This is indeed one of the most fascinating aspects of Deutscher's book! The way ancient Greeks described colors is mind-blowing - referring to the sea as "wine-dark" in Homer's works, and describing honey as "green" or "chloros" (which also meant fresh or alive).

These descriptions aren't just poetic quirks but possibly reflect how language shapes perception. The Greeks had different color categories than we do today - they focused more on luminosity and less on hue. Their color vocabulary evolved over time, just as all languages do, which might explain these seemingly strange descriptions.

It makes you wonder how much our own language filters our perception of reality today! What aspects of the world might we be missing simply because we lack the vocabulary for them?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​