To give you a sense of the scale of the harvest needed: "twelve thousand snails of Murex brandaris yield no more than 1.4 g of pure dye, enough to color only the trim of a single garment." It was SO expensive, only kings or the very rich could afford even a hem. Roman senators wore a mere strip.

A Roman general might be gifted a toga dyed entirely purple with gold trim, a garment that would have put any modern fashion to shame for sheer wealth. Absolutely decadent. The Phoenician attempted to maintain a monopoly, but the practice quickly spread to other parts of the Mediterranean.