the wine-dark sea

[eliyes]

So lately on my flist there have been a surprising number of references to Homer's descriptive term in the Iliad, "the wine-dark sea", and there has been much theorizing as to what this meant. Was the sea burgundy in Ancient Greece, maybe something to do with an algae bloom? Does this refer to the hypnotic effect of watching the waves, much like drunkenness (or getting your sea legs, also much like drunkenness, so people say)? Is this all about the amount of blood spilled on the plains of Troy?

And I can look out my bedroom window at the harbour and see the Atlantic Ocean.

Which is, when the sun is not beating a silver glare off it, green-black.

Which is to say, quite dark.

Sorta like wine in that respect.