Porphyra
The Porphyra ( Πορφύρα ) was a part of the Great Palace in Constantinople , where the imperial children were traditionally born. Anyone who was born here could claim the nickname Porphyrogenetos .
Porphyra is first mentioned in 797 by Theophanes . According to Anna Komnena, it was a cube-shaped building with a pyramid-shaped roof. From the windows there was a view of the harbor in front of the Bukoleon Palace , “where the stone ox and lions stand”. The floor and the walls were covered with porphyry that "earlier emperors had brought from Rome". It was purple in color with small white spots and gave the room its name.
This stone, reserved exclusively for the imperial family, originally comes from the imperial quarry of Mons Porphyrites , the only known occurrence of purple porphyry in the eastern desert of Egypt .
literature
- Otto Treitinger: The Eastern Roman imperial and imperial idea after its design in courtly ceremonies . Jena 1938, p. 58.
- Raymond Janin: Constantinople byzantine. Développement urbain et répertoire topographique , Paris 1950, pp. 121–122.
Individual evidence
- ^ Theophanes, Chronicle I 472, 16 ; Empress Eirene lets her son Constantine VI. dazzle in the porphyra where she had given birth to him.
- ↑ Alexias 7: 2, 4; Anna Komnene: Alexias. Trans., Included. and with a note from Diether Roderich Reinsch. DuMont, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7701-3492-3 , pp. 236-237.