Tyrian purple the Iles Purpuraires at Mogador, in Morocco. The sea snail harvested at this western Moroccan dye production facility was "Hexaplex trunculus" (mentioned above) also known by the older name "Murex trunculus". This second species of dye murex is found today on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe and Africa (Spain and Portugal, Morocco, and the Canary Islands). The colour-fast (non-fading) dye was an item of luxury trade, prized by Romans, who used it to colour ceremonial robes. Used as a dye, the color shifts from blue (peak absorption at 590 nm, which is yellow-orange) to reddish-purple (peak absorption at
Indigo dye to Europe as early as the Greco-Roman era. The association of India with indigo is reflected in the Greek word for the dye, "indikón" (Ἰνδικόν, Indian). The Romans latinized the term to "indicum", which passed into Italian dialect and eventually into English as the word indigo. In Mesopotamia, a neo-Babylonian cuneiform tablet of the seventh century BC gives a recipe for the dyeing of wool, where lapis-colored wool ("uqnatu") is produced by repeated immersion and airing of the cloth. Indigo was most probably imported from India. The Romans used indigo as a pigment for painting and for medicinal and cosmetic