230

Raf Praet

the anecdote in his invective against Emperor Julian to theorise on the imperial aspect
of the colour as emblem of Roman rule. Julius Pollux says Heracles directly discovers
the colour on the lips of a dog and offers a garment in this colour to the nymph Tyrus
in exchange for a reciprocation of his amorous feeling towards her. Achilles Tatius only
mentions the shepherd discovering the colour on the snout of the dog. Both Gregory
and Nonnus only succinctly mention the dog without mentioning the person behind
the discovery. Malalas conflates the two versions represented in Pollux and Tatius, for
he does not simply mention Heracles or a shepherd, but Heracles seeing a shepherd. In
comparison with Tatius, who mentions how Heracles used the purple colour to bribe
a nymph into having sex, Malalas’ account has a more virtuous touch; Heracles appears
as a wise man, or φιλόσοφος, who directly presents his discovery to king Phoenix.
This virtuous interpretation of the mythology is more explicit in Cassiodorus’ account,
who only mentions the dog. Not by coincidence, the same demythologised account
appears in the account of the church father Gregory Nazianzus, who in his invective
against Julian explicitly makes a point of the colour purple being a neutral, non-pagan
emblem of empire.
The second part of Chron. II 8, which narrates how later rulers and especially Numa
applied the purple colour, appears to be a conflation and simplification of different de-
tailed descriptions of Roman attire in the works of John the Lydian. Malalas mentions
how rulers after Phoenix “devised for themselves robes, or else golden brooches and
mantles, which they dyed purple or red with dye from certain plants”.69 This part of the
account seems to have been borrowed from John the Lydian, Mens. I 21 who digresses
on the etymology of the trabea·. “It has been named trabea, namely, thrice-dyed, for it is
composed of three colors, purple, scarlet and that of the woad plant called by the many
lulacium, which is peculiar to Ares”.70 We can easily imagine Malalas giving only a
cursory look to the detailed account of John the Lydian and only retaining the essence;
namely that the garments were dyed in purple, red or with the dye of some plant - his
omissions also fit his profile; Malalas’ omission of the Latin name of the plant reflects
his lack of interest in the Latin language,71 whereas the omission of Ares neatly fits in
with his euhemerizing of Heracles as 2. philosophas Π His account on Numa’s dress code
for the Romans is distilled from detailed descriptions in John the Lydian. The imperial
cloaks “of purple with gold stripes”73 can be found in a more detailed description of the
different garment of Augustus in Magistr. II 24. The purple-striped garments of Nu-

69 Malalas, Chronographia II 8 (Thum 2000, p. 24): οί μεν περιβόΛαια, οί δε φίβΛας χρυσάς καί
μανδύας έπενόησαν έαυτοΐς, πορφύρεα ή ρούσεα βάπτοντες αύτά από βότανών τινων,
trans. Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott (1986), p. 16.

70 τραβαία δε εϊρηται ώσανεί τρίβαφος· εκ τριών γάρ άποτεΛεΐται χρωμάτων, πορφύρας,
κόκκου καί ίσατίδος βοτάνης ή παρά τοΐς ποΛΛοΐς ΛουΛάκιον Λέγεται, ήτις έστίν Άρεος.
(Wünsch 1898, pp. ri-12), trans. Bandy (2013), p. 65.

71 On Malalas’use and knowledge ofLatin see Jeffreys (i99oa9,p. 60, Jeffreys (1990b), p. 171, Agusta-Bou-
larot (2006), pp. 132,134 and Rochette (2012), p. 330.

72 On Malalas’ euhemerizing tendencies see Jeffreys (1990a), pp. 62-63 and Bernardi (2004), pp. 53—54-

73 Malalas, Chronographia II 8 (Thurn 2000, p. 24): τάς μεν βασιΛικάς πορφύρας, έχούσας ταβΛία
χρυσά, trans. Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott (1986), p. 16.