Macedonian Phalanx Illustration

[MeinPanzer]

So you do support the idea that blue represents iron in these paintings?

I'm coming to that opinion, I must admit, and maybe I was too definite in that last post. But I can see the case for both painted and reflection. Why would a bucket be painted blue in real life? Maybe to protect it from rust, and there was a very cheap blue paint?

What concerns me is whether the artists would be conscious of the blue reflection given to iron when painting a depiction. Why not just grey which we see even today so many times when armour is illustrated? They had the black and the white pigments to mix. I don't know enough about ancient Greek practices in art to say yes or no, to be honest.

There are also a few problems with it being reflections. First of all, at this point it doesn't appear that artists endeavoured to produce any fancier lighting effects than basic shading. They also certainly didn't make an effort to give the impression of reflection on other shiny white or grey objects.

Also, the scene in which the man carries a blue pale is set at night - all the men carry torches with them on their way to a symposion (which is the next scene).