Debate Responses
The dye of תכלת was extraordinarily expensive.
מנחות )מד ע”א( “ובדמו צובעין תכלת, לפיכך דמיו יקרים”.
“…with its blood they dye תכלת ; hence it is expensive.”
מנחות )מג ע”ב( “תניא, היה רבי מאיר אומר: גדול עונשו של לבן יותר מעונשו של תכלת, משל למה הדבר דומה? למלך בשר ודם שאמר לשני עבדיו, לאחד אמר: הבא לי חותם של טיט, ולאחד אמר: הבא לי חותם של זהב, ופשעו שניהם ולא הביאו, איזה מהן עונשו מרובה? הוי אומר: זה שאמר לו הבא לי חותם של טיט ולא הביא”.
“R’ Meir said: The retribution for the white [strings] is greater than that of תכלת . An analogy: A king of flesh and blood instructed his two servants. To one he said, “Bring me a clay seal”. To the other he said, “Bring me a gold seal”. Both of them were negligent and failed to bring [the seals]. Whose punishment is greater? You would say that it is the one that he told to bring the clay seal and did not bring.130” It is clear from the above that Chazal regarded תכלת as a uniquely expensive commodity. This is also documented by the writers of that time regarding the dye of Murex:
Pliny: “…the Tyrian dibapha 131, which could not be bought for even one thousand denarii per pound.”132
Theopompus: “Purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon.”133
Footnotes
128 Pliny, Book IX, Ch. 60.
129 Aristotle, Historia Animalium, Book V, 15.
130 רבינו בחיי )במדבר טו( “שהוא מצוי ולא היה לו להמנע”.
131 Dibapha: “Cloths doubly dyed, or twice dipped: from the Greek δὶς, twice, and
βάπτω, to dip.” (John Bostock in footnote).
132 Pliny, Chap. 63. See also: Aeschylus, Agamemnon (959) comparing to silver,
Isocrates, Panathenaicus (12:39) comparing to gold. See also: Laiou, 2002: “At a time
when raw silk cost 12,000 denarii a pound, murex blatta (best purple) dyed raw silk
sold for the extraordinary price of 150,000 denarii a pound. Milesian purple cost
12,000 denarii a pound and bright Tyrian purple fetched 16,000 denarii a pound.
Lighter blatta (best purple) sold at 32,000 denarii per pound.”
133 Cited by Athenaeus (12:526) around 200 BC; according to Gulick, Barton 1941.
Item
The Gemara explicitly says Tekheiles is expensive. High cost fulfills Chazal’s description rather than undermines authenticity.
Source: “The Hillazon Baraita,” pp. 25–31
