His nickname alludes to the Purple Room of the Imperial palace, decorated with porphyry, where legitimate children of reigning emperors were normally born.
The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII in the 10th century mentioned it under the name of Pizuh, and later it was called Insula Tilagus in documents ("pelagos"in Greek means sea), and its Latin name was Insula maior.
The name "Anna" has been suggested for the daughter of Leo V and Theodosia, because it was given to daughters of Basil I, Leo VI the Wise, Constantine VII and Romanos II.
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The theory was partly based on the account of his ancestry given by Constantine VII, a grandson of Basil I. Also the accounts given by Theophanes Continuatus.
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The biographical notices, the author avers, are condensed from the Onomatologion or Pinax of Hesychius of Miletus; other sources include the excerpts of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the chronicle of Georgius Monachus, the biographies of Diogenes Laertius and the works of Athenaeus and Philostratus.
Although such a union would effectively cement the loyalty of the army, it would also strengthen the position of the legitimate Macedonian line, represented by Constantine VII, over the imperial claims of Romanos's own sons.