

No one could see the color blue until modern times - frostmatthew
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-blue-and-how-do-we-see-color-2015-2

======
huxley
Gladstone wasn't aware that the Greeks and other ancient peoples used brightly
coloured paints on their statues and buildings.

Because articles like the linked one keep coming up, I've just submitted on HN
an article from the British museum about the extensive findings of "Egyptian
blue" on the Parthenon:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9972478](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9972478)

This shows that Lapis lazuli was available throughout the Mediterranean, not
just Egypt.

Cobalt was used to colour glass during the Bronze age:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uluburun_shipwreck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uluburun_shipwreck)

The Mycenaeans used blue glass for necklace pendants:

[http://www.cmog.org/artwork/necklace-glass-pendants-and-
faie...](http://www.cmog.org/artwork/necklace-glass-pendants-and-faience-
beads)

The colour blue has also been found in mosaics and paintings unearthed at
Pompeii:

[http://www.pompeionline.net/pompeii/painting.htm](http://www.pompeionline.net/pompeii/painting.htm)

When examining the existing ancient literature to extrapolate on colour
perception, it's important to remember that only a minuscule fraction of
ancient literature survives to this day.

------
wkowalsky
This article claims that some Himba subjects were entirely unable to
discriminate blue from green, but this alleged experimental finding is a myth
owing to irresponsible BBC producers. See these Language Log posts:

[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=17970](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=17970)

[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=18237](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=18237)

------
gavazzy
And people couldn't communicate before email.

