Ancient clothing did not have to be colorless. Textile fibers could retain natural shades or be dyed in a variety of colors, although the materials, labor, and skill involved in dyeing affected the appearance and cost of finished cloth.
Color depended on the fiber, preparation of the textile, available dyes, and the techniques used to apply them.
Some colors could be produced from relatively accessible plant or mineral materials, while particular dyes were more difficult or costly to obtain.
Color could therefore contribute to the economic and social meaning of clothing.
Dyeing was part of the wider textile industry of the ancient Mediterranean.
Production ranged from household textile work to specialized craft activity. Trade could also move dyestuffs and finished textiles beyond the places where they were produced.
Ordinary clothing could include natural fiber colors as well as dyed cloth.
The range and quality of colored textiles available to an individual depended on wealth, trade, local production, and the purpose of the garment.
Surviving textiles can sometimes preserve traces of ancient dyes, while installations, tools, residues, and comparative textile evidence contribute to the study of dyeing.
Preservation is uneven, so the surviving sample cannot be treated as a complete catalogue of colors worn in Roman Palestine.
Ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman writings refer to colored textiles, dyed garments, and valuable cloth.
Literary descriptions are especially useful for understanding the social meaning attached to particular types of clothing.
Colored and dyed textiles appear repeatedly in Scripture, especially in descriptions of costly garments, royal dress, and the Tabernacle and Temple traditions.
Purple and scarlet could communicate value and distinction rather than merely decorative preference.
The Gospels use clothing color most dramatically during Jesus' humiliation before His crucifixion.
The soldiers place a costly-looking royal color upon Him in mockery, turning clothing into part of their parody of kingship.
Ancient Mediterranean textile workers possessed techniques for producing colored cloth, and dyed textiles formed part of the clothing culture surrounding Roman Palestine.
We should not assign precise colors to ordinary Gospel figures without evidence.
Modern biblical artwork often presents more certainty about garment colors than the historical sources allow.
Recognizing that color could reflect cost and status helps explain why certain garments carried symbolic force.
It also reminds us to distinguish historically supported clothing from the color conventions of later Christian art.