“In the Roman world, purple was a colour rich in splendour and symbolic value. The elder Pliny remarked on its ability to make every garment radiant and noted its particular association with the maiestas (majesty) of childhood. Though the romans called the colour purpura and used the term as a metonym for the child’s praetexta, the shade that adorned the toga more closely resembled garnet than purple. Roman purple varied in intensity, encompassing rose and scarlet shades, but in Pliny’s estimation, in its highest glory, it was the colour of congealed blood: ‘blackish at first glance gut gleaming when held up to the light.’ Blood represents and sustains life, and is a powerful, vital force. In many cultures shades of red are believed to protect babies, children, and pregnant women—in essence, to protect nascent life.”

—Fanny Dolansky, ‘Coming of Age in the Roman World’, from Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture, edited by Jonathan Edmondson and Allison Keith, 2008.