Ultraviolet light reveals how ancient Greek statues really looked [Amazing Tech!]

Gizmodo ^ | 20 August, 2010 | Gizmodo

[DCBryan1]

GGG ping!

[SumProVita]

The picture in post #5 seems to something from a very primitive group that took pride in creating terrifying face masks.

[Jemian]

IMO, the statues look better w/o the paint.

[wildbill]

One wonders what was left of the original colors by the time of the Roman Empire and their admiration of all things Greek during the classical period.

Did Pliny or any of the Roman commentators ever mention the colors on the statues.

Next they are going to tell us that the Venus de Milo was painted like a harlot and her two missing arms had one hand holding up two fingers for the price and the other hand featured a crooked finger giving the “Come here, Sailor” sign.

[livius]

Heck, this was true in the Middle Ages in Europe, too. The uncolored stone statues you see around the doorways to medieaval churches were actually painted in very vivid colors, and there was often painting on the walls, too. You can actually still see faint staining on the stone on some of them.

[BenLurkin]

Sure would hate to be arrowed by somebody who looks that fruity.

[Licensed-To-Carry]

Ha, looks like a cheap mexican restrauant in south Texas.

[eastsider]

To the gaudy that was Greece
And the fugly that was Rome ...

[JusPasenThru]

Spray some Windex on it.

[Wuli]

Thanks. Loved the pics.

Now we need the ultraviolet light of modern American Conservatism to restore the original limited government hues that were once so clear to everyone in our Constitution.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

I remember reading somewhere that, according to Homer's (probably pseudepigraphical) writings, color perception of ancient Greeks was quite limited compared to that of modern man (actually limited to a narrow band of color spectrum perception--or something like that). Makes me wonder if this ultraviolet process isn't a bit off base.

Not sure if this is still held to be true...just thought it was worth mentioning.

[Moltke]

...and don't forget their chariots!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

That’s interesting, and probably true — the ability to *perceive* something, involves much more than the ability to *sense* it. I doubt that the retinas of the ancients’ eyes were any different than those of modern man — but, how they filtered and processed visual information could have been quite different.

[Onelifetogive]

I'm guessing this is before they discovered the strategic value of camo...

[paulycy]

[Erasmus]

Chuy’s.

[Erasmus]

Whew. What a relief!

[Mountain Bike Vomit Carnage]

*VOMIT CARNAGE*

You called?

[SonOfDarkSkies]

I have something I think you'll find quite interesting about ancient Greeks, Homer, and pre-historic man...but I am short of time tonight.

Have made a note to give you a post in the morning.

Hint: Julian Jaynes' The Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.

Google it if you get some free time! Read the reviews on Amazon!

It's a paradigm changer!

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks James C. Bennett for the topic and ping! I think I'd tried to convince some other FReeper in my passive-aggressive way to post this article, or one very like it, but they didn't do it. Now I know who to bug. ;') Parthenon sculptures were coloured blue, red and green [2006] Archimedes' hidden writings revealed with particle accelerator [2006] Thanks DCBryan1 for the additional ping! Thanks wildbill: One wonders what was left of the original colors by the time of the Roman Empire and their admiration of all things Greek during the classical period. Did Pliny or any of the Roman commentators ever mention the colors on the statues. It's true -- the ancients had the same tastes as people today who have flamingos, gnomes, jockeys, and less edifying replicas in their front yards. A number of the Greek statues admired by the Romans were copied in bronze, marble, or (2-dimensionally) as frescoes. At least two of the surviving frescoes in one of the towns buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD contains an apparent reproduction of a mythological scene, and the models used for some of the characters must have been (unpainted) bronze statues. Bronze statues may have been painted as well, I don't know that I'd ever heard that one. They were given inlays to simulate human (and sometimes critter) eyes. Some of the marbles were as well. It's well known that the geniuses at the British Museum *sandblasted* the Elgin Marbles, which still had remnants of the original 5th c BC paint job. The (fairly) famous bust titled "So-Called Scipio Africanus", which was excavated at Pompeii or Herculaneum, has visible traces of paint, I think a number of those do. BTW though, that was a great thought IMHO, did Pliny et al mention the practice. Apparently not, I doubt that it's even mentioned in Juvenal, and he loved to poke fun. It was probably so commonplace that no one even considered it worth writing down. lawn dwarfs site:freerepublic.com Google To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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