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Ancient and Medieval Dyes
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William F. Leggett
ISBN 1-930585-89-6
Retail $7.95 (USD)
80 pp.
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This informative and easy-to-read classic text describes the various animal and vegetable dyes which were available before synthetic chemical dyes became available. Dyes noted in the book include madder, indigo, woad, saffron, weld, orseille, Tyrian purple, kermes, and many more. |
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"The red dye, which, with characteristic forethought, Alexander the Great purchased for the use of his invading army in 330 B.C. may have been derived from kermes, which was the insect found on Asiatic oak trees, and not from madder, although both forms of red dye were known to him and to his Persian adversaries. But it may be of interest to relate how red dye helped Alexander defeat the Persians because of what may have been the first important use of camouflage in war. When informed that he was faced by a Persian army much larger than his own, the youthful monarch remarked in calm contempt: 'The wolves never concern themselves over how many the sheep are,' so, with true strategic genius, Alexander, one night, caused the clothing of a large number of his soldiers to be dyed red, at a different spot on each garment. Next morning, when the Greek forces advanced—shall we say simulated a stagger?—to meet their enemies, the Persian leaders thought that the soldiers of Alexander’s army had been pretty well damaged during the fighting of the previous day, with little opportunity for medical attention, so they may have been unduly careless when making an attack on what looked to them to be a helplessly wounded antagonist. Alexander (the Great) won that battle!"
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