"Tyrian purple" Quotes from Famous Books
... brilliant, of poor colour. 'Grain' is from Lat. granum, a seed, applied to small objects, and hence to the coccus or cochineal insect which yields a variety of red dyes. Hence grain came to denote certain colours, e.g. Tyrian purple, violet, etc., and is so used by Milton: see Il Pens. 33, "a robe of darkest grain"; Par. Lost, v. 285, "sky-tinctured grain"; xi. 242, "A military vest of purple ... Livelier than ... the grain Of Sarra," etc. And as these ... — Milton's Comus • John Milton
... in the trench." Elijah then took the false prophets down to the brook Kishon, at the base of the mountain, and killed them. Acre is the Acco of the Old Testament, and lies around the bay, twelve mile from Haifa. It is said that the Phoenicians obtained the dye called Tyrian purple there, and that shells of the fish that yielded it are yet to be found along the beach. Napoleon besieged the place in 1799, and used a monastery, since destroyed, on Mount Carmel for a hospital. After his retreat, Mohammedans ... — A Trip Abroad • Don Carlos Janes
... made it unsafe for a Roman noble even to drive to his sea- side villa, or a merchant to venture abroad for purposes of trade. Cities had been ravaged, and the enemies of Rome had from time to time made alliances with the marauders. The pirates dyed their sails with Tyrian purple, they inlaid their oars with silver, and they spread gold on their pennants, so rich had their booty made them. Nor were they less daring than rich; they had captured four hundred towns of importance, they had ... — The Story of Rome From the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic • Arthur Gilman |