Post #15051

Murex: Who lives in the most beautiful shell that many people have at home? The imperial clam should look imperial, right? Murex mollusks really look delicious. Just look at their elegant shells, covered with many spines; finding one on the beach on vacation is a great success. And double luck if you know how much murex was valued by the emperors of Byzantium, the Roman Empire and even the rulers of ancient, now almost forgotten, Phenicia. The mollusks themselves, however, do not even know that they are important. They simply crawl along the intertidal zone of the Mediterranean Sea and the coasts of the Atlantic, where they enjoy a quiet invertebrate life. Despite the fact that mollusks are considered exclusively marine, they can easily survive 8-12 hours in the air, so low tides do not harm them in any way. But marine predators here are not able to get them. During high tide, slow-moving mollusks actively seek food for themselves—even slower mollusks. Having found one, the murex crawls onto it and begins to slowly but surely drill out its shell with the help of its radula, a special organ covered with many dense teeth. But this is far from a quick process, and during drilling the murex is vulnerable. So it is overgrown with thorns that will prevent a potential predator from swallowing it. The spikes, by the way, are surprisingly strong, and even a person cannot easily break them. But all their “royalty” is manifested not in appearance, but in inner wealth. About 3,500 years ago, the Phoenicians discovered that mollusk glands can secrete a yellowish liquid, which quickly turns deep purple when exposed to air. And since at that time this was the only way to create a permanent purple dye, the extract of the sublingual murex gland quickly gained popularity. Later, the production of the dye was mastered by the Greeks, and then by the Romans and Byzantines. It was they who gave the paint its modern name - purple. Purple robes have become a symbol of power and incredible wealth, which, however, is not surprising. After all, to dye just one kilogram of wool, you need to kill more than 30 thousand mollusks, and such work is incredibly expensive. Therefore, just half a kilo of dyed silk was more expensive than an entire village. With land, people, fields and herds. Over time, purple became not just a symbol of power, but a symbol of the emperors themselves, and production came under their complete control. Therefore, when the Byzantine Empire, the last empire of the ancient world, fell under the onslaught of the Ottomans, the secret of purple production died with it. It was forgotten for more than 500 years. But modern science works wonders, so in the 90s, chemists together with archaeologists were able to recreate an ancient recipe as close as possible to the original. However, the return of the legendary color did not impress anyone except historians. After all, today there are hundreds of cheaper paints that the chemical industry g