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Colours of planets (1)

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Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list) Seven planetary gods 01 Religious and ideological doctrines and imagery 01.04 Concept of god (1) 01.04.03 Plurality of god (polytheism) 01.04.03.06 Seven planetary gods Symbolism of colours 02 Religious and ideological symbols and iconographic motifs 02.11 Symbolism of colours	Keywords astronomy Greece
Period 4th century BCE Greek Classical Age	Channel Greek philosophers and scholars

Text
The colours of the planets in Plato correspond to the same coulours attested in the Mesopotamian texts.

Plato, Republic 616e-617a:
The largest (of fixed stars) is spangled, and the seventh (= sun) is brightest; the eighth (= moon) coloured by the reflected light of the seventh; the second and fifth (Saturn and Mercury) are in colour like one another, and yellower than the preceding; the third (Venus) has the whitest light; the fourth (Mars) is reddish; the sixth (Jupiter) is in whiteness second.

Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Plato, Republic 616e-617a

Bibliography

Bidez 1945, 1*-18*

Bidez, J. Eos ou Platon et l'orient. Brussels: Hayez 1945.

Amar Annus

URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001179.php

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