The premise of this paper is to investigate the evolutionary and physiological origins of human emotional responses to color, particularly the most sought after color in antiquity, Tyrian purple; in an effort to understand why Tyrian purple gained the traction it did as the preferred symbol of the elite classes, specifically within the ancient state of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire has the largest extant corpus of legally defined distinctions according to Meyer Reinhold’s History of Purple as a Status Symbol in Antiquity, regarding how Tyrian purple was to be worn, displayed, who was allowed to do so, and what it visually communicated about the individual wearing it to the viewer. Investigating how colored vision influenced patterned emotional responses towards specific portions of the visible spectrum opens up new avenues to understanding why and how cultural secondary symbolic meaning was attached to specific colors in the ancient world. In addition, extrapolating how cyclical relationship between specific natural colors and patterned emotional responses inform each other, presents a possibly new explanation for why secondary symbolic meaning can be reinterpreted between differing geographical regions. A circumstance addressed by the case study of a Roman –Gallic burial, excavated in 2006 by Devièse et. al.
- Tyrian Purple: Its Evolution and Reinterpretation as Social Status Symbol During the Roman Empire in the West
- Mary Pons
- Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow (Advisor)
- Brandeis University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Master of Arts (MA)
- Master of Arts (MA), Brandeis University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
- Brandeis University
- Brandeis University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
- 10192/32252; 9923879941201921
- Copyright by Mary Pons 2016
- Department of Classical and Early Mediterranean Studies
- English
- Thesis