(01-05-2016, 10:33 AM)Helmut Winkler wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Ovid, Met. 6:578 purpureasque notas filis intexuit albis, not much doubt about the meaning of the original
That's helpful information, Helmut.
What we also need to seek out is some later translations in other languages. Some languages don't have a word for purple, just as some don't have a word for blue, and some don't have a separate word for pink as in English (they call it "light red"), so I'm wondering why some of the translations say red and whether the VMS illustrator might have consulted something that had already been translated into another language.
That's part of the reason why I looked for it in medieval manuscripts, to see it in a variety of languages.
The fact that the "towel" or cloak is painted with stripes is significant since this is something that rarely occurs in the VMS, and could strengthen the argument that this is a two-color piece of fabric as in the legend.