In researching another subject, I ran into a line from Plutarch which seems to shed some light on how the ancient Greeks kept the colors bright on dyed garments. A officer of the Roman army describes the elite corp of the Macedonian army in 168 B.C.E. thus; ' dazzling in gilded armor and fresh dyed purple cloaks'. Notice that the Roman officer does not say new cloaks or fresh cloaks; he says, " fresh dyed ". This would seem to indicate the possibility that fading garments were not thrown away , but rather were re dyed by local fullers to restore their bright colors. It would also indicate that the local fullers had a supply of Murex based dye at hand. In the case of vegetable dyes, re dying with each cleaning would provide bright colors through the life of the garment. Therefore, the colors in ancient garments may have been brighter than we previously thought. Re dying may have been a part of the ordinary cleaning process.