City of the Violet Crown
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City of the Violet Crown is a term used to describe different cities:
[edit] Athens, Greece
According to the Austin Museum of Art, the Grecian lyric poet Pindar wrote "City of light, with thy violet crown, beloved of the poets, thou art the bulwark of Greece."[1]
In Geoffrey Trease's novel The Crown of Violet, the name is explained as referring to the mauve-tinted marble of the Acropolis hill.
[edit] Austin, Texas
According to the City of Austin's History Center, the phrase was first used in O. Henry's story "Tictocq: The Great French Detective, In Austin", published in The Rolling Stone on October 27, 1894.
In chapter two of Tictocq, O. Henry writes: "The drawing-rooms of one of the most magnificent private residences in Austin are a blaze of lights. Carriages line the streets in front, and from gate to doorway is spread a velvet carpet, on which the delicate feet of the guests may tread. The occasion is the entrée into society of one of the fairest buds in the City of the Violet Crown."[2]
The phrase is also said to be connected to the moonlight towers of Austin[3].
[edit] References
- Austin Museum of Art
- City of Austin: Austin History Center
- http://www.violetcrownsoap.com/vcrownnm.html - Violet Crown Soap Company
- http://www.io.com/~xeke/tictocq.htm - Includes the text of Tictocq.
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This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
