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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.
The color byzantium is a dark tone of purple. The first recorded use of byzantium as a color name in English was in 1926.
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.
According to Kodinos, the emperor bore special boots (tzangia) with eagles made of pearls on both shins and on the instep; the Despots wore similar boots of white and purple, and featured pearl-embroidered eagles on their saddles, while the saddle cloth and their tents were white decorated with red eagles.
The term porphyry is from the Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphyra), meaning "purple". Purple was the colour of royalty, and the Roman "imperial porphyry" was a deep purple igneous rock with large crystals of plagioclase. Some authors claimed the rock was the hardest known in antiquity.
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.
Byzantine illuminated manuscripts were produced across the Byzantine Empire, some in monasteries but others in imperial or commercial workshops. Religious images or icons were made in Byzantine art in many different media: mosaics, paintings, small statues and illuminated manuscripts. [1]
Porphyrogennētos (πορφυρογέννητος), "born in the purple" — Derived from Hellenistic bureaucracy, emperors wanting to emphasize the legitimacy of their ascent to the throne appended this title to their names, meaning they were born to a reigning emperor in the delivery room of the imperial palace (called the Porphyra because it ...
Byzantine silk is silk woven in the Byzantine Empire (Byzantium) from about the fourth century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Byzantine capital of Constantinople was the first significant silk-weaving center in Europe.
Irene's unprecedented position as an empress ruling in her own right was emphasized by the coincidental rise of the Carolingian Empire in Western Europe, which rivaled Irene's Byzantium in size and power. Charlemagne invaded Italy early on in his reign, annexing the Lombard kingdom of Italy.