Though I've seen people assume that the term "wine-dark sea" indicated that Homer had a problem seeing colour, I don't think so. I think he only had more or less clear water, and opaque wine, for to choose from for a description of how, well, dark the sea was that he was trying to describe (rather than its actual apparent colour). And it's usually that dark when a storm is brewing, I would imagine, compared to when it's calm and you can wade and see the bottom.
Mm, and the writer might have been colour-blind.
Though I've seen people assume that the term "wine-dark sea" indicated that Homer had a problem seeing colour, I don't think so. I think he only had more or less clear water, and opaque wine, for to choose from for a description of how, well, dark the sea was that he was trying to describe (rather than its actual apparent colour). And it's usually that dark when a storm is brewing, I would imagine, compared to when it's calm and you can wade and see the bottom.
I always figured it was a metaphor.