What colour is the purple referred to in Mark 15:17, 20; Luke 16:19; but specifically the colour of the Whore of Babylon’s clothing in Revelation 17:4 and Revelation 18:12?

Purple is referred to in the Bible in the Old and New Testaments:

Moses is told to make the tabernacle with 10 curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and crimson yarns (Ex 26:1).

In Numbers 4:13, “a purple cloth was spread over the altar . . . .”

Proverbs 3:22, “the ideal woman makes bed coverings for herself, and her clothing is fine linen and purple.” 

King Solomon ordered purple fabrics to decorate the Temple of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 3:14).

In the New Testament, Jesus had a scarlet robe, or a purple robe, depending on whether it was John, Matthew, or Mark (Mt 27:29; Mk 15:17; Jn 19:1-2).

However, the word used in Revelation 17 is πορφύρα – por-foo’-rah.

J.T. Baker having researched purple in the ancient era, writes¹:

According to Strong’s Concordance:

There are two competing theories/sources that I have found:

Strongs’ Concordance specicially mentions a species of shell-fish or mussel.

Mussels are usually blue-purple such as those found in the Mediterranean Sea, but can be brownish or even green in other parts of the world. This is easily recognised as “the purple [shell] fish”.

The second theory relates to the shellfish used to make purple in the ancient world.

Bolinus brandaris (purple-red dye) and Hexaplex trunculus (purple-blue dye), both in the Murex family of sea-snails are the usual species that some purple cloths were made from. These are both found in the Mediterranean Sea. It is important to know that the examples below are limited, each species was capable of producing a wide variety of hues; Hexaplex trunculus could even produce very light blues.

So the Woman clothed in scarlet and purple, which purple is it? Blueish? or Reddish?

The πορφύρα is a direct reference to Tyrian Purple². However, again, according to Wikipedia:

The actual color of Tyrian purple seems to have varied from a reddish to a bluish purple. According to the Roman writer Vitruvius, (1st century BC), the murex shells coming from northern waters, probably Bolinus brandaris, produced a more bluish color (sic) than those of the south, probably Hexaplex trunculus³

….The chemical composition of the dye from the murex [family of sea snails – ed.] is close to that of the dye from indigo, and indigo was sometimes used to make a counterfeit Tyrian purple, a crime which was severely punished. What seems to have mattered about Tyrian purple was not its color, but its luster, richness, its resistance to weather and light, and its high price.

It seems then that Tyrian purple had more to do with the method of extraction and source, rather than the actual colour. This is verified by Pliny the Elder who also desribed varying the ratios of the different species and how for Hexaplex trunculus it mattered greatly what they fed upon.⁴Depending on your source, a different colour would have been produced. Paul Friedländer who used the northern Bolinus brandaris, discovered that it was bromine ⁵ (reddish-brown) rather than indigo from Hexaplex trunculus.

See here for a more technical discussion and here.

This means that indigo sometimes used to counterfeit Tyrian purple, suggests that the purple referred to by the Apostle John was blueish, not reddish.

Also it appears that the colour of purple changed according to fashion. Pliny the Elder writes⁶:

Cornelius Nepos, who died in the reign of the late Emperor Augustus (ruled 27 BC to 14 AD), has left the following remarks: “In the days of my youth,” says he, “the violet purple was in favour, a pound of which used to sell at one hundred denarii; and not long after, the Tarentine red was all the fashion.

Bolinus brandaris lives in the northern, central and western parts of the mediterranean sea, in often deep water. Hexaplex trunculus lives throughout the Mediterranean sea, along the coasts in shallow waters, often near river mouths, and is much more accessible. John was writing in Patmos, which is located in the southern and eastern end of the Mediterranean sea, and Tyre is also located on the southern and eastern end of the sea. It is therefore most likely that the colour John is referring to is the blueish purple that was produced in the eastern mediterranean, rather than the reddish purple of the northern and western end of the mediterranean sea. The reddish purple was more commonly associated with the Roman end, whereas the blueish purple was more commonly associated with the eastern end of the meditteranean. That indigo was sometimes used to make conterfeit Tyrian purple, suggests that the blue-purple is the most likely colour, rather than the reddish purple.

Also the time exposed to sunlight, changed the colour, which meant that dyers had to be quick and precise. Below is the colour produced by Hexaplex trunculus (left) and Bolinus brandaris (right) as documented by William Cole of Bristol in 1685.⁷ They demonstrate the full colour range possible.

Pliny the Elder writes⁸:

Let us be prepared then to excuse this frantic passion for purple, even though at the same time we are compelled to enquire, why it is that such a high value has been set upon the produce of this shell-fish, seeing that while in the dye the smell of it is offensive, and the colour itself is harsh, of a greenish hue, and strongly resembling that of the sea when in a tempestuous state?

Emperor Charlemagne was crowned in 800A.D. wearing a mantle of Tyrian purple, and was buried in 814A.D. in a shroud of the same color, a portion of which still exists today. It was made of gold and Tyrian purple from Constantinople (eastern/southern end of the Mediterranean)⁹. As this is one of the few actual examples of Tyrian purple we posses from the area John was writing, it is probably a closer representation of the purple referred to by John, than Roman examples.

Emporer Justinian I in his purple robe¹⁰.

Other early examples of relics close to the time of John¹¹:

A more substantial relic, a Coptic textile dating from the second or third century AD, is a fragment of a purple medallion decorated with four-leafed motifs in gold thread and now in the Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst in Vienna. In the 1930s, Rudolf Pfister analysed the textile using chemical methods, viz., reduction with hydrosulfite followed by exposure to light and oxidation to give a blue-violet colour.

HMMM…how does Wikipedia have this shroud and call it crimson?¹²

Ahh..it turns out, a user decided it was the incorrect colour, and “adjusted” the colour. I don’t know anyone who would call this purple, and even the description says it is crimson.

The spectrum of colour possibilities probably also explains the conflict between Matthew and John over the colour of Jesus’ robe. A Roman solider, would likely have had “purple” from Italy, and it would have been reddish-purple, hence why Matthew said it was scarlet (red), but John said it was purple. John knew it was a Roman purple whereas Matthew, although knowing it was a Roman robe, was communicating to the “everyday” man in eastern Mediteranean, and called it “scarlet”.

1. https://www.tekhelet.com/pdf/Baker-TyrianPurple-1974.pdf
2. https://www.worldhistory.org/Tyrian_Purple/
3. …archeologists have confirmed Hexaplex trunculus as the species used to create the purple-blue dye; large numbers of shells were recovered from inside ancient live-storage chambers in Tyre that were used for harvesting. Apparently, 10- to 12,000 shells yielded only one gram of dye. Because of this, the dye was highly prized. Also known as Royal Purple, it was prohibitively expensive and was only used by the highest ranking aristocracy.- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexaplex_trunculus
4. Plinius, NH: IX, 61 & 62, 137;
   http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D61
   http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D62
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Friedl%C3%A4nder_(chemist)
6. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D63
7. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3184/003685013X13680345111425

8. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D60

9. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/5393/tyrian-purple-shroud-of-charlemagne/
10. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/3341/justinian-i/
11. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3184/003685013X13680345111425
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shroud_of_Charlemagne_manufactured_in_Constantinople_814.jpg