The Color Black

An interesting observation that I made while reading Book 21 involves the repetition of a particular color. Homer uses the color black in many descriptions during this book. The first two times that I noticed it were rather surprising. Homer uses the color black to describe the blood of the two mortals. On page 406, for example, Achilles kills Lycaon by stabbing him near the collarbone and Homer describes the “black blood trickling out and wetting the dirt” rather vividly (126). This, however, is not the only time that mortal blood is described as black. Not too much later, on page 408, a spear slices Achilles’ forearm “drawing a welt of black blood” (175). Perhaps the point of describing Lycaon and Achilles’ blood as black instead of red is because they are already slated for death. Lycaon says himself that his “mother bore [him] for a shortened life” and Achilles we already know will die at Troy (90). There is also the possibility that the use of the color black in this book is part of a theme of darkness and despair that we see throughout this section. Not only does Homer use black specifically but he also talks about ash, parched land, darkness, smoke, “black granite”, silt, and “The Dark Cloud” (414, 535). All of these images or adjectives give the book an overall tone of despair, death, and gloom. Tones which fit what is happening to the Trojans as they are completely annihilated by Achilles.