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From the King James Version of the Bible

Matthew 27:28-29

28: And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

29: And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!

Mark 15:17-18

17: And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,

18: And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!

John 19:2-3

2: And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,

3: And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.

The Explanation To The Answer

This explanation uses a lot of Greek and Latin, but please bear with me. I've tried to keep it simple.

So what does the original Greek text say? Matthew's scarlet is the Greek word κοκκινην (Strong's G2847 "kokkinos"); it means scarlet, just like the English text says. But it's the purple that's the clear identifier: John's purple πορφυρουν (Strong's G4210 "porphurous") is derived from the word Mark uses for purple πορφυραν (Strong's G4209 "porphura") which doesn't just mean any old purple, it means the purple associated with the murex. A Google search for "porphura murex" is a learning adventure in itself.

What's A 'Murex'?

The murex is a shellfish. The murex produces a dye that the Romans called conchylium; now if the "conch" in conchylium reminds you of "conch shell", you'll always remember that it comes from a shellfish. Conchylium is often referred to in English as "Tyrian purple dye". Pliny the Elder, a Roman encyclopedist writing about 75 AD (or about 45 years after the crucifixion), tells us about "purple fishes" (i.e., the murex)

From Pliny the Elder Natural History Book IX (Philemon Holland's 1601 translation).
Now the Tyrians, when they light upon any great Purples, they take the flesh out of their shels, for to get the bloud out of the said vein: but the lesser, they presse and grind incertainem illes, and so gather that rich humour which issueth from them. The best purple colour in Asia is this, thus gotten at Tyros. But in Affricke, within the Island Merinx, and the coast of the Ocean by Getuliia. And in Europe, that of Laconica. This is that glorious colour, so full of state and majestie, that the Roman Lictors with their rods, halberds, and axes, make way for: this is it that graceth and setteth out the children of princes and noblemen

So, it's a dye for the well-to-do, and according to Pliny, the best dye came from Tyre, in Syria. By 400 AD demand was so great, and the shellfish was so rare, that production was limited to the emperor; in Jesus' time it was more available. However, in the time of Jesus Christ, this is a likely dye because it's mentioned in the New Testament (in Greek), it's derived nearby (Tyre, Syria is north of Jerusalem), and it's appropriate for use by those of high station -- but is it purple?

Well, If It's 'Tyrian Purple' Dye, Then The Color Is...

Today, scientists classify two species, Murex trunculus (pictures) and Murex brandaris, (pictures) as the two principal sources of this dye. The dye extracted can vary from a nearly-black purple, to blue, scarlet or even bright red (info link and link). The easiest colors to produce are blue and purple because the base element is bromine (link) However reds are possible; see the book The Red Dyes: Cochineal, Madder And Murex Purple: A World Tour of Textile Dying by Gosta Sandberg and other sources on natural dyeing.

The Answer

I believe the color by our standards would be scarlet. Matthew was describing the actual color of the garment. Mark and Luke were using the name of the dye. It was dyed "purple" -- or more precisely -- "Tyrian purple". Early readers of the New Testament would have had no problem with this concept. If you think calling something one color when it's another color is unusual, look no further than the English language: because while roses are red, violets weren't violet - they were blue (before hybrids).

Wait A Minute...

By now, you're probably thinking, "Well why didn't the Romans just use a different word for the different colors?". And that's a good and valid question! But we speak American English, a language that soaks up foreign words and phrases like a sponge (que sera sera - Spanish, c'est la guerre - French, most of our legal terms are Latin and most of our medical terms are Greek!). The Romans at the time of Christ did not want to "pollute" their language with foreign words.

Tiberius Caesar was the emperor of Rome during Christ's Crucifixion. Tiberius passed a decree affecting the use of gold containers, but avoided any term for gold inlay in his decree as there was not a suitable Latin word and the emperor did not want a Greek word entered into Roman law!

From Cassius Dio's Roman History Book 57, Chapter 15 (link exits frame - use back button).
Tiberius forbade any man to wear silk clothing and also forbade anyone to use golden vessels except for sacred ceremonies. And when some were at a loss to know whether they were also forbidden to possess silver vessels having any inlaid work of gold, he wished to issue a decree about this, too, but would not allow the word emblema, since it was a Greek term, to be inserted in the decree, even though he could find no native word for inlaid work.

Latin - at the time of Jesus Christ - was just a little too inflexible to go "hog wild" with new words.