#can u tell im mad about achilles being blond lmao

[symeona]

Hi! I was wondering if you knew where the post (I think it was replying to an ask) that you made about how Heracles is black was? I mentioned it off hand to a friend, and I'd love to be able send your post to her! Also, if you have any extra tidbits or resources about people of color in Greek mythology, I'd love to hear them! It's all so interesting, thank you for talking about it!

Okay lemme start with,

Greek people aren't a race. We've never been that, I don't care how much the Renaissance has whitewashed our history. Greek people have never looked one way or the other. I just like to debunk white supremacists and their theories because

1. I'm not a mulatto nor a g*psy

2. My cousin is a black Greek man and this whole thing started because I wanted to show him that his heritage is his: success.

3. Greek culture does not belong to the Romans nor white Europe, die mad. Sami ppl can have it if they want, cause I said so.

4. I like to piss off Nazis

Going as far back as Homer, dark skin was regarded as healthy and beautiful amongst us. White skin was associated with weakness. Λευκώλενος for example, means white-armed which meant weak.

Pharos is a good source that I think talks about the dark skin part of it all

Now

Heracles is painted in most cases with dark skin. So, it's safe to say that he was seen as a dark skinned man. (Look up paintings on amphoras, look up the terracotta statue of him and Apollo, etc.) Dark skin is associated with strength because, to put it bluntly... White people would faint and die if they ran around ancient Greece without sunscreen. Rip.

I went the extra mile and said he was probably a black Greek man because of Andromeda, who was the daughter of the king and queen of Ethiopia. Andromeda was Heracles's great-something grandma. And Zeus, well.. I'll get there in a bit.

A little about Ethiopia, most sources will say it's just Africa. But in some ancient texts it's described as the East and West. This might be a wonderful little hint, that said Hey. Black people were just living life all around us. I can't prove it but hey.

Memnon is another character who is either dark skinned or black. He's been portrayed as both in antiquity. Here's an article.

Achilles is a funny story. Most fanart will portay himst as a blond man.

Now. Allow me to go off a bit.

Achilles has never been described as white nor blond in the actual texts. Ξανθός doesn't mean blond. I call my sister that, she's absolutely not blonde. But she does have lighter hair and skin than me. Do with that what you will. His hair was also described as pyrros (red). Idk how to tell white people this... But your concept of blond and red hair? Very different than ours. Ξανθός can even mean glistening, the ocean was described as that, I don't think the ocean is yellow, do you? Another source, Aristonicus, says that Ξανθος meant angry (ξανθοχολοι). It doesn't help that Achilles's hair is described like that only two times, at Patroclus' death and his funeral. Both times he was angry. Aha! A clue perhaps, Sherlock.

Idk what else to tell ppl, Achilles was not blond.

In fact, Achilles has more in common with Memnon than any other character in the history of Greek epics. Does that mean that my ancestors were like "Woaah look at the light-skinned man! He can actually run in the sun without dying!!" Or was he dark skinned. I can't say cause it's just a story.

Odysseus, when Athena made him look like a "god", darkened his beard and his skin (Od. 16.175: μελαγχροιής, melanchroiês, which is a compound of melan, “dark,” and chroiê, “flesh”).

Zeus was portrayed as a black man by Sophocles. Not just dark skinned. Black. (Read Inachus)

I focus on the black history of it all because had Europeans not been racist towards black people I would have never been racialized and experienced violence because I'm a "mulatto". It's personal vindication to look at the history of my people with a critical eye. Idk if that makes sense but