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The color Byzantium is a particular dark tone of purple. It originates in modern times, and, despite its name, it should not be confused with Tyrian purple ( hue rendering ), the color historically used by Roman and Byzantine emperors.
In formal color theory, purple colors often refer to the colors on the line of purples on the CIE chromaticity diagram (or colors that can be derived from colors on the line of purples), i.e., any color between red and violet, not including either red or violet themselves.
Purple was the color worn by Roman magistrates; it became the imperial color worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and later by Roman Catholic bishops. Similarly in Japan, the color is traditionally associated with the emperor and aristocracy. [2]
The frequent use of the star and crescent moon symbol, which appears on coins, military insignia and, perhaps, as a sometime municipal emblem of the imperial city, appears to be connected to the cult of Hecate Lampadephoros ("light-bearer") in Hellenistic-era Byzantium.
As in Graeco-Roman times, purple was reserved for the royal family; other colours in various contexts conveyed information as to class and clerical or government rank. Lower-class people wore simple tunics but still had the preference for bright colours found in all Byzantine fashions.
Tyrian purple is a pigment made from the mucus of several species of Murex snail. Production of Tyrian purple for use as a fabric dye began as early as 1200 BC by the Phoenicians, and was continued by the Greeks and Romans until 1453 AD, with the fall of Constantinople.
Porphyrogénnētos ( Greek: Πορφυρογέννητος, lit. 'purple-born'), Latinized as Porphyrogenitus, was an honorific title in the Byzantine Empire given to a son, or daughter ( Πορφυρογέννητη, Porphyrogénnētē, Latinized Porphyrogenita ), born after the father had become emperor.
Byzantine silk court ritual and ecclesiastical practices were adopted by the Franks, just as Byzantine court furnishing styles and dress codes were echoed across the Islamic world. Byzantium developed elaborate silk court attire and set the style for use of silk in civil and military uniforms and for rich religious vestments....
The Empire under the Komnenoi played a key role in the history of the Crusades in the Holy Land, which Alexios I had helped bring about, while also exerting enormous cultural and political influence in Europe, the Near East, and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea under John and Manuel.
Byzantine studies is the discipline that addresses the history and culture of Byzantium (Byzantium ↔ Byzantine Empire, the Greek Middle Ages; Byzantium = Constantinople [as capital of the Byzantine Empire]). [2]