Iliad Group

Topic: Color in The Iliad

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1

I've seen and read several places that the color blue does not occur in The Iliad.  It depends on the translation, but I haven't been able to find a reference.  I'd love to hear about other interesting color references in The Iliad, just because so many of the standard metaphors about color were either unformed or different at the time the poem was composed (the most famous being the "wine-dark sea" -- the sea around Greece is not purple, most of the time, like wine, but either brilliant blue or black -- so why the wine reference?  It is a more sophisticated metaphor than one strictly related to color).  Color terms in Greek poetry interest me, so share your favorite color-related quotations.

2

Correction!  It really does depend on the translation, because in Rodney Merril's recent translation (2007) has a reference to "cobalt"  in the description of Achilles' shield made by Hephaestus.  I'd have to refer back to the Greek word for this to determine, but it's not called cobalt in other translations (Rouse's for example, I believe). 

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