color
Black
The color of soot, night, and many dyes. Mourning, fertility soil, and later “black magic” talk have used it; those uses are not one meaning.
European folklore
Black is associated with Death.
European mourning has used black cloth. The custom is local; it is not Egyptian green Osiris and not a proof that night is death.
associated with · interpretive · culturally specific
Black is associated with Raven.
The bird’s color is the ordinary reason folk speech calls it a night-bird. Color is not a Norse Huginn.
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Nahua tradition
Black is associated with Obsidian.
Obsidian is dark enough to take a reflection. The color is a property of the glass, not a mood imported onto Mexica rite.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Black appears in Nahua tradition.
Sahagún’s Florentine Codex records black among directional colors, body paint, and god-image speech — named black in ritual palette ethnography. A colonial-era Nahua ethnographic attestation, not a pan-Mesoamerican essence and not an unfiltered pre-invasion voice.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Egyptian religion
Black appears in Egyptian religion.
The Book of the Dead seats black among the fertile and night tones of the below and the black land’s funerary hope. A named black in that corpus, not a later “black magic” slogan and not white as clean linen already filed.
from Raymond O. Faulkner (translation) · Book of the Dead, New Kingdom spells; Faulkner trans. 1972
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Black represents Osiris.
Plutarch’s On Isis and Osiris ties black to Osiris and the black land of Egypt in cult color speech — black as a sign of Osiris’s fertile dark earth against Typhon’s redness. A named black→Osiris sign job under this source, not a generic mourning-color dump.
from Plutarch · On Isis and Osiris, c. 100 CE
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Roman religion
Black appears in Roman religion.
Pliny’s Natural History seats black among painter’s colors and dark pigments of Book 35. A named black hue in that encyclopedia, not lampblack or ivory-black as soot blacks already walked and not a death-symbol dump alone.
from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE
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Black is associated with White.
In Theophilus’s Divers Arts, black is mixed with a little white to make the colour called veneda, and that mix fills up the pupils of the eyes — black is mixed with that white.
from Theophilus Presbyter · On Divers Arts, c. early 12th century
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Black is historically related to Charcoal.
In Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture, pitch-pine shavings are burned to charcoal, then pounded in a mortar with size to make a pretty black for fresco — black is prepared from that charcoal.
from Vitruvius; Morris Hicky Morgan (translation) · De Architectura, 1st century BCE; Morgan English 1914
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Black is historically related to Size.
In Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture, pitch-pine charcoal is pounded in a mortar with size for fresco black, and roasted wine lees are likewise ground with size for a deeper wall black.
from Vitruvius; Morris Hicky Morgan (translation) · De Architectura, 1st century BCE; Morgan English 1914
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Fresco is historically related to Black.
In Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture, pitch-pine charcoal pounded with size makes a pretty black for fresco painting — fresco work takes that black.
from Vitruvius; Morris Hicky Morgan (translation) · De Architectura, 1st century BCE; Morgan English 1914
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Wine is historically related to Black.
In Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture, the lees of wine are dried and roasted in an oven, then ground up with size and applied to a wall for a colour more delightful than ordinary black — wine lees make that black.
from Vitruvius; Morris Hicky Morgan (translation) · De Architectura, 1st century BCE; Morgan English 1914
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Gravel is historically related to Black.
In Vitruvius, a mortar mixed of gravel, lime, and ashes, smoothed off, gives the look of a black pavement that dries spills at once — gravel enters that black floor.
from Vitruvius; Morris Hicky Morgan (translation) · De Architectura, 1st century BCE; Morgan English 1914
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Pine is historically related to Black.
In Vitruvius, shavings of pitch pine are burned to charcoal and pounded with size to make a pretty black for fresco painting — pine charcoal yields that black.
from Vitruvius; Morris Hicky Morgan (translation) · De Architectura, 1st century BCE; Morgan English 1914
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In Theophilus Divers Arts, a drapery mixes orpiment with indigo then adds a little black to make the outer shadow before lightening again with orpiment.
from Theophilus Presbyter · On Divers Arts, c. early 12th century
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Ochre is historically related to Black.
In Theophilus’s Divers Arts, hair of boys is filled by mixing a little black with ochre, then marking the locks with black.
from Theophilus Presbyter · On Divers Arts, c. early 12th century
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Green is historically related to Black.
In Theophilus’s Divers Arts, prasinus is prepared as a green colour with black, dissolved in water and strained for use on a new wall.
from Theophilus Presbyter · On Divers Arts, c. early 12th century
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Orpiment is historically related to Black.
In Theophilus’s Divers Arts, after filling a drapery with orpiment and indigo, a little black is added to make the outer shadow.
from Theophilus Presbyter · On Divers Arts, c. early 12th century
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Minium is historically related to Black.
In Theophilus’s Divers Arts, after relieving a cinnabar drapery with simple minium, a little black is mixed with red to make the outer shadow.
from Theophilus Presbyter · On Divers Arts, c. early 12th century
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Lime is historically related to Black.
In Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture, after charcoal is trodden into a dining-room floor, a mortar of gravel, lime, and ashes is spread half a foot deep to give the look of a black pavement.
from Vitruvius; Morris Hicky Morgan (translation) · De Architectura, 1st century BCE; Morgan English 1914
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Blue is historically related to Black.
In Theophilus’s Divers Arts, the mixture of colours breaks blue with black, then designs with orpiment.
from Theophilus Presbyter · On Divers Arts, c. early 12th century
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sources
- Florentine Codex · Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators
Bernardino de Sahagún, General History of the Things of New Spain (Florentine Codex).
- Book of the Dead · Raymond O. Faulkner (translation)
Raymond O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.
- Natural History · Pliny the Elder
Pliny, Naturalis Historia.
- On Isis and Osiris · Plutarch
Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris (Moralia).
- On Divers Arts · Theophilus Presbyter
Theophilus, On Divers Arts (De diversis artibus / Schedula diversarum artium).
- De Architectura · Vitruvius; Morris Hicky Morgan (translation)
Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. Morris Hicky Morgan (1914).