Purple – The color Purple and it’s association with the Roman Emperors is due to the vast expenses of producing clothing made with such color.
The color Purple was produced from an extremely expensive dye called Tyrian Purple, which originated in Tyre, in Lebanon. The Phoenicians owned the monopoly on this Purple dye, which was made by crushing thousands of seashells –Mediterranean Murex.
It took 10,000 Murex Mollusks to make dye for just 1 toga. This Purple dye was worth more than its weight in gold, and came to symbolize both the wealth, and the power of the Roman Emperors.