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Raf Praet

lected from a common pool of antiquarian ideas, or perhaps even depended on each
other for their own accounts.
Although the colour purple was a status symbol in many ancient civilisations,49
it explicitly became an emblem of Roman imperial reign in late antiquity.50 Most
possibly, the emperor Diocletian instituted the ritual kissing of the purple garments
of the emperor, the adoratio purpurae. Around 337 AD, the kissing of the purple was
an established custom.51 By the 6th century, the colour was a powerful, almost mystical
symbol of the eternity of imperial rule as opposed to the transitional human entity
who happened to be donned in the purple garments.52 The gradual growth of the
symbolic significance of the colour appears to be a natural evolution which should not
give rise to any serious antiquarian explanation or debate: “The evolution of the court
ceremonial from simple adoratio to adoratio purpurae probably came so naturally that
little if any rationalization was wasted on an explanation of the significance of the new
rite”.53 In the sixth century, however, the colour purple does receive ample attention in
the writings of Cassiodorus, John the Lydian and John Malalas.
In the works of John the Lydian,54 the colour purple is present throughout his
account of Roman history up to his own day. The colour was instituted in the time of
the kings by Numa Pompilius {Mens. I 21) and was part of the attire of different offices
of the Roman republic, such as the consuls {Magis tr. I 32), patricians {Magistr. I 17)
and cavalry commanders. Both Julius Caesar {Magistr. II 2) and Augustus {Magistr. II
4) wore purple as part of their insignia, and the colour became part of the customary
attire of the emperors {Magistr. I 4) and the praetorian prefect in the imperial period,
who inherited the colour from the insignia of the cavalry commander {Magistr. II
13).55 In Magistr. II 2, John the Lydian uses the colour purple as a leitmotiv to connect
specifically the practices of the hallowed past to his own day; the purple attire of Julius
Caesar became the customary clothing for emperors during a triumphal procession,
and was therefore also worn by Justinian when he celebrated his triumph over the last
Vandal king Gelimer in AD 534. As such, the colour purple serves as a leitmotiv to
legitimate the contemporary eastern Roman emperors as heirs to the Roman legacy,
by connecting them to Rome’s earlier history.

49 For a history of the use of the colour purple as a status symbol, see Reinhold (1970). “The most enduring
status symbol of the ancient world was the color purple. Indeed, it was in continuous currency in antiq-
uity and the medieval age for over 3000 years.” (Reinhold 1970, p. 71).

50 Avery (1940), pp. 66,73, Reinhold (1970), pp. 59-61, Blum (1998). For a discussion of the use of the co-
lour in the later Roman empire, see Reinhold (1970), pp. 62-70.

51 Avery (1940), pp. 69-73.

52 Avery (1940), pp. 75-97. “The robe had clearly become a fetish and was looked upon as a sacred object
which alone conferred upon its wearer supreme sovereignty over the Roman world. [...] The purple
remained the symbol of the absolute dominion over the Roman State regardless of who wore it. One
emperor might die and another succeed him; the purple robe endured and conferred upon its next
“momentary wearer,” to use the expression from Alföldi, the quasi-mystic power by right of which he
ruled.” (Avery 1940, pp. 78-79).

53 Avery (1940), p. 79.

54 Reinhold (1970), p. 39 n. 2.

55 Kelly (2004), p. 21.