Crimson & Lemon & Purple

Crimson is the toga picta — the deep vivid cool-red of the toga picta (literally 'painted toga' — the ceremonial garment of the Roman triumph, traditionally dyed with crimson and embroidered or painted with gold, later worn by the Byzantine emperor on the most formal ceremonial occasions). The specific deep crimson of the imperial toga picta derives from the Roman triumphal tradition: the general who had been awarded a triumph (the most prestigious military honor of the Roman Republic, and the monopoly of the emperor in the Imperial period) wore the toga picta — a toga dyed deep crimson (originally with a vegetable dye, later with a combination of madder and kermes, the latter an insect-derived dye producing a specific deep vivid red). In the Byzantine continuation of the Roman imperial tradition, the toga picta's crimson remained the primary warm ceremonial color — complementary to the Imperial Purple of the chlamys. Lemon is the golden crown — the vivid pale lemon-to-gold of the Byzantine imperial crown — specifically the stemma (the circular crown of the Byzantine emperors, a rigid gold band set with pearls, enamel cloisonné panels, and pendant jeweled earpieces — pendilia). The surviving examples of Byzantine imperial crowns (the Crown of Constantine IX Monomachos, now at the Hungarian National Museum, Budapest, approximately 1042 CE; and the Votive Crown of Recceswinth, now at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, approximately 650 CE) use the specific warm-gold of 22-24 karat gold, which in the enamel cloisonné panels of the most elaborate pieces appears as a pale warm lemon-to-gold color. The Ravenna mosaics — specifically the apse mosaic of San Vitale (547 CE), which depicts Empress Theodora and her court in the most celebrated surviving Byzantine portrait mosaic — use the specific lemon-to-gold of the mosaic background (the gold-leaf tesserae, applied at a slight angle to catch and reflect light, creating the luminous golden glow of the Byzantine mosaic background). Purple is the imperial purple — the deep Tyrian purple (or Imperial purple, or 'porphyry purple' — Tyrian purple's Greek name, 'porphyra,' giving its name to the porphyrogenitos — 'born in the purple chamber,' the specific term for princes born during their father's reign and thus born in the purple-walled lying-in chamber of the Imperial Palace) of the Byzantine imperial vestments. Tyrian purple is produced by the Murex brandaris and Hexaplex trunculus sea snails — specifically, from the hypobranchial gland of the snails, which produces the precursor chemical (a mixture of indoxyl sulfate and related compounds) that, when exposed to air and sunlight, undergoes a photochemical reaction producing the specific red-violet color of Tyrian purple. Approximately 9,000 Murex snails were required to produce approximately one gram of Tyrian purple dye — making it the most expensive material by weight in the ancient world. Byzantine sources (specifically the Enarratio in Canticum Canticorum of Nicholas of Methone, 12th century) specify that only the emperor and the imperial family were permitted to wear Tyrian purple — the most absolute sumptuary regulation of the medieval world.