Post #2649899

Not to step on a culture war landmine, but I keep seeing people claiming that the reason we know Memnon in Greek mythology was black is that he was portrayed as such on various amphorae. The character of Memnon is indeed African, and he was certainly considered to be black or at least dark-skinned by writers in antiquity. That much is true. But the amphora art has nothing to do with it… Almost everyone on there is depicted in black pigment. That was the art style. It's called black-figure pottery. It is best for people who learned everything they know about the ancient world from TikTok videos to refrain from commentary, especially if their aim is to attribute stances in the present-day culture war to people in antiquity for whom skin colour held none of the perverse salience that it holds today.