The history of colours and the meanings people have given them

and saffron yellow in India from a flower, the Crocus sativus. Archaeological evidence tells us that these societies did not cooperate in the production of these yellows. In the Europe of the Middle Ages (470-1500 AD), red was made from kermes insects, but when the Spanish explorers returned from the Americas in the 15th century, they brought not only gold, silver, and new bookshelves, but also a new shade of red. What was different about this new shade was that it was the result of a process involving a species of beetle. Such colours were expensive. In ancient times, more than 10,000 murex shellfish had to be crushed to make a single gram of purple. As a result, purple became the colour of kings and emperors in ancient Persia and Rome, and was also worn by priests on ceremonial occasions. In Europe, during the Renaissance (1300-1600 AD), patrons would state in contracts that painters were required to use expensive pigments to add value to the works they commissioned. For instance, they might ask that the artist use gold paint or ultramarine, which was made from the semi-precious gem called lapis lazuli. This had to be imported from "beyond the sea," which is what 'ultramarine' means in Latin.