Thespian Hoplites and black armour

[Dithrambus]

Why would an artist depict a black faced Corinthian, not only this particular vase but several others, if he had never seen one?

Obviously because that was the only colour available to the artist on that particular medium. It is a monochrome illustration - the only intention is to differentiate different parts of the drawing. It is unreasonable to pretend that we know what colours the various items on those drawings are.

Hm, I thought I had made it clear that I agreed with you, no we cannot know the true intent of the artist, but we also cannot rule out black as the intended color and black paints and dyes were available. :-)

In my last post, I wrote:

"As for colors, yes these depictions merely differentiate one section of the armour from another and I certainly accept that it doesn't necessarily depict black armour. I think the easy answer to the question: Was black armour possible? Is, yes it was possible with the use of black dye and paint. Can we prove that the Thespians, or anyone else for that matter, painted their armour black? No.."