Time for #CLAS2010 tweet-thread number 5! Last week we looked at the three predominant racial theories in antiquity - environmental, genetic, and cultural. This week, we are continuing our investigation into race and ethnicity in the ancient world by focusing on skin colour...
In order to investigate the perception of skin colour in antiquity, the class was structured around three key areas: 1) the terminology of colour; 2) polychromy in ancient art; and 3) representations of diversity in ancient art and modern media #CLAS2010
The class discussion was centred on a series of articles - so today I want to share those articles with you and some of the discussions we had in response (I easily could have spread this topic out over two weeks because we all had SO much to say!) #CLAS2010
Two articles that are EXCELLENT for considering the terminology of colour in the ancient world come from Aeon - 1) 'Can we hope to understand how the Greeks saw their world?' (alternate title 'The sea was never blue') by Maria Michela Sassia aeon.co/essays/can-we-… #CLAS2010
And 2) 'When Homer envisaged Achilles, did he see a black man?' by Tim Whitmarsh aeon.co/essays/when-ho… #CLAS2010
When we look at the Greek use of colour terms, the way they see colour does not seem to match our own. As Whitmarsh explains, the Greek colour vocabulary 'simple doesn't map directly onto that of modern English' #CLAS2010
Whitmarsh in particular focuses on 'xanthos' as an example of this - usually translated as 'blonde', this word has become THE foundational element of arguments against a 'black' Achilles #CLAS2010
BUT 'xanthos' carries so many more connotations - yes, it is used to describe things we would call 'yellow', but elsewhere (e.g. 34th Homeric Hymn) it is also used to describe water, so less 'blonde' but more 'shimmering'?
Furthermore, 'xanthos' is used in Book 1 of the Iliad (1.197) when Athena grabs Achilles' hair to pull him back from attacking Agamemnon - so was Homer using the term to hint more at a 'hot-headedness' in Achilles' character i.e. a 'blazing' quality #CLAS2010
Side note - @pharosclassics did an excellent series of articles related to the skin colour of Achilles in response to the backlash around the casting of David Gyasi in Netflix's Troy: Fall of a City - pages.vassar.edu/pharos/2018/05… #CLAS2010
Whitmarsh's analysis of 'xanthos' also points to more general flexibility in the use of colour terminology in Greek AND the multiple layers of meaning that can be implied by terms. Also seen in Sassia's article re: colour of the sea (NEVER just 'blue') #CLAS2010
The use (and misuse) of colour terminology thus raises the issues of TRANSLATION. Since ancient terms do not map neatly on to modern terms, there is a huge degree of subjectivity in translation choices (@EmilyRCWilson does lots of excellent threads on this topic) #CLAS2010
An example of something that is 'lost in translation' in relation to skin colour is the GENDERED use of terms related to 'black' ('melas') and 'white' ('leukos') skin e.g. women are praised for being white-armed, but men never are. Why? #CLAS2010
Deep-rooted prejudice that the pale complexion of women is due to to them staying indoors (=good), whereas men are likely to be more tanned because they are partaking in physical 'manly' activities (war, sports) outdoors (=also good) #CLAS2010
In this sense, to call a Greek man 'white' was to call him 'effeminate' - thus, as Whitmarsh notes, when Homer describes Odysseus as 'black-skinned' in the Odyssey, we can interpret this as a reference to the rugged 'outdoorsy' lifestyle of his home Ithaca #CLAS2010
Asking what 'skin colour' Achilles or Odysseus is in Homer is, in many ways, to misread Homer - Homer's use of colour terms is not designed to place people into racial categories in our modern sense, but to contribute to their characterisation #CLAS2010
Second part of the class focused on @SarahEBond's work on polychromy in ancient art. Students were assigned her Forbes article as part of their weekly readings forbes.com/sites/drsarahb… #CLAS2010
Side note - A fantastic complimentary piece to Bond's article is 'The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture' by Margaret Talbot newyorker.com/magazine/2018/… #CLAS2010
I'm going to provide you with some highlights from my students' responses to @SarahEBond's article (they have to hand written reading responses in every week) - which I think show how important this work is #CLAS2010
"I had no idea that these statues used to be painted in colour" (a common theme in the responses)... "It's unfortunate to realize that we interpret history though the lenses we are wearing now as opposed to how it actually was" #CLAS2010
"I found [the discussion of polychromy] interesting because this is not talked about enough in the media and this clearly distorts our understanding of the ancient world" #CLAS2010
"I think @SarahEBond makes an important point when she brings up how modern viewers have inherited false views. It suggests this problem is systemic" #CLAS2010
"I agree with @SarahEBond that one way to address the issue of whitewashing history is to emphasize the integral part people of colour played in the ancient world. The simple fact of acknowledging people of colour is vital to combat lack of diversity in Classics." #CLAS2010
Building on some of the ideas in @SarahEBond's article we also considered Sarah Debrew's article on black figures in ancient art blogs.getty.edu/iris/an-invest… #CLAS2010
@SarahEBond In response to Debrew, and also the Fayum Portraits more generally, one student summed it up perfectly: "I wish we saw more art like this instead of all the white statues. If it is not popularized, how can we expect people to know it existed?" #CLAS2010
Similarly, "even though I think I have a pretty decent understanding of the ancient world, I still view it through a white lens. I think this would occur less if I had been exposed to more diverse representations of race and ethnicity in art" #CLAS2010
Final part of the class was a big discussion about two contrasting media representations of the ancient world - David Gyasi as a black Achilles, vs. Elizabeth Taylor as a white Cleopatra - the entire debate we had was SO DAMN GOOD I wish I could share it all with you #CLAS2010
I posed a series of questions to kick start the discussion: is one representation more problematic than the other? If so, why? Is there any justification for positions that hold either of these are 'wrong'? Is there a 'right' way to represent the ancient world in modern media?
The debate we had around these issues was so enlightening and I was so proud of the ways in which my students engaged with these issues - I may try and return to this thread at a later stage to expand on what was said...
....however - for now, I must bring this tweet-thread to an end (because I need to get organised for my Wikipedia workshop! Hope you enjoyed my little tour of resources and debates re: skin colour in antiquity. Et fini!
