An Ancient Industrial Secret Through Moses, God commanded the
Israelites to dye the tassels on the corners of their garments
blue. The secret to making this blue dye appears to have been
lost about 500 years after the birth of Christ. The Hebrew
description of the blue that the Israelites were to use on their
garments refers to what we today call hyacinthine purple.
Researchers searched for the original process for making the dye
using clues from the Bible, the Talmud and ancient trade
records. Ancient references to the dye go back at least 3,600
years. While the ancients knew how to make this dye, we moderns
don’t. Once researchers identified the correct color, they began
to search for its origin. The Talmud says that the dye must be
made from the uncontaminated extract from a shellfish.
Eventually scientists discovered a species of shellfish, the
Murex, that produces the raw material for exactly the color
described in the Bible. Their final challenge was to perfect the
dyeing method, which one researcher ca