12-03-2010, 02:42 PM
Quote:I do believe all Draco's were purple in colour during at least the 4th Century AD, and that there must have been a reason for this other than the Draco being a signalling device as stated by Vegetius.I may be mistaken, but your case appears to be based on the claim that the draco in particular was purple; hence, it must have been "the physical representation of the emperor" (your words).
Unfortunately, the passage that you quote has been mistranslated:
Quote:Amm Bk XV, 2, 15-17:39mnya1c Wrote:'Meanwhile Silvanus, stationed at Cologne ... was put in a most difficult position and thought of entrusting himself to the good faith of the savages. ...; then as a temporary expedient he tore the purple decorations from the standards of the cohorts and the companies, and so mounted to the imperial dignity.'
The passage (it is actually Amm. Marc. XV.5.15-17) tells us that Silvanus "assumed the imperial power, the purple finery having been ripped, by necessity, from the decorations of the dracones and vexilla".
So the relevant phrase (cultu purpureo a draconum et vexillorum insignibus ad tempus abstracto) indicates that, on this particular occasion, it was not only the dracones that were purple, but also the vexilla, too.
Would you then argue that the vexillum was "the physical representation of the emperor", as well?
