The Redness of Ulysses' Ships

摘要

The ships of all warlords mentioned in the Homeric Epics were black except for 12 red-cheek vessels of Ulysses. Pitch was the common way to protect wood from seawater. The Iliad and the Odyssey provide full information of it. A similar reference can be found in the text of Genesis (6, 14) concerning Noah's Ark. Many scholars have studied the relevant verses of Homer (Il. 2.637, Od. 9.125), however, none of them seems to have understood the specific meaning of the structure mentioned. One of the first to investigate miltos from Kea Island was X. Landerer in mid-19th century. The view of Landerer was right, but his conclusion was uncertain. Others followed, yet the problem remains unsolved until present, e.g. why the conqueror of Troy had 12 ships only, while all other kings possessed 40 ships in the average. On the other hand, the ships of Ulysses were red-painted and not black-painted as the others. A technological question arises from this description. The redness of Ulysses' Ships was a matter of aesthetics or an application of Mycenaean maritime technology? Was red colour something "precious" or highly expensive and this was the reason that the king of Ithaca had twelve of this kind only? We will try to specify the substance of this material by experimental means and draw conclusions.