Rediscovering the colors of ancient Greece, on statues and in writing

August 14, 2018 9:30 AM

When Homer envisioned Achilles, did he see a Black man? This question is posed by Tim Whitmarsh, a professor of Greek culture, discusses the trouble of applying modern notions of race on historic figures, looking specifically at the trouble of defining "xanthos hair", and notes many of the Greek statues that seem white to us now were in antiquity painted in colour. "The differences [in descriptions of race, and color] are instructive – and, indeed, clearly point up the oddity of the modern, western obsession with classification by pigmentation."

A More Colorful Ancient Greece: Pigment Proves Classical Statues Were Once Painted | Tracing the Colors of Ancient Sculpture, a 3 minute video from the Getty Museum, courtesy of Stiftung Archäologie's polychrome reconstructions.

Related: The sea was never blue -- The Greek colour experience was made of movement and shimmer. Can we ever glimpse what they saw when gazing out to sea? An essay by Maria Michela Sassi, a professor of ancient philosophy at Pisa University, similar to the previous discussion on the wine-dark sea.

posted by filthy light thief (32 comments total)

What’s more, when the Iliad describes Achilles hair as xanthos, it is just as likely to be describing not his literal hair color but the quality of the anger which, unlike his supposed “race,” is Achilles’ defining characteristic in that poem.

He was one pissed-off dude.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:43 AM on August 14, 2018 [7 favorites]

you would know, φίλοςa, better than anyone
posted by mwhybark at 10:15 AM on August 14, 2018 [4 favorites]

It's weird to me that more people don't know that many ancient statues were painted. It's been known for a long time.
posted by praemunire at 10:24 AM on August 14, 2018 [8 favorites]

People were mad that Zeus was played by a black actor? I’m not sure how you assign skin color to s god who spent his time as a swan, bull, shower of gold.... I imagine he could be whatever color he wanted to be.

And, yes, Achilles really needs to be a) terribly fast, b) deadly, c) charismatic and reasonable except when d) really really angry. Any actor who can pull that off is the right actor.

Also, here’s a plug for The War That Killed Achilles by Caroline Alexander, a very readable guide to The Illiad that teases out some of the weird and confusing bits.

And can we all agree that, whatever his color, Paris was a complete idiot and loser? Ugh.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:33 AM on August 14, 2018 [7 favorites]

One of the popular avatar or banner choices for white supremacists who fancy themselves academically inclined is a Greek or Roman statue, always bleached white as milk. Whether these people do not know that the statues were originally painted, or whether they believe that the findings are a product of the cultural Marxism of today's universities, I could not say, and I am not about to wade in there and find out. But their fondness for the whiteness isn't an accident.

The early modern European vision of classical times is so doughy and gross. The same people who venerated ancient learning considered actual living Greeks to be "wogs," and their intellectual descendants are among us, buying Jon McNaughton paintings or talking about "human biodiversity."
posted by Countess Elena at 10:37 AM on August 14, 2018 [22 favorites]

(incidentally, I have absolutely seen a wine-dark sea at sunset, and it's amazing to me that actual theories about human vision were germinated in part because some old classicists didn't go to the seaside very often)
posted by Countess Elena at 10:40 AM on August 14, 2018 [20 favorites]

The same people who venerated ancient learning considered actual living Greeks to be ...

Pharos has covered this, actually, and it comes down to the myth of the "Dorian Invasion". Basically, the white supremacists adherents of the "Dorian Invasion" myth choose to believe that the great achievements of ancient Greece are attributable to pureblooded Nordics conquering the indigenous Greeks and setting up the city-states. The myth further claims that the decline of Hellenic civilization was caused by interbreeding with the indigenous Greeks. Sparta -- because white supremacists love 300 -- held out longer but it, too, eventually succumbed.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:52 AM on August 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

The immortals were described as blue, with blue eyes, in the rabbithole of linked articles I read through. Glad to hear this confirmed. I’ve been coloring my Sims accordingly for years now.

(When we think of these stories, in the oral tradion, is it possible that these descriptive words served the purpose of theatrical lighting as used in film or stage? So the gods, described as blue, might be supposed to be imagined to have a cool-temperatured, dramatic light (as a storm) washing over them. Similarly, different hued or moving light descriptors could be suggesting an ambiance as much as a physical appearance of the character. Something to think about anyway.)

I have synesthesia. I love the idea of a codified way of describing movement, emotion, condition or temperament in words that can equate to color or other sensory experience. I mean, beyond our current black fury, red rage, feeling blue, white hot passion, green jealousy, etc.

I’m very amused by the likelihood cited in one of the links that to the ancient Greeks, a man being called “white” would have meant calling him unmanly. I’d like this to be more commonly known. Someone better at infographics than I am want to take this on?
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 12:17 PM on August 14, 2018 [4 favorites]

I don't know what to say about the blackness of Achilles, who I always imagined as at least swarthy (Brad Pitt notwithstanding) but this seems like a good place to drop in a recommendation for the story of a genuinely black Achille (pronounced A-sheel), the protagonist of Derek Walcott's fantastic Omeros.
posted by dis_integration at 1:18 PM on August 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

One of the popular avatar or banner choices for white supremacists who fancy themselves academically inclined is a Greek or Roman statue, always bleached white as milk.

I think there's also a non-trivial amount of crossover between them and gun nuts with "ϺΟΛΟΝ ΛΑΒΕ" stickers on their trucks.
posted by curiousgene at 1:22 PM on August 14, 2018 [4 favorites]

those guys
posted by Countess Elena at 2:03 PM on August 14, 2018

what is ϺΟΛΟΝ ΛΑΒΕ? I googled and got 0 results.
posted by supermedusa at 2:08 PM on August 14, 2018

You might have better luck googling Molon Labe. It means "come and take them", and according to legend, it's what Leonidas said to Xerxes when asked to lay down his weapons. Ever since 300, it's become a conservative/gun enthusiast catchphrase.
posted by Copronymus at 2:11 PM on August 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Having now googled it myself to make sure I'd suggested the correct thing, I salute the Wikipedia for having a 5 paragraph discussion of the grammatical nuance in the phrase's use of the aorist participle and 2 sentences on its use in contemporary US politics.
posted by Copronymus at 2:15 PM on August 14, 2018 [10 favorites]

I'm always a little confused when people talk about ancient Greek perception of color because if I had heard someone describe the sky as "bronze," I would expect that either they were talking about a harshly lit yellow sky at dusk or dawn, as before a storm, or maybe that they were describing some aspect of the sky other than its color. But maybe there's clear indications in the text that it does in fact mean color.

Similarly, the Aeon article talks about the broad range of "Chloros, since it’s related to chloe (grass), suggests the colour green but can also itself convey a vivid yellow, like honey." But grass (depending upon species and season) isn't inherently green--depending upon where you are int he world, it's as often yellow as much of the year as it is green. The paragraph on "porphureos" similarly seems like a roundabout way of saying "'porphureos' can mean 'purple,' but it often as not means "swirling' or 'shimmering'." Is this just a case of us presuming too much about what's signified by the word, and being led further astray by 19th century dudes in armchairs?
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:25 PM on August 14, 2018

The point is that 19th century dudes in armchairs tended to assume that all of these words were being used in their colour sense rather than any other, and that's why all their translations describe Achilles as blonde or whatever.

("Wine-dark sea" is still cool as hell, though, so I think we can all agree to just leave that one as it is.)
posted by tobascodagama at 2:29 PM on August 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

So what color was Greek mayo?
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:46 PM on August 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

Homer described Achilles as ξανθῆς δὲ κόμης ἕλε Πηλεΐωνα …
http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekTexts&getid=0&query=Hom.+Il.+1.185"
Long before the 19th century, his hair was considered light or blond.
The Greek ξανθός (xanthus) means “ yellow,” “gold,” “blond” and hair of that color was considered proof of divine descent.
https://www.loebclassics.com/view/dio_chrysostom-encomium_hair/1951/pb_LCL385.341.xml
posted by Ideefixe at 2:48 PM on August 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

The Homeric epics occasionally describe both gods and humans as having blue hair and/or blue eyebrows, further evidence that we should not be too literal in interpreting descriptions of color.

When you get down to it, the Iliad basically = Sailor Moon.
posted by Iridic at 2:49 PM on August 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

Long before the 19th century, his hair was considered light or blond.

There's another, post-Homeric tradition that Achilles had red hair, based on the name (Pyrrha; "flame-colored") he assumed while disguised as a girl in the court of King Lycomedes. (The name also resonates metaphorically with his famous temper, and it evokes his divine mother Thetis, who turned into a flame while trying to escape from the grasp of his father, Peleus. It's also said that Thetis plunged the infant Achilles into a fire to burn away his mortality.)
posted by Iridic at 3:01 PM on August 14, 2018 [5 favorites]

Wait 'til they find out about Schooly D.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:18 PM on August 14, 2018

When you get down to it, the Iliad basically = Sailor Moon.

I just attempted to translate some of the bloodier Iliad passages into Sailor Moon names and places. After a two-minute dip into the Sailor Moon mythos, I was so confused that I couldn't go on. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't dive in any deeper.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:26 PM on August 14, 2018 [4 favorites]

Pretty sure.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:26 PM on August 14, 2018

Sailor Jupiter = Achilles

Probably
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:37 PM on August 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

So what color was Greek mayo?

you mean aïoli?
posted by mwhybark at 5:06 PM on August 14, 2018 [4 favorites]

In line with ‘the trouble of defining “xanthos hair”’, “xanthochroid” was one of the racial categories arrived at by creepy Victorian “race scientists”.
posted by XMLicious at 5:39 PM on August 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

With regard to the flame connection. Flame can be yellow as much as red. Just saying.
posted by The Seeds of Autumn at 7:00 PM on August 14, 2018

I think these have been posted here before but the Pharos Project is a way classicists are fighting against appropriation by the far right.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:52 PM on August 14, 2018 [7 favorites]

What’s more, when the Iliad describes Achilles hair as xanthos, it is just as likely to be describing not his literal hair color but the quality of the anger which, unlike his supposed “race,” is Achilles’ defining characteristic in that poem.

Super Saiyan Sailor Jupiter?

With regard to the flame connection. Flame can be yellow as much as red. Just saying.

It seems to me the word Pyrrhus is always always associated with the colour red, though I can't seem to find out when that connection began, or whether the word intrinsically carries that meaning in any way. Achilles' son (or one of them) is also alternatively called Pyrrhus and is usually described as having red hair (though admittedly I think the name is more a kind of patronym from the time Achilles took on the name Pyrrha).

While we're all recommending books, I'll put in my vote for my recent favourite: The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller. Quick easy read, and it personalised the story around Troy and made the characters and plot stick in a way that it never had for me. Told from the POV of Patroclus, Achilles' boyfrand. No black Achilles in this one though.
posted by womb of things to be and tomb of things that were at 2:50 AM on August 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

Can I just say Julian Jaynes?
posted by rustipi at 2:11 PM on August 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

the wind whispers in my ear that I meant to post "aeoli" above and of course one must not disagree with word brought upon the breezes

for after all, is it not, in the end, wind sauce? certainly for some of us, this has the scent and sonority of truth
posted by mwhybark at 6:54 PM on August 15, 2018 [5 favorites]

How One Man Is Recreating Lost Colors -- In an East London studio, Pedro da Costa Felgueiras spends his time stirring up ancient hues that are now too costly (or dangerous) to make. (Nancy Hass for the New York Times, Sept. 5, 2018)

SOMETIMES LATE AT NIGHT in his workspace in London’s Shoreditch neighborhood, mortar and pestle in hand, the smell of fresh linseed oil perfuming the air, Pedro da Costa Felgueiras gets lost in a favorite fantasy: He has been commissioned to restore history’s most famous lost colors — those that originally adorned the marble statuary of ancient Greece.

“Historians now know they were all painted in color, but on the 3-D printed replicas, the hues are very garish,” he says, in a mellifluous accent that reflects both his Portuguese childhood and his nearly three decades in England, where he is now one of the most sought-after authorities on historic pigments and paints. “I dream of recreating them as they once were, thousands of years ago. Can you imagine the intensity, the truth?”

While most people think of paint as acrylic goop ready to pour out of cans and roll onto drywall, Felgueiras seeks out esoteric, difficult-to-handle alchemical ingredients — often derived from ancient recipes — and hand-blends them into compelling, long-forgotten shades for his London company, Lacquer Studios. His studio is a conjurer’s den: shelves of cloudy handblown bottles filled with powdered pigments, each tone subtly different and marked with a yellowed label; racks of wooden-handled brushes with bristles made from rat’s tail fur and the hair of pearl divers.

Felgueiras works on both public architectural restorations and private house commissions. To restore the decorative surfaces of buildings such as Strawberry Hill House, the English Gothic Revival villa in Twickenham built by Horace Walpole in the mid-1700s, or an 18th-century townhouse for the artists Gilbert and George in Spitalfields, London, he employs obscure hues like blue verditer, first concocted in the 17th century. He sources it from an elderly man in Nottingham who brews small batches from copper sulfate in the traditional manner: leaving it outside in midwinter and stirring it constantly for two to three weeks to prevent it from “going green.” “He works in a bird sanctuary, this man, so he can watch the birds all night and keep stirring,” says Felgueiras. “I don’t know what I will do when he can no longer do it.”

Fascinating article on fascinating man, posted here because of his dream of recreating the paint colors of ancient Greek statues.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:53 AM on September 12, 2018 [3 favorites]