Purple is any of a variety of

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

s with

hue In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that ...

between

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

and

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the

RYB color model RYB (an abbreviation of red–yellow–blue) is a subtractive color model used in art and applied design in which red, yellow, and blue pigments are considered primary colors. Under traditional color theory, (which some artists see as the � ...

historically used by painters, purples are created with a combination of red and blue pigments. In the

CMYK color model The CMYK color model (also known as process color, or four color) is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation ''CMYK'' refers ...

used in printing, purples are made by combining magenta pigment with either cyan pigment, black pigment, or both. Purple has long been associated with royalty, originally because

Tyrian purple Tyrian purple ( grc, πορφύρα ''porphúra''; la, purpura), also known as Phoenician red, Phoenician purple, royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye. The name Tyrian refers to Tyre, Lebanon. It i ...

dye, made from the mucus secretion of a species of snail, was extremely expensive in antiquity. Purple was the color worn by Roman magistrates; it became the imperial color worn by the rulers of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, and later by Roman Catholic

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

s. Similarly in Japan, the color is traditionally associated with the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

and aristocracy. According to contemporary surveys in Europe and the United States, purple is the color most often associated with rarity, royalty, magic, mystery, and piety. When combined with

pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

, it is associated with

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sc ...

femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered f ...

, and

seduction Seduction has multiple meanings. Platonically, it can mean "to persuade to disobedience or disloyalty", or "to lead astray, usually by persuasion or false promises". Strategies of seduction include conversation and sexual scripts, paralingual ...

Etymology and definitions

The modern English word ''purple'' comes from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''purpul,'' which derives from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''purpura'', which, in turn, derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(''porphura''), the name of the

dye manufactured in classical antiquity from a mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail. The first recorded use of the word ''purple'' dates to the late 900s AD.

Relationship to violet

Purple is closely associated with

violet Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Viol ...

. In common usage, both refer to a variety of colors between blue and red in

. Historically, purple has tended to be used for redder hues and violet for bluer hues. In

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

, violet is a spectral color; it refers to the color of any different single wavelength of light on the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum, between approximately 380 and 450 nanometers, whereas purple is the color of various combinations of red, blue, and violet light, some of which humans perceive as similar to violet.

In art, history, and fashion

In prehistory and the ancient world: Tyrian purple

Mosaic of Justinianus I - Basilica San Vitale (Ravenna)

Purple first appeared in prehistoric art during the Neolithic era. The artists of

Pech Merle Pech Merle is a cave which opens onto a hillside at Cabrerets in the Lot département of the Occitania region in France, about 32 km by road east of Cahors. It is one of the few prehistoric cave painting sites in France that remain open t ...

cave and other

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

sites in France used sticks of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

and hematite powder to draw and paint animals and the outlines of their own hands on the walls of their caves. These works have been dated to between 16,000 and 25,000 BC. As early as the 15th century BC the citizens of

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

and Tyre, two cities on the coast of Ancient

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

(present day Lebanon), were producing purple dye from a sea snail called the spiny dye-murex.Ball, Philip, ''Bright Earth; Art and the Invention of Colour''. p. 290 Clothing colored with the Tyrian dye was mentioned in both the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'' of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

and the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...

'' of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

. The deep, rich purple dye made from this snail became known as Tyrian purple. The process of making the dye was long, difficult and expensive. Thousands of the tiny snails had to be found, their shells cracked, the snail removed. Mountains of empty shells have been found at the ancient sites of Sidon and Tyre. The snails were left to soak, then a tiny gland was removed and the juice extracted and put in a basin, which was placed in the sunlight. There, a remarkable transformation took place. In the sunlight the juice turned white, then yellow-green, then green, then violet, then a red which turned darker and darker. The process had to be stopped at exactly the right time to obtain the desired color, which could range from a bright crimson to a dark purple, the color of dried blood. Then either wool, linen or silk would be dyed. The exact hue varied between crimson and violet, but it was always rich, bright and lasting. Tyrian purple became the color of kings, nobles, priests and magistrates all around the Mediterranean. It was mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament); in the

Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through ...

, God instructs Moses to have the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

bring him an offering including cloth "of blue, and purple, and scarlet," to be used in the curtains of the

Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

and the garments of priests. The term used for purple in the 4th-century

Latin Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels us ...

version of the Bible passage is ''purpura'' or Tyrian purple. In the ''

'' of

, the belt of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

is purple, and the tails of the horses of Trojan warriors are dipped in purple. In the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'', the blankets on the wedding bed of Odysseus are purple. In the poems of Sappho (6th century BC) she celebrates the skill of the dyers of the Greek kingdom of Lydia who made purple footwear, and in the play of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

(525–456 BC), Queen

Clytemnestra Clytemnestra (; grc-gre, Κλυταιμνήστρα, ''Klytaimnḗstrā'', ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' '' Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by E ...

welcomes back her husband

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the ...

by decorating the palace with purple carpets. In 950 BC, King Solomon was reported to have brought artisans from Tyre to provide purple fabrics to decorate the

Temple of Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusa ...

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

(when giving imperial audiences as the basileus of the

Macedonian Empire Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled ...

), the basileus of the Seleucid Empire, and the kings of Ptolemaic Egypt all wore Tyrian purple. The Roman custom of wearing purple

togas The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...

may have come from the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

; an Etruscan tomb painting from the 4th century BC shows a nobleman wearing a deep purple and embroidered toga. In Ancient Rome, the ''Toga praetexta'' was an ordinary white toga with a broad purple stripe on its border. It was worn by freeborn Roman boys who had not yet come of age, curule magistrates, certain categories of priests, and a few other categories of citizens. The ''Toga picta'' was solid purple, embroidered with gold. During the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

, it was worn by generals in their

triumphs ''Triumphs'' (Italian: ''I Trionfi'') is a 14th-century Italian series of poems, written by Petrarch in the Tuscan language. The poem evokes the Roman ceremony of triumph, where victorious generals and their armies were led in procession by the ca ...

, and by the

Praetor Urbanus Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

when he rode in the chariot of the gods into the circus at the

Ludi Apollinares The ''Ludi Apollinares'' were solemn games (''ludi'') held annually by the ancient Romans in honor of the god Apollo. The tradition goes that at the first celebration hereof, they were suddenly invaded by the enemy, and obliged to take to their arms ...

. During the Empire, the ''toga picta'' was worn by magistrates giving public gladiatorial games, and by the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

s, as well as by the emperor on special occasions. During the Roman Republic, when a triumph was held, the general being honored wore an entirely purple toga bordered in gold, and Roman Senators wore a toga with a purple stripe. However, during the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, purple was more and more associated exclusively with the emperors and their officers. Suetonius claims that the early emperor Caligula had the King of Mauretania murdered for the splendour of his purple cloak, and that

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...

forbade the use of certain purple dyes. In the late empire the sale of purple cloth became a state monopoly protected by the death penalty. According to the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

, in the hours leading up to his crucifixion, was dressed in purple (πορφύρα: ''porphura'') by the Roman garrison to mock his claim to be ' King of the Jews'. The actual color of Tyrian purple seems to have varied from a reddish to a bluish purple. According to the Roman writer

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled '' De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribut ...

, (1st century BC), the

murex ''Murex'' is a genus of medium to large sized predatory tropical sea snails. These are carnivorous marine gastropod molluscs in the family Muricidae, commonly called "murexes" or "rock snails".Houart, R.; Gofas, S. (2010). Murex Linnaeus, 175 ...

shells coming from northern waters, probably '' Bolinus brandaris'', produced a more bluish color than those of the south, probably ''

Hexaplex trunculus ''Hexaplex trunculus'' (previously known as ''Murex trunculus'', ''Phyllonotus trunculus'', or the banded dye-murex) is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails. It is included ...

''. The most valued shades were said to be those closer to the color of dried blood, as seen in the mosaics of the robes of the

Emperor Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...

. The chemical composition of the dye from the murex is close to that of the dye from

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

, and indigo was sometimes used to make a counterfeit Tyrian purple, a crime which was severely punished. What seems to have mattered about Tyrian purple was not its color, but its luster, richness, its resistance to weather and light, and its high price. In modern times, Tyrian purple has been recreated, at great expense. When the German chemist Paul Friedander tried to recreate Tyrian purple in 2008, he needed twelve thousand mollusks to create 1.4 ounces of dye, enough to color a handkerchief. In the year 2000, a gram of Tyrian purple made from ten thousand mollusks according to the original formula cost two thousand euros.

China

In ancient China, purple was obtained not through the Mediterranean mollusc, but purple gromwell. The dye obtained did not easily adhere to fabrics, making purple fabrics expensive. Purple became a fashionable color in the

state of Qi Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a state of the Zhou dynasty-era in ancient China, variously reckoned as a march, duchy, and independent kingdom. Its capital was Linzi, located in present-day Shandong. Qi was founded sh ...

(齊, 1046 BC–221 BC) because its ruler,

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...

, developed a preference for it. As a result, the price of purple fabric was over five times that of plain fabric. His minister,

Guan Zhong Guan Zhong (; c. 720–645 BC) was a Chinese philosopher and politician. He served as chancellor and was a reformer of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. His given name was Yiwu (). ''Zhong'' was his courte ...

(管仲), eventually convinced him to relinquish this preference. China was the first culture to develop a synthetic purple color.Thieme, C. 2001. (translated by M. Will) Paint Layers and Pigments on the Terracotta Army: A Comparison with Other Cultures of Antiquity. In: W. Yongqi, Z. Tinghao, M. Petzet, E. Emmerling and C. Blänsdorf (eds.) ''The Polychromy of Antique Sculptures and the Terracotta Army of the First Chinese Emperor: Studies on Materials, Painting Techniques and Conservation.'' Monuments and Sites III. Paris: ICOMOS, 52–57. An old hypothesis suggested links between the Chinese purple and blue and

Egyptian blue Egyptian blue, also known as calcium copper silicate (CaCuSi4O10 or CaOCuO(SiO2)4 (calcium copper tetrasilicate)) or cuprorivaite, is a pigment that was used in ancient Egypt for thousands of years. It is considered to be the first synthetic pi ...

, however, molecular structure analysis and evidence such as the absence of lead in Egyptian blue and the lack of examples of Egyptian blue in China, argued against the hypothesis. The use of quartz, barium, and lead components in

ancient Chinese glass Ancient Chinese glass refers to all types of glass manufactured in China prior to the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). In Chinese history, glass played a peripheral role in the arts and crafts, when compared to ceramics and metal work. The limited archa ...

and Han purple and Han blue has been used to suggest a connection between glassmaking and the manufacture of pigments,FitzHugh, E. W. and Zycherman, L. A. 1983. An Early Man-Made Blue Pigment from China: Barium Copper Silicate. ''Studies in Conservation'' 28/1, 15–23. and to prove the independence of the Chinese invention.

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

alchemists Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

may have developed Han purple from their knowledge of glassmaking. Lead is used by the pigment maker to lower the melting point of the barium in Han Purple. Purple was regarded as a secondary color in ancient China. In classical times, secondary colors were not as highly prized as the five primary colors of the Chinese spectrum, and purple was used to allude to impropriety, in contrast to crimson, which was deemed a primary color and symbolized legitimacy. Nevertheless, by the 6th century CE, purple was ranked above crimson. Several changes to the ranks of colors occurred after that time. File:Egyptian - Faience Bowl - Walters 48451 - Interior.jpg, An Egyptian bowl colored with Egyptian blue, with motifs painted in dark manganese purple. (between 1550 and 1450 BC) File:Contemporary portrayal of a toga picta.jpg, Painting of a man wearing an all-purple ''toga picta'', from an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

tomb (about 350 BC). File:Compitalia fresco.jpg, Roman men wearing ''togae praetextae'' with reddish-purple stripes during a religious procession (1st century BC). File:Purple_Purpur_(retouched).jpg, Different purple hues obtained from three types of sea snails File:Purpurküpe.jpg, Dye bath of Tyrian purple File:Purpur-mit-Ausfaerbung.png, Cloth dyed with Tyrian purple. The color could vary from crimson to deep purple, depending upon the type of

sea-snail and how it was made.

Purple in the Byzantine Empire and Carolingian Europe

Through the early Christian era, the rulers of the

continued the use of purple as the imperial color, for diplomatic gifts, and even for imperial documents and the pages of the Bible.

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

s were written in gold lettering on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...

that was colored Tyrian purple. Empresses gave birth in the Purple Chamber, and the emperors born there were known as "born to the purple," to separate them from emperors who won or seized the title through political intrigue or military force. Bishops of the Byzantine church wore white robes with stripes of purple, while government officials wore squares of purple fabric to show their rank. In western Europe, the Emperor

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

was crowned in 800 wearing a mantle of Tyrian purple, and was buried in 814 in a shroud of the same color, which still exists (see below). However, after the fall of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the color lost its imperial status. The great dye works of Constantinople were destroyed, and gradually scarlet, made with dye from the

cochineal The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America through North Americ ...

insect, became the royal color in Europe. File:Theodora mosaic - Basilica San Vitale (Ravenna) v2.jpg, The Empress

Theodora Theodora is a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift". Theodora may also refer to: Historical figures known as Theodora Byzantine empresses * Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church * Theodora o ...

, the wife of the Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...

, dressed in Tyrian purple. (6th century). File:11th century Byzantine griffins.gif, 11th-century

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

robe, dyed

with

dye. Creatures are griffins File:Karl den store krons av leo III.jpg, A medieval depiction of the coronation of the Emperor

in 800. The bishops and cardinals wear purple, and the Pope wears white. File:Shroud of Charlemagne manufactured in Constantinople 814.jpg, A fragment of the shroud in which the Emperor

was buried in 814. It was made of gold and Tyrian purple from Constantinople.

The Middle Ages and Renaissance

In 1464,

Pope Paul II Pope Paul II ( la, Paulus II; it, Paolo II; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in July 1471. When his maternal uncle Eugene IV ...

decreed that cardinals should no longer wear Tyrian purple, and instead wear scarlet, from kermes and alum, since the dye from Byzantium was no longer available. Bishops and archbishops, of a lower status than cardinals, were assigned the color purple, but not the rich Tyrian purple. They wore cloth dyed first with the less expensive

blue, then overlaid with red made from kermes dye. While purple was worn less frequently by Medieval and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

kings and princes, it was worn by the professors of many of Europe's new universities. Their robes were modeled after those of the clergy, and they often wore square/violet or purple/violet caps and robes, or black robes with purple/violet trim. Purple/violet robes were particularly worn by students of divinity. Purple and/or violet also played an important part in the religious paintings of the Renaissance. Angels and the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

were often portrayed wearing purple or violet robes. File:Aquileia Basilica - Krypta Fresco Bischofsweihe Hermagoras.jpg, A 12th-century painting of

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

consecrating Hermagoras, wearing purple, as a bishop. File:Ghent Altarpiece D - Popes - Bishops.jpg, In the ''

Ghent Altarpiece The ''Adoration of the Mystic Lamb'', also called the ''Ghent Altarpiece'' ( nl, De aanbidding van het Lam Gods), is a large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420 ...

'' (1422) by Jan van Eyck, the popes and bishops are wearing purple robes. File:Rafael - Ressurreição de Cristo (detalhe - anjo).jpg, A purple-clad angel from the ''Resurrection of Christ'' by Raphael (1483–1520)

18th and 19th centuries

In the 18th century, purple was still worn on occasion by Catherine the Great and other rulers, by bishops and, in lighter shades, by members of the aristocracy, but rarely by ordinary people, because of its high cost. But in the 19th century, that changed. In 1856, an eighteen-year-old British chemistry student named

William Henry Perkin Sir William Henry Perkin (12 March 1838 – 14 July 1907) was a British chemist and entrepreneur best known for his serendipitous discovery of the first commercial synthetic organic dye, mauveine, made from aniline. Though he failed in tryin ...

was trying to make a synthetic

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to '' Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal le ...

. His experiments produced instead the first synthetic

aniline dye Aniline is an organic compound with the formula C6 H5 NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an industrially significant commodity chemical, as well as a versatile starting m ...

, a purple shade called

mauveine Mauveine, also known as aniline purple and Perkin's mauve, was one of the first synthetic dyes. It was discovered serendipitously by William Henry Perkin in 1856 while he was attempting to synthesise the phytochemical quinine for the treatment of ...

, shortened simply to

mauve Mauve (, ; , ) is a pale purple color named after the mallow flower (French: ''mauve''). The first use of the word ''mauve'' as a color was in 1796–98 according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', but its use seems to have been rare befo ...

. It took its name from the mallow flower, which is the same color. The new color quickly became fashionable, particularly after

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

wore a silk gown dyed with mauveine to the Royal Exhibition of 1862. Prior to Perkin's discovery, mauve was a color which only the aristocracy and rich could afford to wear. Perkin developed an industrial process, built a factory, and produced the dye by the ton, so almost anyone could wear mauve. It was the first of a series of modern industrial dyes which completely transformed both the chemical industry and fashion. Purple was popular with the

pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

painters in Britain, including Arthur Hughes, who loved bright colors and romantic scenes. File:Rokotov ekaterina.jpg, Portrait of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, by

Fyodor Rokotov Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov (Fedor Rokotov) (russian: Фёдор Степа́нович Ро́котов) (1736–December 24, 1808) was a distinguished Russian painter who specialized in portraits. Fyodor Rokotov was born into a family of p ...

. (State Hermitage Museum). File:Arthur Hughes - April Love - Google Art Project.jpg, In England,

painters like Arthur Hughes were particularly enchanted by purple and/or violet. This is '' April Love'' (1856). File:Gaston d’Orléans, comte d’Eu01.jpg,

Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil , house = Braganza , father = Pedro II of Brazil , mother = Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies , birth_date = , birth_place = Palace of São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , death_date = , death_place = ...

(in dark purple dress) with her husband Prince Gaston and their son, the

Prince of Grão-Pará The Prince of Grão-Pará was the title bestowed on the eldest son of the Prince Imperial of Brazil. The title holder was the second in the line of succession to the throne of the Empire of Brazil, after the Prince Imperial. The title was establish ...

at purple dusk (1877) File:Uniform Albert I, Koning der Belgen.JPG, Order of Leopold founded in 1830.

20th and 21st centuries

At the turn of the century, purple was a favorite color of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, who flooded his pictures with sensual purples and violets. In the 20th century, purple retained its historic connection with royalty;

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

(1896–1952), wore purple in his official portrait, and it was prominent in every feature of the coronation of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

in 1953, from the invitations to the stage design inside

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

. But at the same time, it was becoming associated with social change; with the

Women's Suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement for the right to vote for women in the early decades of the century, with

Feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

in the 1970s, and with the psychedelic drug culture of the 1960s. In the early 20th century, purple, green, and white were the colors of the

movement, which fought to win the right to vote for women, finally succeeding with the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. Later, in the 1970s, in a tribute to the Suffragettes, it became the color of the

women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

. In the concentration camps of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, prisoners who were members of non-conformist religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, were required to wear a

purple triangle The purple triangle was a concentration camp badge used by the Nazis to identify Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany. The purple triangle was introduced in July 1936 with other concentration camps such as those of Dachau and Buchenwald following i ...

. During the 1960s and early 1970s, it was also associated with

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

psychedelics Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

, and musicians like Jimi Hendrix with his 1967 song " Purple Haze", or the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band of Deep Purple which formed in 1968. Later, in the 1980s, it was featured in the song and album '' Purple Rain'' (1984) by the American musician

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

. The Purple Rain Protest was a protest against apartheid that took place in Cape Town, South Africa on 2 September 1989, in which a police water cannon with purple dye sprayed thousands of demonstrators. This led to the slogan ''The Purple Shall Govern''. The violet or purple necktie became very popular at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, particularly among political and business leaders. It combined the assertiveness and confidence of a red necktie with the sense of peace and cooperation of a blue necktie, and it went well with the blue business suit worn by most national and corporate leaders.Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur: effets et symboliques. File:Gustav Klimt 009.jpg, Gustav Klimt portrait of woman with a purple hat (1912). File:George VI.jpg,

(1895–1952) wore purple in his official portrait. File:Elizabeth and Philip 1953.jpg, The coronation portrait of

and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1953) has three different shades of purple in the train, curtains and crown. File:Official Program Woman Suffrage Procession - March 3, 1913.jpg, Program from the Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913

march. File:The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - Votes for women pennant.jpg, A pennant from the

movement in the state of Indiana. File:Feminism symbol.svg, Symbol of the Feminist movement in the United States (1970s). The purple color was chosen as a tribute to the Suffragette movement a half-century earlier.

In science and nature

Optics

The meanings of the color terms violet and purple varies even among native speakers of English, for example between United Kingdom and United States Since this Wikipedia page contains contributions from authors from different countries and different native languages, it is likely to be not consistent in the use of the color terms violet and purple. According to some speakers/authors of English, purple, unlike violet, is not one of the colors of the visible spectrum. It was not one of the colors of the rainbow identified by Isaac Newton, although in earlier versions of Newton's work the word purple was used where violet was used in the final version. According to some authors, purple does not have its own wavelength of light. For this reason, it is sometimes called a ''non-spectral color''. It exists in culture and art, but not, in the same way that violet does, in optics. According to some speakers of English, purple is simply a combination, in various proportions, of two primary colors, red and blue. According to other speakers of English, the same range of colors is called violet. In some textbooks of color theory, and depending on the geographical-cultural origin of the author, a "purple" is defined as any Spectral color#Non-spectral colors, non-spectral color between

and red (excluding violet and red themselves). The spectral colors violet and indigo would in that case not be purples. For other speakers of English, these colors are purples. In the traditional color wheel long used by painters, purple is placed between crimson and violet. However, also here there is much variation in color terminology depending on cultural background of the painters and authors, and sometimes the term violet is used and placed in between red and blue on the traditional color wheel. In a slightly different variation, on the HSV color space, color wheel, purple is placed between magenta and violet. This shade is sometimes called electric purple (See shades of purple). In the RGB color model, named for the colors red, green, and blue, used to create all the colors on a computer screen or television, the range of purples is created by mixing red and blue light of different intensities on a black screen. The standard HTML color purple is created by red and blue light of equal intensity, at a brightness that is halfway between full power and darkness. In color printing, purple is sometimes represented by the color magenta, or sometimes by mixing magenta with red or blue. It can also be created by mixing just red and blue alone, but in that case the purple is less bright, with lower saturation or intensity. A less bright purple can also be created with light or paint by adding a certain quantity of the third primary color (green for light or yellow for pigment). On a chromaticity diagram, the straight line connecting the extreme spectral colors (red and violet) is known as the line of purples (or 'purple boundary'); it represents one limit of human Color vision, color perception. The color magenta used in the CMYK printing process is near the center of the line of purples, but most people associate the term "purple" with a somewhat bluer tone, such as is displayed by the color "electric purple" (a color also directly on the line of purples), shown below. On the CIE 1931 color space, CIE xy chromaticity diagram, violet is on the curved edge in the lower left, while purples are on the straight line connecting the extreme colors red and violet; this line is known as the line of purples, or the purple line. File:RGB illumination.jpg, On a computer or television screen, purple colors are created by mixing red and blue light. This is called the RGB color model. File:CIExy1931.png, The CIE 1931 color space, CIE xy chromaticity diagram

Pigments

*Hematite and

are the oldest pigments used for the color purple. They were used by

artists in the form of sticks, like charcoal, or ground and powdered and mixed with fat, and used as a paint. Hematite is a reddish iron oxide which, when ground coarsely, makes a purple pigment. One such pigment is caput mortuum (pigment), caput mortuum, whose name is also used in reference to mummy brown. The latter is another pigment containing hematite and historically produced with the use of mummified corpses. Some of its compositions produce a purple color and may be called "mummy violet". Manganese was also used in Roman times to color glass purple. *Han purple was the first synthetic purple pigment, invented in China in about 700 BC. It was used in wall paintings and pottery and other applications. In color, it was very close to

, which had a similar chemical structure. Han purple was very unstable, and sometimes was the result of the chemical breakdown of Han blue. During the Middle Ages, artists usually made purple by combining red and blue pigments; most often blue azurite or lapis-lazuli with red ochre, cinnabar, or minium. They also combined lake colors made by mixing dye with powder; using woad or indigo dye for the blue, and dye made from

for the red. *Cobalt violet was the first modern synthetic color in the purple family, manufactured in 1859. It was found, along with cobalt blue, in the palette of Claude Monet, Paul Signac, and Georges Seurat. It was stable, but had low tinting power and was expensive, so quickly went out of use. *Manganese violet was a stronger color than cobalt violet, and replaced it on the market. *Quinacridone violet, one of a modern synthetic organic family of colors, was discovered in 1896 but not marketed until 1955. It is sold today under a number of brand names. File:Lascaux painting.jpg, Manganese pigments were used in the neolithic paintings in the Lascaux cave, France. File:Hematite.jpg, Hematite was often used as the red-purple color in the cave paintings of

artists. File:Purpurite-120161.jpg, A sample of purpurite, or manganese phosphate, from the Packrat Mine in Southern California. File:Cobaltviolet.jpg, A swatch of cobalt violet, popular among the French impressionists. File:Manganese violet.jpg, Manganese violet is a synthetic pigment invented in the mid-19th century. File:CI Pigment Violet 19 Beta.JPG, Quinacridone violet, a synthetic organic pigment sold under many different names.

Dyes

The most famous purple dye in the ancient world was

, made from a type of sea snail called the

, found around the Mediterranean. (See history section above). In western Polynesia, residents of the islands made a purple dye similar to Tyrian purple from the sea urchin. In Central America, the inhabitants made a dye from a different sea snail, the Purpura (gastropod), purpura, found on the coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The Mayans used this color to dye fabric for religious ceremonies, while the Aztecs used it for paintings of ideograms, where it symbolized royalty.Anne Carichon (2000), ''Couleurs: pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples''. p. 133. In the Middle Ages, those who worked with blue and black dyes belonged to separate guilds from those who worked with red and yellow dyes, and were often forbidden to dye any other colors than those of their own guild. Most purple fabric was made by the dyers who worked with red, and who used dye from Rubia, madder or

, so Medieval violet colors were inclined toward red. Orcein, or ''purple moss'', was another common purple dye. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Hebrews, and was made from a Mediterranean lichen called archil or dyer's moss (Roccella tinctoria), combined with an ammoniac, usually urine. Orcein began to achieve popularity again in the 19th century, when violet and purple became the color of demi-mourning, worn after a widow or widower had worn black for a certain time, before he or she returned to wearing ordinary colors. From the Middle Ages onward, purple dyes for the clothing of common people were often made from the blackberry or other red fruit of the genus rubus, or from the mulberry. All of these dyes were more reddish than bluish, and faded easily with washing and exposure to sunlight. A popular new dye which arrived in Europe from the New World during the Renaissance was made from the wood of the logwood tree (H''aematoxylum campechianum''), which grew in Spanish Mexico. Depending on the different minerals added to the dye, it produced a blue, red, black or, with the addition of alum, a purple color, It made a good color, but, like earlier dyes, it did not resist sunlight or washing. In the 18th century, chemists in England, France and Germany began to create the first synthetic dyes. Two synthetic purple dyes were invented at about the same time. Cudbear is a dye extracted from orchil lichens that can be used to dye wool and silk, without the use of mordant. Cudbear was developed by Dr Cuthbert Gordon of Scotland: production began in 1758, The lichen is first boiled in a solution of ammonium carbonate. The mixture is then cooled and ammonia is added and the mixture is kept damp for 3–4 weeks. Then the lichen is dried and ground to powder. The manufacture details were carefully protected, with a ten-feet high wall being built around the manufacturing facility, and staff consisting of Highlanders sworn to secrecy. French purple was developed in France at about the same time. The lichen is extracted by urine or ammonia. Then the extract is acidified, the dissolved dye precipitates and is washed. Then it is dissolved in ammonia again, the solution is heated in air until it becomes purple, then it is precipitated with calcium chloride; the resulting dye was more solid and stable than other purples. Cobalt violet is a synthetic pigment that was invented in the second half of the 19th century, and is made by a similar process as cobalt blue, cerulean blue and cobalt green. It is the violet pigment most commonly used today by artists. In spite of its name, this pigment produces a purple rather than violet color Mauveine, also known as aniline purple and Perkin's

, was the first synthetic organic chemistry, organic chemical dye, discovered serendipity, serendipitously in 1856. Its chemical name is 3-amino-2,±9-dimethyl-5-phenyl-7-(p-tolylamino)phenazinium acetate. Fuchsine was another synthetic dye made shortly after mauveine. It produced a brilliant fuchsia color. In the 1950s, a new family of purple and violet synthetic organic pigments called quinacridone came onto the market. It had originally been discovered in 1896, but were not synthetized until 1936, and not manufactured until the 1950s. The colors in the group range from deep red to bluish purple in color, and have the molecular formula C₂₀H₁₂N₂O₂. They have strong resistance to sunlight and washing, and are widely used today in oil paints, water colors, and acrylics, as well as in automobile coatings and other industrial coatings. File:Black Butte blackberry.jpg, Blackberry, Blackberries were sometimes used to make purple dye in the Middle Ages. File:A lichen - Ochrolechia tartarea - geograph.org.uk - 995354.jpg, This lichen, growing on a tree in Scotland, was used in the 18th century to make a common purple dye called Cudbear. File:Mauv2.jpg, A sample of silk dyed with the original mauveine dye. File:Basic Fuchsine in aqueous solution.jpg, A sample of fuchsine dye

Animals

File:Cinnyricinclus_leucogaster_-_20080321.jpg, The male violet-backed starling sports a very bright, iridescent purple plumage. File:Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis.jpg, The purple frog is a species of amphibian found in India. File:Pseudanthias pascalus.jpg, ''Pseudanthias pascalus'' or purple queenfish. File:PurpleUrchinPuertoVG.JPG, The purple sea urchin from Mexico. File:Purple Heron in flight.jpg, A purple heron in flight (South Africa). File:Carpodacus purpureus CT3.jpg, A purple finch (North America). File:Lorius domicella -Jurong Bird Park -upper body-8a.jpg, The ''Lorius domicella'', or purple-naped lory, from Indonesia.

Anthocyanins

Certain grapes, eggplants, pansies and other fruits, vegetables and flowers may appear purple due to the presence of natural pigments called anthocyanins. These pigments are found in the leaves, roots, stems, vegetables, fruits and flowers of all plants. They aid photosynthesis by blocking harmful wavelengths of light that would damage the leaves. In flowers, the purple anthocyanins help attract insects who pollinate the flowers. Not all anthocyanins are purple; they vary in color from red to purple to blue, green, or yellow, depending upon the level of their pH. File:Purplec.png, The purple colors of this cauliflower, grapes, fruits, vegetables and flowers comes from natural pigments called anthocyanins. File:Indicateur chou rouge.jpg, Anthocyanins range in color from red to purple to green, blue and yellow, depending upon the level of their pH. File:Img fagus sylvatica atropurpurea 1890.jpg, Anthocyanins also account for the purple color in these Fagus sylvatica, copper beech trees, and in purple autumn leaves. File:Blood orange sliced.jpg, Anthocyanins produce the purple color in blood oranges. File:Purple pansy flower.jpg, alt=Purple pansy, A purple pansy. File:Blue Hydrangea (common names hydrangea or hortensia).jpg, alt="Blue" hydrangea is often actually purple., "Blue" hydrangea is often actually purple.

Plants and flowers

*Stipa, Purple needlegrass is the state grass of California. File:Artichoke in Dalat, Vietnam.jpg, An artichoke flower in blossom in Dalat, Vietnam File:Iris germanica10.jpg, ''Iris germanica'' flowers File:Lilac blossom Fliederblüte Syringa vulgaris 05.jpg, ''Syringa vulgaris'', or lilac blossoms File:MEDICAGO SATIVA - APIS - IB-125.JPG, ''Medicago sativa'', known as alfalfa in the U.S. and lucerne in the U.K. File:Aster alpinus 002.JPG, The ''Aster alpinus'', or alpine aster, is native to the European mountains, including the Alps, while a subspecies is found in Canada and the United States. File:Single lavender flower02.jpg, Lavender flowers. File:Purple Rose1.jpg, A purple rose. File:Wisteria floribunda5.jpg, alt=Wisteria is a pale purple color., Wisteria is a pale purple color. File:Purple_salsify_(7356683346).jpg, Tragopogon porrifolius, salsify

Microbiology

*Purple bacteria are bacteria that are phototrophic, that is, capable of producing energy through photosynthesis. *In April 2007 it was suggested that early archaea may have used retinal, a purple pigment, instead of chlorophyll, to extract energy from the sun. If so, large areas of the ocean and shoreline would have been colored purple; this is called the Purple Earth hypothesis.

Astronomy

* One of the stars in the Pleiades, called Pleione (star), Pleione, is sometimes called ''Purple Pleione'' because, being a fast spinning star, it has a purple hue caused by its blue-white color being obscured by a spinning ring of electrically excited red hydrogen gas. *The Purple Forbidden enclosure is a name used in traditional Chinese astronomy for those Chinese constellations that surround the north celestial pole.

Geography

*Purple Mountain (Nanjing), Purple Mountain is located on the eastern side of Nanjing. Its peaks are often found enveloped in purple clouds at dawn and dusk, hence comes its name "Purple Mountain". The Purple Mountain Observatory is located there. *Purple Mountain, County Kerry, Purple Mountain in County Kerry, Ireland, takes its name from the color of the shivered slate on its summit. *Purple Mountain (Wyoming), Purple Mountain in Wyoming (el. ) is a mountain peak in the southern section of the Gallatin Range in Yellowstone National Park. *Purple Mountain, Alaska *Purple Mountain, Oregon *Purple Mountain, Washington *Purple Peak, Colorado File:Purple Mountain View, Killarney.jpg, Purple Mountain, County Kerry, Purple Mountain near Killarney, Ireland. File:PurpleMountainYNP2010.jpg, Purple Mountain (Wyoming), Purple Mountain in Yellowstone National Park. File:PurpleMountain01.JPG, Purple Mountain (Nanjing), Purple Mountain, Nanjing.

Purple mountains phenomenon

It has been observed that the greater the distance between a viewers eyes and mountains, the lighter and more blue or purple they will appear. This phenomenon, long recognized by Leonardo da Vinci and other painters, is called aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective. The more distant the mountains are, the less contrast the eye sees between the mountains and the sky. The bluish color is caused by an optical effect called Rayleigh scattering. The sunlit sky is blue because air scatters short-wavelength light more than longer wavelengths. Since blue light is at the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum, it is more strongly scattered in the atmosphere than long wavelength red light. The result is that the human eye perceives blue when looking toward parts of the sky other than the sun. At sunrise and sunset, the light is passing through the atmosphere at a lower angle, and traveling a greater distance through a larger volume of air. Much of the green and blue is scattered away, and more red light comes to the eye, creating the colors of the sunrise and sunset and making the mountains look purple. The phenomenon is referenced in the song "America the Beautiful", where the lyrics refer to "purple mountains' majesty" among other features of the United States landscape. A List of Crayola crayon colors, Crayola crayon called Purple Mountain Majesty in reference to the lyric was first formulated in 1993. File:Aerial perspective 1.JPG, The more distant mountains are, the lighter and more blue they are. This is called atmospheric perspective or aerial perspective. File:Auke Bay Alaska 2.jpg, Sunset at Auke Bay, Alaska. Thanks to Rayleigh scattering, the mountains appear purple.

Mythology

Julius Pollux, a Greek grammarian who lived in the second century AD, attributed the discovery of purple to the Phoenician god and guardian of the city of Tyre, Heracles. According to his account, while walking along the shore with the nymph Tyrus, the god's dog bit into a murex shell, causing his mouth to turn purple. The nymph subsequently requested that Heracles create a garment for her of that same color, with Heracles obliging her demands giving birth to Tyrian purple.

Associations and symbolism

Royalty

In Europe, since the time that the Roman emperors wore a

(''purpura'') toga praetexta, purple has been the color most associated with power and royalty. The British Royal Family and other European royalty still use it as a ceremonial color on special occasions.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur: effets et symboliques'', p. 162. In Japan, purple is associated with the

and Japanese aristocracy. File:NorthernIrelandStamp1958 3D.jpg, A purple postage stamp honored Queen Elizabeth II in 1958 File:Dronning Margrethe II (crop).jpg, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in 2010.

Piety, faith, penitence, and theology

In the West, purple or violet is the color most associated with piety and religious faith. In AD 1464, shortly after the Muslim conquest of

, which terminated the supply of

to Roman Catholic Europe,

decreed that cardinalate, cardinals should henceforth wear scarlet instead of purple, the scarlet being dyed with expensive

. Catholic bishop, Bishops were assigned the color Amaranth (color)#Amaranth purple, amaranth, being a pale and pinkish purple made then from a less-expensive mixture of indigo and cochineal. In the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic liturgy, purple symbolizes penitence; Anglican Communion, Anglican and Catholic priests wear a purple stole (vestment), stole when they hear Confession (religion), confession and a purple stole and chasuble during Advent and Lent. Since the Second Vatican Council of 1962–5, priests may wear purple vestments, but may still wear black ones, when officiating at funerals. The ''Roman Missal'' permits black, purple (violet), or white vestments for the funeral Mass (liturgy), Mass. White is worn when a child dies before the Age of reason (canon law), age of reason. Students and faculty of theology also wear purple academic dress for graduations and other university ceremonies. Purple is also often worn by senior pastors of Protestant churches and bishops of the Anglican Communion. File:Cardinals and bishops in Bruges escorted by police.jpg, In the Roman Catholic Church, cardinals now wear Scarlet (color), scarlet and bishops wear amaranth (color), amaranth. File:Katharine Jefferts Schori 2.jpg, Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church of the United States The color purple is also associated with royalty in Christianity, being one of the three traditional offices of

, i. e. king, although such a symbolism was assumed from the earlier Roman association or at least also employed by the ancient Romans.

Vanity, extravagance, individualism

In Europe and America, purple is the color most associated with vanity, extravagance, and individualism. Among the seven deadly sins, it represents pride. It is a color which is used to attract attention.

The artificial, materialism and beauty

Purple is the color most often associated with the artificial and the unconventional. It is the major color that occurs the least frequently in nature, and was the first color to be synthesized.

Ambiguity and ambivalence

Purple is the color most associated with ambiguity. Like other colors made by combining two primary colors, it is seen as uncertain and equivocal.

Mourning

In Britain, purple is sometimes associated with mourning. In Victorian times, close relatives wore black for the first year following a death ("deep mourning"), and then replaced it with purple or dark green trimmed with black. This is rarely practised today.

In culture and society

Asian culture

* The Chinese word for purple, ''zi'', is connected with the North Star, Polaris, or ''zi Wei'' in Chinese. In Chinese astrology, the North Star was the home of the Celestial Emperor, the ruler of the heavens. The area around the North Star is called the Purple Forbidden Enclosure in Chinese astronomy. For that reason the Forbidden City in Beijing was also known as the Purple Forbidden City (''zi Jin cheng''). *Purple was a popular color introduced into Japanese dress during the Heian period (794–1185). The dye was made from the root of the alkanet plant (''Anchusa officinalis''), also known as ''murasaki'' in Japanese. At about the same time, Japanese painters began to use a pigment made from the same plant. *In Thailand, widows in mourning wear the color purple. Purple is also associated with Saturday on the Thai solar calendar. File:Eastern Han Luoyang Mural of Liubo players.jpg, Han purple and Han blue were synthetic colors made by artisans in China during the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) or even earlier. File:Geisha apprentice (15801544380).jpg, A Japanese woman in a kimono. File:Emperor Kōmyō.jpg, Emperor Komyo of Japan. (1322–1380). Purple was the color of the aristocracy in Japan and China.

Engineering

The color purple plays a significant role in the traditions of engineering schools across Canada. Purple is also the color of the Engineering Corp in the British Military.

Idioms and expressions

*Purple prose refers to pretentious or overly embellished writing. For example, a paragraph containing an excessive number of long and unusual words is called a purple passage. *Born in the purple, Born to the purple means someone who is born into a life of wealth and privilege. It originally was used to describe the rulers of the

. *A purple patch is a period of exceptional success or good luck. The origins are obscure, but it may refer to the symbol of success of the Byzantine Court. Bishops in Byzantium wore a purple patch on their costume as a symbol of rank. *Purple haze refers to a state of mind induced by psychedelic drugs, particularly LSD. *Wearing purple is a military slang expression in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. for an officer who is serving in a joint assignment with another service, such as an Army officer on assignment to the Navy. The officer is symbolically putting aside his or her traditional uniform color and exclusive loyalty to their service during the joint assignment, though in fact they continue to wear their own service's uniform. *Purple squirrel is a term used by employment recruiters to describe a job candidate with precisely the right education, experience, and qualifications that perfectly fits a job's multifaceted requirements. The assumption is that the perfect candidate is as rare as a real-life purple squirrel.

Military

*The Purple Heart is a United States Awards and decorations of the United States military, military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed during their service.

Politics

*In United States politics, a Red states and blue states#Purple states, ''purple state'' is a state roughly balanced between Republican Party (United States), Republicans (generally symbolized by red in the 21st century) and Democratic Party (United States), Democrats (symbolized by blue). *In the politics of the Netherlands, purple (government), Purple ( nl, paars) means a coalition government consisting of liberalism, liberals and social democracy, social democrats (symbolized by the colors blue and red, respectively), as opposed to the more common coalitions of the Christian democracy in the Netherlands, Christian Democrats with one of the other two. Between 1994 and 2002 there were two Purple cabinets, both led by Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Wim Kok. *In the politics of Belgium, as with the Netherlands, a purple government includes liberal and social-democratic parties in coalition. Belgium was governed by Purple governments from 1999 to 2007 under the leadership of Prime Minister of Belgium, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. *Purple is the primary color used by many European and American political parties, including Volt Europa, the UK Independence Party, the Social Democrats (Ireland), Social Democrats in the Republic of Ireland, the Liberal People's Party (Norway, 1992), Liberal People's Party in Norway, and the United States Pirate Party. The Left (Germany), The Left party in Germany, whose primary color is red, is traditionally portrayed in purple on election maps to distinguish it from the Social Democratic Party of Germany. *In the United Kingdom, the color scheme for the suffragette movement in Britain and Ireland was designed with purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and green for hope.

Rhyme

*In the English language, the word "purple" has only one perfect rhyme, ''wikt:curple, curple.'' Others are List of English words without rhymes#Words with obscure perfect rhymes, obscure perfect rhymes, such as ''wikt:hirple, hirple.'' **Robert Burns rhymes purple with curple in his Epistle to Mrs. Scott. *Examples of Rhyme#General rhymes, imperfect rhymes or non-word rhymes with purple: ** In the song Grace Kelly (song), Grace Kelly by Mika (singer), Mika the word purple is rhymed with "hurtful". ** In his hit song "Dang Me", Roger Miller sings these lines:

Sexuality

Purple is sometimes associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. It is the symbolic color worn on Spirit Day, a commemoration that began in 2010 to show support for young people who are bullied because of their sexual orientation. Purple is closely associated with bisexuality, largely in part to the bisexual pride flag which combines pink – representing homosexuality – and blue – representing heterosexuality – to create the bisexual purple. The purple hand is another symbol sometimes used by the LGBT community during parades and demonstrations.

Sports and games

*The National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings use purple as their primary color. *In the Indian Premier League, purple is the primary color of the Kolkata Knight Riders. *In Major League Baseball, purple is one of the primary colors for the Colorado Rockies. *In the National Football League, the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens use purple as main colors. *The Australian Football League's Fremantle Football Club use purple as one of their primary colors. *In association football (soccer), Italian Serie A club ACF Fiorentina, Belgian Pro League club and former Europa League winner R.S.C. Anderlecht, French Ligue 1 club Toulouse FC and Ligue 2 club FC Istres, Spanish La Liga club Real Valladolid, Austrian Football Bundesliga club FK Austria Wien, Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I club Újpest FC, Slovenian PrvaLiga club NK Maribor, former Romanian Liga I clubs FC Politehnica Timișoara and FC Argeș Pitești, Andorran Primera Divisió club CE Principat, German club Tennis Borussia Berlin, Italian club A.S.D. Legnano Calcio 1913, Swedish club Fässbergs IF, Japanese club Kyoto Sanga, Australian A-League Club Perth Glory FC, Perth Glory and American Major League Soccer club Orlando City SC, Orlando City use purple as one of their primary colors. *The Melbourne Storm from Australia's National Rugby League use purple as one of their primary colors. *Costa Rica's Primera División soccer team Deportivo Saprissa's main color is purple (actually a burgundy (color), burgundy like shade), and their nickname is the "Monstruo Morado", or "Purple Monster". *In tennis, the official colors of the Wimbledon championships are deep green and purple (traditionally called mauve). *In American college athletics, Louisiana State University, Kansas State University, Texas Christian University, the University of Central Arkansas, Northwestern University, the University of Washington, and East Carolina University all have purple as one of their main team colors. *The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, and Bishop's University in Sherbrooke, Canada, have purple as one of its main team colors. *Purple is the color of the ball in Snooker Plus with a 10-point value. *In the game of pocket billiards, pool, purple is the color of the 4-solid and the 12-striped balls. Cadbury World sign, Bournville

Business

The British chocolate company Cadbury chose purple as it was

's favourite color. The company trademarked the color purple for chocolates with registrations in 1995 and 2004. However, the validity of these trademarks is the matter of an ongoing legal dispute following objections by Nestlé. Emblem of the kingdom of León of Alfonso IX of Leon

Emblem of the kingdom of León of Alfonso IX of Leon

In flags

* Purple or violet appear in the flags of only two modern sovereign nations, and are merely ancillary colors in both cases. The Flag of Dominica features a sisserou parrot, a national symbol, while the Flag of Nicaragua displays a rainbow in the center, as part of the coat of arms of Nicaragua. * The lower band of the flag of the second Spanish republic (1931–39) was colored a tone of purple, to represent the common people as opposed to the red of the Spanish monarchy, unlike other nations of Europe where purple represented royalty and red represented the common people. * In Japan, the prefecture of Tokyo's flag is purple, as is the flag of Ichikawa, Chiba, Ichikawa. * Porpora, or purpure, a shade of purple, was added late to the list of colors of European heraldry. A purple lion was the symbol of the old Spanish Kingdom of León (910–1230), and it later appeared on the flag of Spain, when the Kingdom of Castile and Kingdom of León merged. File:Flag of Dominica.svg, Flag of Dominica, features a purple sisserou parrot. File:Flag of Nicaragua.svg, Flag of Nicaragua, although at this size the purple band of the rainbow is nearly indistinguishable. File:Flag of Spain 1931 1939.svg, Flag of the second Spanish republic (1931–39), known in Spanish as ', still widely used by left-wing political organizations.

References

Further references

* * * * * * * * * "The perception of color", from Schiffman, H.R. (1990). ''Sensation and perception: An integrated approach'' (3rd edition). New York: John Wiley & Sons. {{Authority control Secondary colors Quaternary colors Shades of violet Web colors

Etymology and definitions

Relationship to violet

In art, history, and fashion

In prehistory and the ancient world: Tyrian purple

China

Purple in the Byzantine Empire and Carolingian Europe

The Middle Ages and Renaissance

18th and 19th centuries

20th and 21st centuries

In science and nature

Optics

Pigments

Dyes

Animals

Anthocyanins

Plants and flowers

Microbiology

Astronomy

Geography

Purple mountains phenomenon

Mythology

Associations and symbolism

Royalty

Piety, faith, penitence, and theology

Vanity, extravagance, individualism

The artificial, materialism and beauty

Ambiguity and ambivalence

Mourning

In culture and society

Asian culture

Engineering

Idioms and expressions

Military

Politics

Rhyme

Sexuality

Sports and games

Business

In flags

See also

References

Further references