BCE
Crete (1750 BCE) – The archaeological evidence now available suggests that the origins of the purple and blue dye industry can be traced to Crete.
BCE
Tell-el-Amarna Tablets (1500-1300 BCE) – The phrase subatu sa takilti – a garment of Techeles – is listed as one of the precious articles sent to Egypt by Dusratta, King of the Mittani, as dowry to the Egyptian prince who was about to marry his daughter.
BCE
Exodus (1312 BCE) – Jews leave Egypt.
Yehoshua (1272 BCE) – Conquest of Canaan
BCE
Tel Shikmona Vat (circa 1200 BCE) – Chemical analysis of dye stains on an ancient vat are found to be molecularly equivalent to dye from Murex snails.
Canaanite Coast (1200-900 BCE) – The vat from Tel Shikmona, together with various other archaeological finds at numerous sites (shown at left), reveals an advanced dye industry using Murex snails established on the Canaanite coast.
BCE
Destruction of Temple (586 BCE) – Babylonian Exile.
BCE
Dye Use Restrictions (100 BCE – 68 CE) – Caesar (100-44 BCE) and Augustus (63 BCE - 14 CE) restricted the use of the dyes to governing classes. Nero (37-68 CE) issued a decree that gave the emperor exclusive right to wear purple or blue garments.
300 CE
Dye Imperialization (337-383) – Under Constantius (337-362) the restrictions against the use of Techeles were strictly enforced. An edict (383) by Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius made the manufacture of higher quality purple and blue a state monopoly.
500 CE
The Talmud (circa 550) – The Talmud tells of Techeles being brought from Israel to Babylon in the days of R. Ahai (506) – the last positive indication of the use of Techeles. One can assume that Techeles was available until the redaction of the Talmud, as no reference to its discontinuance is recorded
639 CE
Demise of Dye Industry (639) – The Arab conquest of Israel is believed to have brought an end to the snail source dyeing industry in Israel.
750 CE
Negative Mention (750-760) – The Midrash Tanchuma (750) laments “and now we have no Techeles, only white.” In the halakhic work Sheiltot d’Rav Ahai (760) there is no mention of Techeles.
1500
Early Research in Mollusk-based Dyes (1500-1685) – Guillaum Rondelet (d. 1566) was the first to identify Pliny’s purpura with the species Murex brandaris. Fabius Columna (1616) suggests Murex trunculus as having been utilized in the ancient dyeing process. William Cole (1681) noted that a colorless fluid in the hypobranchial gland of marine mollusks (Purpura lapillus) found off the coast of Britain was converted to a red color on exposure to light, thus revealing the sensitivity of mollusk-based dye to light.
1857
Discovery of Dye Snails – French zoologist Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers discovered three dye-producing snails in the Mediterranean: Murex brandaris, Murex trunculus and Thais haemastoma (pictured: left to right).
1864
Discovery of Dye Industry – At Sidon, massive mounds (hundreds of yards long and several yards deep) of Murex trunculus snails were found. The shells were broken in the spot that gives access to the glands from which the dyestuff is obtained. At some distance, a separate and distinct massive mound of Murex brandaris and Thais haemastoma was found. Since a reddish-purple dye is most readily obtainable from the Murex brandaris and Thais haemastoma as opposed to the bluish-purple obtained from the Murex trunculus, Egyptologist A. Dedekind (1898) viewed this fact as undeniable proof that Murex trunculus was the snail used exclusively for Techeles (blue), and the others for argaman (purple); Rav Herzog concurred.
1888
Radzyner Rebbi (Rabbi Gershon Hanoch Leiner) – Pioneered a quest for Techeles which led to the isolation of a certain type of squid (Sepia officinalis) as its source. Subsequent chemical analysis identified the dye as Prussian blue, the color of which derives from added chemicals and not from the squid itself. This is something the Rebbi himself would not have countenanced, as he writes: the color must be exclusively from the chillazon. The Rebbi’s three books on the subject (Sfunei Temunei Chol, Ptil Techeles, Ein HaTecheles) still serve as a basis for halakhic investigation.
