Color Blindness of the Ancient World and Colors in the Works of Homer

Abstract

Scientists assume that BC by the 14^th-15^th centuries the ophthalmic reality of people did not go beyond the ability to perceive white, black and a few other single colors. Although we cannot categorically state that, the population of ancient Greece was uniquely suffering from congenital color blindness. However, scientists suggest that their visual field was limited to white, black, red and blue colors. Later, people’s physical abilities increased.

Georgian scientist Konstantine Megrelidze has a different opinion. According to him, the time elapsed from Homer to us is too short for a significant change in the organ of sight to have occurred. Therefore, according to Megrelidze, the opinion about the color blindness of the society living in ancient Greece is wrong.

The fact is that number of colors in Homer’s epic is not so small. He uses the descriptive epithets of colors white, black, blue, silver, red, pink, yellow, green, brown. In addition to the mentioned colors, the author also uses various word combinations made from nouns to express colors. For example wine-colored, blood-colored, mole-colored, etc.