NELC 150

Introduction to the Bible

Slide 17


Purple-died potsherd (from Sarepta in Lebanon) and murex snail shells, both from University Museum exhibit (Case 5, Panel 27, "The Phoenicians"). The violet or blue-purple die from murex snails (found in the Mediterranean off the coast of Israel and Lebanon) was the source of royal purple and the die used for the "blue" cord in fringes prescribed in Numbers 15:37-41. See J. Milgrom, The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers, pp. 127, 411-412, for further explanation.