Purple, the imperial colour

Purple was the imperial colour. It was the colour of Ceasar's robe and of Cleopatra's sails.
The dye comes from the Murex mollusc. One source in antiquity was Aperlae close to Kekova on the turkish south coast.
In the very small restaurant in the bay we saw one example of the Murex. It was the son of the family who had collected it at a depths of about 10 m. The dye is first colourless and then in the sun it turns from light green to deep green, red and finally deep purple red.