In the ancient world clothes were coloured using natural pigments. These had to be mixed with resins, drying oils or animal fats and then boiled with or painted onto the fabric. The range of colours available was quite varied, but nowhere near the variety we have today. Certain regions were limited to the amount of colours that they could use because of poverty, isolation or limited access to the necessary raw materials.
The majority of people would have worn simple un-
With the emergence of powerful empires and expanding trade routes, first with Assyria and then Persia the more uncommon dyes became easier to obtain. Some of the dyes used and the raw materials needed to make them are listed below.
Ochre
Ochre is one of the oldest dyes used. It was cheap and easy to produce although the colour did fade quickly. The colours it can produce range from golden yellows through to reds. It was made from an iron oxide which was ground and mixed with a binder to make a paint or water to form a dye. The iron oxide could also be roasted to produce deeper colour.
Pomegranate
The pomegranate is native to Persia. The rind of the fruit is used fresh or dried to produce a range of colours from a yellow brown to a dark brown. The tannin of the fruit also makes the dye colour fast. The dye lacks brilliance, but can be mixed with turmeric to add intensity.
Walnut
The bark leaves and the husk of the walnut fruit can be used to produce a green or dark brown dye. The browns obtained from walnut dye is one of the best as is does not fade through prolonged exposure to light. Walnut was also used as a hair dye.
Henna
Henna is made from the dried leaf of a plant that was indigenous to eastern Iran. The dye could produce red browns through to black. The earliest civilizations that can be proved to have used henna include the Babylonians, Assyrians, Sumerians and Canaanites. It was used on textiles and leathers as well as a cosmetic product for hair, nails and skin.
Madder
Madder is the rood of a shrub that grows in India and western Asia. It produces a bright red which been used for thousands of years, the earliest recorded use was in Egypt in the fourteenth century BC.
Using different mordents such as chalk, charcoal, lime, milk, copper, alum, tin or dung can produce colours varying from pink to brown or purple. Because of the time consuming processes needed to produce the dye it was quite expensive.
Indigo
Indigo is produced by fermenting the leaves of the plant in water. The plant is a
native to India and has been used in the Middle East for thousands of years. A Neo-
Indio was famed for the intensity of it colour and its colour fastness. As trade routes into the Middle East from India increased the dye became for accessible, but still it was an expensive luxury item.
Saffron
The stamens of the crocus flower are used to produce the dye, as the plant only flowers once a year for 15 days and had to be handpicked it was, and still is one of the most expensive dyes in use. The results are vibrant yellows through to orange that cannot be matched by other dyes. Over time the colour would mellow, but would still maintain its intensity.
Lapis Lazuli
The secret of producing ‘Egyptian blue’ or ultramarine was lost to the world in the 9th century AD. The secret to producing the world’s first synthetic dye was lapis lazuli a highly prized precious stone found only in Bactria (Afghanistan). It was mixed with sand, lime and copper and heated to between 850 and 1000 degrees C. This would have made it very expensive to produce.
Royal Purple
This was by far the most expensive bye in the ancient world. The colours produced by it range from red to blue and to a deep almost black purple. Made from the Murex shell found of the coast of Lebanon it seems to have been so expensive that its use was restricted only to the Achaemenid kings who hoarded purple textiles and only distributed it sparingly. Other purples would have been used more widely, but none had the intensity of the royal purple.