Regarding the term 'born in the purple,' it has byzantine origins itself as 'pophrygonnetos' appearing first in the 6th century AD and being widely used by the 10th. The term is linked to both the purple dye and purple coloured stone, both of which were extremely rare and as such expensive. At times both were restricted to the imperial families use.

The term is given to children born during the reign of their parent, although during later periods it seems to extend to the imperial elite as a whole. Byzantine sources say the term refers either to the (purple) clothes worn by the parents of the child, or to the imperial maternity chamber which was decorated with purple stone (I.e born within the purple).

The association between the byzantine emperors and purple is clearly longstanding. Following the collapse of the Western empire, constantinople and the Eastern empire were regarded as extremely wealthy even until its fall in 1453 (contemporary Italian accounts are often shocked by the fall of the city, and they tell of a widespread panic in Venice once the news arrived that suggests the failing empire was still regarded with much of its former strength). The extreme wealth of the east made it one of the largest users of purple stone and dye, both within and beyond the imperial family. This longstanding associated likely survived until the modern era this led to the 'typical' colour of the byzantine empire being a shade of purple.