THE COLORS OF GREEK STATUES—LITERARY EVIDENCE. It’s still surprising to me that ancient Greek statues were colored. I posted here about color reconstructions of Greek and Roman statues. The reconstructions are based on archaeological evidence: traces of paint. This article by Jamie Katz in the Smithsonian (November 2012) provides literary evidence that statues were colored. It quotes a passage in Euripedes in which Helen laments that her beauty caused the Trojan war. She says:
“If only I could shed my
beauty and assume an
uglier aspect
The way you would
wipe color off a statue.”