Porphyry was born in 234 CE (d. c. 305 CE) with the Semitic name Malchus (Gk Basileus, “king”) to a distinguished family in the city of Tyre in Roman Phoenicia (Eun. Vitae phil. 455). Longinus named him Porphyry after the magenta-colored attire of royalty (Eun. Vitae phil. 456; on Basileus see Suda 4.178.14–179.2; Porph. Vita Plot. 17.13–14). Famous for the study of Roman law and the production of a purple dye called porphyreum, Tyre was a Hellenized city in which …