Did the ancient greeks see colours the same as us?

Question

i found this article, that says they didnt.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/61

Answer 1

Hmmmm.

I see lots of argument about the description of colour that the Ancient Greeks used.

Surely much of this could either be literal (Homer often calls the Aegean the "wine-dark sea" and indeed it can be that colour) or artistic license (we say people are "green with envy" but we don't mean they are literally green).

The proof that the Ancient Greeks saw colour differently to us would surely be in the colour schemes they used for their art. What I see here is a love of bright colours and decoration (no different from how we Greeks are today).....you can still see how the Parthenon would have been coloured, for instance.

I can't find too much convincing for the argument that Ancient Greeks had not evolved to be as receptive to colour as we are.

Answer 2

In reading the article, it seems the gist was not so much a problem of seeing colors but in describing them. Does this mean that there was a neurological difference? Probably not. It could be that the ancients used one word to describe multiple colors.

Answer 3

To be honest I didn't read all of it, but I think what the article is saying is it's not that they see different colors than us, it's more like what determines this color from that color is different.
Like, for example, red and orange might be considered the same color.