This is where
Royal purple dye was made from the secretion of the Murex snail, typically found along the eastern Mediterranean coast, especially near Tyre.
In the ancient Middle East, purple was a symbol of prestige: To produce dye of this "royal" color, people had to collect and smash sea snails for their juices. Priests and royalty, including Kings David and Solomon, are often described in the Bible wearing clothing dyed with these extracts.
Lydia was a successful businesswoman who sold luxury textiles dyed purple. It was only the wealthy who wore garments dyed purple or had purple furnishings in their homes. Tyrian purple, a dye derived from marine molluscs, was costly compared with the less expensive and reddish local dye, known today as Turkey red.
Commentators have repeatedly stated that because Lydia of Thyatira, the seller of purple mentioned in Acts 16, lived so far away from the coast, she must have worked or traded in purple produced from the Madder root rather than the expensive "Tyrian Purple" derived from the murex shellfish.
Lydia of Thyatira is most known as a "seller" or merchant of purple cloth, which is the likely reason for the Catholic Church naming her "patroness of dyers." It is unclear as to if Lydia simply dealt in the trade of purple dye or whether her business included textiles as well, though all known icons of the saint ...
Lydia the Businesswoman
She was a business woman and a dealer of purple cloth. This meant she sold garments dyed with tyrian purple, a dye that is created by boiling marine snails that would create the dark reddish-purple hue. It was difficult, dirty and smelly work.
Lydia's name appears in Scripture only twice. She was seemingly the first Gentile convert in Europe and the first believer to open her home as a worship center for European Christians. This benefited not only Paul and the early church but also the lives of future generations of believers.
Finally, Lydia shows us that we also need to show hospitality. Especially if God has granted us more abundance than other believers, we need to show generosity to those who do not have as much. After all, the money does not belong to us.
Lydia was the first convert to the Christian faith in the colonial Roman city of Philippi (Acts 16:11-15), located in the district of Macedonia.
Purple was expensive, because purple dye came from snails. The video above, by CreatureCast, recounts the story of Rome's vaunted Tyrian purple, and the color's close link with the marine snail Bolinus brandaris.
During the Middle Ages, artists usually made purple by combining red and blue pigments; most often blue azurite or lapis-lazuli with red ochre, cinnabar, or minium. They also combined lake colors made by mixing dye with powder; using woad or indigo dye for the blue, and dye made from cochineal for the red.
Though done out of mockery, it conveyed a real truth. Purple was a kingly color, and the soldiers mockingly put this robe on Jesus Christ because He had claimed to be the king of the Jews. Of course, in reality He is much more than that—He is the “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16).
To make the first purple shades, dye-makers had to crush the shells of a species of sea snail, extract its purple mucus and then expose it to the sun for a specific period. The process made the colour so scarce and expensive that wearing it was a symbol of status and wealth.
Each snail produced only a few drops of the precious secretion, and as many as 250,000 snails were required to produce one single tablespoon of dye!
Huckleberries and Blueberries
To extract the juice, use the entire ripened fruit including the skin with a bit of water. Crush the berries slightly to release the most juice. Huckleberries are typically lighter in color and will produce a lovely lavender dye. Blueberries will give you a deeper purple color.
Lydia of Thyatira is a true worshiper of God who was at the riverbank praying. Luke tells us that she is from the city of Thyatira, so Lydia is an immigrant. She is a dealer of purple cloth. Purple cloth was valuable and expensive.
Lydia also means “beautiful one” or “noble one.” In the Bible, Lydia is described as a woman of hospitality and generosity, which aligns with the meaning of her name. Read More: Unique Girl Names That Start With K with Meaning.
Lydia is the first recorded person in Europe to become a follower of Jesus Christ. She was Saint Paul's first baptized convert at Philippi.
Lydia was intelligent, perceptive, and assertive to compete in business. Her faithful pursuit of God as a Jew caused the Holy Spirit to make her receptive to Paul's message of the gospel. She was generous and hospitable, opening her home to traveling ministers and missionaries.
Lydia is described as having “high animal spirits and a sort of natural self-consequence.” She is attractive and charismatic, but she is also reckless and impulsive.
In early Christian times, Thyateira was home to a significant Christian church, mentioned as one of the seven Churches of the Book of Revelation in the Book of Revelation.
23On 23 May 1972, Lydia, who was believed to be the first Christian baptised by St Paul, was canonised by the Orthodox church (Skaltsis, 2013), although the Catholic church had recognised her as a saint since the 16th century.
In her 2018 book What Did Jesus Look Like?, Taylor used archaeological remains, historical texts and ancient Egyptian funerary art to conclude that, like most people in Judea and Egypt around the time, Jesus most likely had brown eyes, dark brown to black hair and olive-brown skin. He may have stood about 5-ft.-5-in.
Purple. While this Easter color is typically associated with royalty, purple symbolizes penance, humility, and sorrow for Jesus' suffering in the context of the holiday. This is why you will frequently see this color associated with Lent, a period of sacrifice that also marks the upcoming resurrection of the Lord.