When and why did purple become the color of royalty?

hintmaster

This shade of purple is bluer than the ancient Tyrian purple, as can be seen in the sample of the web color "Purple" to the right. In medieval Europe, blue dyes were rare and expensive, so only the aristocracy could afford to wear them. (The working class wore mainly green and brown.) Because of this (and also because Tyrian purple had gone out of use in western Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476), Europeans' idea of purple shifted towards this more bluish purple known as royal purple because of its similarity to the royal blue worn by the aristocracy. This was the shade of purple worn by kings in medieval Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple#Royal_Purple--Medieval_Europe Dec 12 06, 7:38 PM

Gnomon

Purple was the colour worn by senators in Ancient Rome. It became the colour of Royalty when Octavian became the first Emperor of Rome and named himself Augustus Caesar. THat was some time around 40 BC, but I don't know the exact date. Purple was always the colour of Roman Emperors, and then the Byzantine Emperors. It went from there to the courts of Mediaeval Europe. Dec 13 06, 5:34 PM