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Porphyrogénnētos, latinized as Porphyrogenitus (Greek: Πορφυρογέννητος), literally "born in the purple" was a title given to a son or daughter (Porphyrogénnētē) of a reigning Emperor in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. However, not every imperial prince or princess was accorded this honorific distinction. There was a prescribed set of circumstances that had to be in place before this title could be granted.

[edit] History

Throughout their history, the Byzantines never restricted the imperial succession to primogeniture. The concept of dynastic legitimacy however was inherited from the Romans, and reached its peak in the middle and late Byzantine periods, where the Macedonians, Komnenoi and Palaiologoi dominated the imperial throne. The title porphyrogénnētos is first attested in 846, became entrenched in dynastic nomenclature in the 10th century, and survived until well into the Palaiologan period. Constantine VII, in his work De Ceremoniis, describes the ceremonies attending the birth of a porphyrogénnētos.^[1]

[edit] The Porphýra/Porphyry Chamber

This designation's most important, and geographically significant, condition was that the child be born in the "Πορφύρα" (Porphýra, the Purple or Porphyry Chamber, a pavilion of the Great Palace of Constantinople). No child born anywhere else could legitimately be called Porphyrogénnētos. This pavilion was a free-standing building in the Great Palace complex in Constantinople. As the Porphyrogennētē Anna Komnena described it, the room rested on one of the Palace's many terraces, overlooking the Sea of Marmora and the Bosphorus Strait, "where the stone oxen and the lions stand" (i.e. the Boukoleon Palace), and was in the form of a perfect square from floor to ceiling, with the latter ending in a pyramid. Its walls, floor and ceiling were completely veneered with Imperial Porphyry, which was "generally of a purple colour throughout, but with white spots like sand sprinkled over it."^[2]

[edit] Basileus and Augusta

The other important qualification for status as a Porphyrogénnētos was that the father must be a reigning Basileus (Greek: βασιλεύς), the Byzantine Greek word for Emperor, and the mother must be married to the Basileus and therefore be an Empress. Additionally, the Empress must have also undergone a formal and sacred ceremony creating her an Augusta.

[edit] Context

Byzantine Emperors, Porphyrogénnētoi or not, were already viewed as semi-divine personages, being the Vice-Regents of God on Earth; the importance of the title Porphyrogénnētos was that it imbued its honoree with the sense of the mystical and pre-ordained. Several Byzantine diplomatic missions were concluded successfully only on the condition of a Porphyrogénnēta bride being sent to solidify the bargain - or in reverse a foreign princess coming to Byzantium to seal a treaty, only on the condition of marrying a Porphyrogénnētos.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Via porphytites Saudi Aramco World article with general information on ancient mining of porphyry.