Redheads Real and Unreal

Troy (Illium), Anatolia

Untitled Homer, in the Iliad, describes Menelaus of Sparta, whose wife Helen Paris had abducted to Troy, as the "red-haired king." Homer also ascribes red hair to the hero Meleager, who as a young man accompanied Jason and the Argonauts in the Quest of the Golden Fleece. To the semi-divine hero Achilles Homer attributes "fiery hair." In the Odyssey, Homer describes the crafty Odysseus as having "russet locks."

by Jeff Moran