RAL and NCS values are nearest equivalents, not official designations.
In the context of Byzantine culture, purple was reserved for emperors and high-ranking officials, signifying power and nobility. In contrast, modern interpretations often see Byzantium as a color of creativity and spiritual contemplation, bridging the sacred and the artistic.
The term 'Byzantium' originates from the ancient city of Byzantium, founded around 657 BC. The color gained prominence during the Byzantine Empire (4th to 15th centuries), where purple garments indicated imperial authority, with the dye itself being incredibly valuable, sometimes worth its weight in gold.
Ranked by CIE76 ΔE — the perceptual distance from Byzantium. Lower ΔE means a closer match (below ~2 is barely distinguishable).
All 31 Purples →Nine steps of Byzantium by lightness — from #3A1533 (darkest) to #B590AE (lightest). Click any to copy.
Sitting opposite Byzantium at 131° on the color wheel, these give the highest-contrast pairings.
Curated 5-color combinations featuring Byzantium.
A 50–900 tonal scale with Byzantium anchored at 500 — ready to drop into a design system. Click any step to copy.
Works well as text on light backgrounds; fails on dark.
Thresholds: AA needs 4.5:1 (normal text) / 3:1 (large); AAA needs 7:1 / 4.5:1. Large = 18pt+ or 14pt+ bold.
Copy-ready values for CSS, screen and print, plus the extra conversions designers reach for.
color: #702963; color-mix(in srgb, #702963 70%, white) 311°, 63%, 44% 0, 63, 12, 56 7350627 #663366 How Byzantium appears to viewers with the three main types of color blindness (~1 in 12 men, 1 in 200 women). Simulated approximations.