red hair in the illiad

**Patriarch of Constantinople** · 01-09-2007, 06:43

In the 4th Century AD, the Jewish physician Adamantios, described what he called the "true Greek" – or where the “Hellenic race has been kept pure” as follows:

"Wherever the Hellenic and Ionic race has been kept pure, we see proper tall men of fairly broad and straight build, neatly made, of fairly light skin and blond"

**KARTLOS** · 01-09-2007, 07:16

Originally Posted by Patriarch of Constantinople

In the 4th Century AD, the Jewish physician Adamantios, described what he called the "true Greek" – or where the “Hellenic race has been kept pure” as follows:

this quote provides suport for my proposistion that the ethnic composistion of "greeks" has changed considerably since classical times

i.e that for example blondeness was clearlly more common then

**Red Peasant** · 01-09-2007, 12:45

Originally Posted by Patriarch of Constantinople

In the 4th Century AD, the Jewish physician Adamantios, described what he called the "true Greek" – or where the “Hellenic race has been kept pure” as follows:

Hmm, C4 AD is over 1,500 years after Mycenaean times. A lot can happen in that amount of time. Red hair is described in the Iliad, written about C8 BC, and Homer didn't seem to have a problem with it. What's the problem? Maybe it was a metaphor, or a certain shade of brunette that 'looks' red. That's how modern Greeks normally explain away these inconvenient details. Quite amusing really. Personally, I think the red hair meant Menelaus was from Liverpool; the Mycenaeans were Scousers!

**Kagemusha** · 01-09-2007, 13:43

According to Wiki: "Red is an uncommon hair color among humans, found mainly in Northern and Western European populations (and descendants of these populations), although it occurs in low frequencies throughout other parts of Europe and Asia."

So i think its possible that some Greeks could have had red hair without any more complicated theories.
Here is the full article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair

**Del Arroyo** · 01-09-2007, 16:37

GAH!! If they can have blond hair, they can have red hair. Red hair is a hybrid of blondness.

GAH!

**Basileus** · 01-18-2007, 15:02

While red hair is very rare in Greece you will find some people that have it, 2 cousins of mine have dark redish hair. In fact ive seen Turks/Lebanese/Iraqis etc with redish hair.

**Cataphract_Of_The_City** · 01-19-2007, 01:13

Here is something to read on the subject...

http://dienekes.angeltowns.net/pictures/composites/
http://dienekes.angeltowns.net/articles/hellenes/

**Orda Khan** · 01-23-2007, 11:28

There is every possibility that different hair colours existed. The description 'red' is automatically associated with 'ginger' these days, however it could just as easily have been used to describe shades of brown. Many tribes around the Altai were described as having red hair and green eyes, most notably Chingis Khan and his immediate family. The Chinese were describing brown. I know some Scandinavians who are dark haired, so nations cannot be lumped into a category such as hair colour, populations moved too much

........Orda

edit: typo