2. The purple proper, as of the sea in Il. i. 482. To this also
probably belongs the rainbow, of whose seven colours three may be
said to belong to the family of blue: and which is termed blue by
Shakespeare.
3. The grey and leaden colour of a dark cloud when about to burst in
storm, and of a river when disturbed.
We shall hereafter see reason to suppose that the word may also and
often mean what is tawny or brown.
~_Of κύανος and κυάνεος._~
4. The word κυάνεος is very important in this inquiry; and
unfortunately it is not less obscure.
It at once throws us back on the prior question, what was κύανος? But
this question remains almost wholly undetermined[842]; so that we must
follow, as well as we can, the Homeric applications of the word itself,
together with its adjective and its compounds. These are very numerous.
First we have the substantive κύανος introduced in three places: in
each of which it evidently belongs to a combination of colours as well
as of substances.
[842] See note at the end of the Section.
_a._ Once it is κύανος simply. The interior wall of the hall of
Alcinous is covered with sheets of copper[843]; and round the top is a
θριγκὸς or fringe of κύανος. Od. vii. 87.
[843] Ibid.
_b._ Twice it is μέλας κύανος. On the breast-plate of Agamemnon there
are twenty stripes or layers of tin, twelve of gold, and ten μέλανος
κυάνοιο. Il. xi. 24, Also;
_c._ Upon his shield there were ten rounds of copper; and then,
apparently on the face of the shield within these, twenty white bosses
(ὄμφαλοι λευκοὶ) made of tin, if such be the meaning of κασσίτερος: in
the centre of all, there was one boss μέλανος κυάνοιο. Il. xi. 35.
Passing now to κυάνεος, we come next to three passages where it may
be questioned whether they describe colour only, or substance only, or
both.
_d._ Upon the breastplate of Agamemnon, which has ten layers of black
κύανος, there are on either side three κυάνεοι δράκοντες (Il. xi. 26).
These are compared to the rainbow, which, as we have already seen, is
described elsewhere as πορφυρεή.
_e._ On the silver-plated belt of Agamemnon there is a κυάνεος δράκων.
Il. xi. 38, 9.
_f._ Around the golden vineyard on the shield of Achilles, with its
silver stakes, there is a fence of κασσίτερος and a trench (κάπετος)
described as κυανέη. Il. xviii. 564.
The other applications at once appear to have reference to colour only.
_g._ To the eyebrows of Jupiter and Juno. Il. i. 528. xv. 102. xvii.
209.
_h._ To a dark cloud of vapour; but not to a storm-cloud. Il. xxiii.
188. v. 345. xx. 418.
_i._ To the hair of Hector, Il. xxii. 402; and to the beard of Ulysses,
when he is restored to beauty by Minerva. Od. xvi. 176. With this we
may compare the hyacinthine hair of Ulysses in Od. vi. 231.
_j._ To the serried masses of the Greeks: πυκιναὶ κίνυντο φάλαγγες
κυάνεαι. Il. iv. 281. Now this epithet must have been derived from
their arms, and these would probably be composed in the main of two
elements, not easy to combine in a common idea of colour; firstly,
copper, which is ruddy; and secondly, the hides of oxen upon the
shields and elsewhere. Homer never (except in Il. xiii. 703, and Od.
xiii. 32) describes these animals by any epithet of colour. In those
two passages they are βόε οἴνοπε. This epithet will be considered
presently. In the meantime, we may assume it as probable, that a dark
colour would predominate, and that accordingly we should so understand
κυάνεαι: but the leaning towards _blue_, which so often characterizes
the epithet, thus entirely escapes. The word is also applied to the
Trojan host, in Il. xvi. 66.
_k._ Thetis puts on mourning garments for Patroclus, when about to
appear to Achilles, Il. xxiv. 93.
κάλυμμ’ ἕλε δῖα θεάων
κυάνεον· τοῦ δ’ οὔτι μελάντερον ἔπλετο ἔσθος.
Here Homer is careful to inform us that the κάλυμμα, or hood and
mantle, was the blackest garment possible; and, since in Il. iv. 287 we
find that he was acquainted with pitch, we need not scruple to assume
that here he speaks literally, and either means a real black, which,
nevertheless, he also calls κυάνεον, or sees no difference between the
genuine black and the colour of κύανος.
_l._ When the wave of Charybdis retires, the shore appears ψάμμῳ
κυανέῃ. Now the colour of sea-sand, when it has just been left by the
wave, is a dull but also rather a light brown.
We take now the compounds.