Are your politicians ‘shining white’? Those seeking political office in Ancient Rome liked to give the impression that they were. They wandered around wearing bleached white togas, a symbol of purity. An aspiring politican was known as a candidātus with reference to the shining white colour. And from that we have the word candidate.
Tyrian purple dye, which was made from the secretions of sea snails, was extremely expensive in antiquity. Therefore, the colour was worn by Roman magistrates; it became the imperial colour worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.
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