They’ll Never Be Royals, the ‘Purple’ Textiles of Fag el-Gamous

Keywords

purple, textiles, Fagel-Gamous, graeco-roman

Abstract

Brigham Young University began excavating in Fag el-Gamous, Egypt in 1981. This large (125 hectare) Graeco-Roman necropolis in the eastern Fayoum was in use from about the second century BCE until its decline around the eighth century CE. Within the last three decades of research and excavation, Fag el-Gamous has yielded a large number of burials. From these BYU has unearthed a unique collection of textile fragments. Among these fragments are many beautifully dyed pieces, including several pieces with purple threads. The purple threads used in the textiles come in a variety of hues, suggesting that there are different dye sources for the threads. In the ancient world the source for true purple dye came from a type of sea snail known as Murex. This dye was highly prized, very expensive, and frequently used for royal garments. Because of its desirable nature, purple dye was often imitated with mixtures of blue and red dyes. Due to the variety of hues present in this collection, it seems likely that the people buried in the cemetery at Fag el-Gamous used imitation purple for their garments. This project aims to determine what, if any, proportion of true purple was used in the necropolis and how its presence (or absence) influences how we view the population buried in the cemetery.

Original Publication Citation

Jensen, Bethany, R. Paul Evans, Giovanni Tata, and Kerry Muhlestein, “They’ll Never Be Royals, the ‘Purple’ Textiles of Fag el-Gamous,” in Excavations at Fag el-Gamous and the Seila Pyramid, Kerry Muhlestein, editor in chief, Krystal V. L. Pierce and Bethany Jesnen, eds., Harvard Egyptological Studies vol. 7. (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 207-248.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2016-01-19

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6316

Publisher

Journal of Undergraduate research

Language

English

College

Religious Education

Department

Ancient Scripture

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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