provide a working sample for analysis. Organic solvents were then used to extract any organic chemical residues. The resulting solution, just 50 microlitres in volume, could be seen to be blue in colour, giving us a tantalising indication that dyes are indeed present.
The blue solution was analysed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (see our article on Analysis of chemicals associated with gypsum in Roman burial practices), giving a signal that indicates the presence of 6,6-dibromoindigo. This chemical is the main compound in Tyrian purple and is the accepted biomarker for characterising Tyrian purple dye. Further confirmation was provided by analysing a modern reference sample of synthesised 6,6-dibromoindigo which generated an identical signal and thus proving the identification.
Conclusions
The textiles in these two gypsum burials in York indicate that the socially elevated of the city received funerary care consistent with an aristocratic model that was widespread In Rome, Italy, and the continental provinces. When the deceased lay in state in splendid garments and when costly and exotic textiles were placed in the coffin before it was closed, such a display of wealth contributed to the prestige of the individual whose funeral it was. And this clearly applied also to the treatment of the bodies of the very youngest of Roman York.
Further sampling for dye residues on other gypsum casings is currently ongoing.
Further Reading
- J.P. Wild, The textile archaeology of Roman burials: Eyes Wide Shut, in M. Carroll and J.P. Wild (eds.), Dressing the Dead in Classical Antiquity, Stroud, 2012, 17-25.
- T. Devièse, E. Ribechini, P. Baraldi et al., First Chemical Evidence of Royal Purple as a Material Used for Funeral Treatment Discovered in a Gallo–Roman Burial (Naintré, France, Third Century AD), Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 401 (6), 2011, 1739–1748. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-011-5217-7.