Note 15 — LIST OF PLATES.
Reading edition
The Imperial porphyry, the Rosso Antico, is quarried here. It was said of the legitimate descendants of the Roman emperors that they were “porphyrogeniti,” or born in the purple, meaning that they were born in a chamber lined with this stone, to which chamber access was permitted only to the Emperor’s rightful wife. The quarries, after lying idle for 1700 years, are now worked by Mr. Brindley of London.