Impression of Roman infant in gypsum castSeeing the Dead project, University of York
Posted on 05/13/2026 11:52:28 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
According to a statement released by the University of York, researchers have identified rare traces of dyed purple textiles in two Roman infant burials. Known as Tyrian purple, the extremely costly colorant was manufactured by crushing thousands of murex marine sea snails and was typically reserved for use by emperors, royalty, and members of the aristocracy. However, experts were able to detect its presence on garments wrapped around two small children who died and were buried around 1,700 years ago. Their remains are held in the collections of the York Museums Trust. The dye was identifiable through chemical analysis because liquid gypsum had been poured over the shrouded young bodies in accordance with Roman mortuary custom. When the gypsum hardened, it protected the coloring of the fabric beneath it. It is the first time that the purple dye has ever been found on textiles from Roman York and demonstrates that some of the city's inhabitants had access to luxury commodities. The find is all the more intriguing because scholars have assumed that Romans did not outwardly grieve infant deaths. "This remarkable discovery tells us a lot about the importance of children in Roman York and the willingness of the family to give their baby the best possible send-off in tragic circumstances," said University of York archaeologist Maureen Carroll. To read about a chunk of Tyrian purple dye discovered in Carlisle, go to "Around the World: England."
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
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Impression of Roman infant in gypsum castSeeing the Dead project, University of York
A VIP’s children died, so they were treated to the best send-off possible.
In spite of the notion that classical Romans did not outwardly grieve the deaths of children, I am certain that they did. They just did not normally do public grieving.
i think the history of murex trunculus can be traced to ancient Israel, around Tel Shiqmona. the blue-purple color that came from the snail is called t’chelet, used for priestly garments and more especially for the fringes/tzitziot of a prayer shawl/tallit.
i think the history of murex trunculus can be traced to ancient Israel, around Tel Shiqmona. the blue-purple color that came from the snail is called t’chelet, used for priestly garments and more especially for the fringes/tzitziot of a prayer shawl/tallit.
Tyrian purple - originated in the Phoenician civilization.
https://greekreporter.com/2025/09/04/true-meaning-byzantium-purple-born-emperors/
Those who are familiar with the Emperors of Byzantium know they were often spoken of as “purple-born,” a phrase that has, understandably, sparked some wild representations of these powerful rulers of the Byzantine Empire over the centuries. This has led to the rather amusing notion that their royal blood turned violet.
However, this whole Byzantine fascination with the color has a more symbolic element and reveals ancient beliefs related to power, imperial legitimacy, and the theatricality that defined the Byzantine court.
The Greek word “porphyrogennetos,” meaning “born in the purple,” was, in fact, a magnificent declaration of legitimacy within the ruling class of Byzantium and a grand statement of imperial supremacy against the commoners. To be “born in the purple,” so to say, one had to meet certain requirements. Namely, one had to be a child born within a particular, elegantly purple-adorned chamber (known in medieval Greek as the “Porphyra”) within the Great Palace of Constantinople.
Most importantly, that individual’s father had to be the reigning emperor of the time so that the child could claim the title of “purple-born.” Babies born under such circumstances had an exclusive birthing suite, quite literally covered in the most revered and highly expensive color of the ancient world—Tyrian purple. This was a symbolic stamp of true imperial lineage that cemented the future of the baby from the moment he was born.
The dye itself, painstakingly extracted from hundreds of thousands of Murex sea snails, was so ludicrously expensive at the time that its use was largely reserved exclusively for the imperial family. As the years went by and the tradition became more established, this became, quite simply, the unmistakable symbol of the Byzantine divine right to rule the entire empire. The tradition, which really started taking shape from the 8th century onwards, found its most famous figure in Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos in the 10th century, even though the pattern existed centuries prior.
This was the time when the Byzantines cemented the belief that imperial power was divinely derived and publicly confirmed from the very moment a future ruler drew his first breath within the purple chamber.
More profoundly, the Byzantine obsession with legitimate succession, with the visible, ritualistic affirmation of authority, is still very present in many royal families across the world.
You will see world leaders and influential people wearing purple. This continues to carry heavy symbolism, bypassed by 99.9% of people.
It's not just the color of royal families. It's the color of the global ruling class, born to elite bloodlines.
Discoveries like this just go to show how sophisticated the Roman trade network was, and how devastating it was when it all collapsed. Purple then basically disappeared from Britain (it was extremely rare) for a thousand years until the 1400s when trade started expanding again. That is the basic story of a lot of these finds. Something common or at least more common in the far-flung corners of the Empire in Roman times disappeared for a thousand years after the Empire’s collapse.
Imagine how devastating it will be once America collapses and the world can no longer access a Happy Meal with fries including a Mayor MacCheese action figure.
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