χλωρὸς ὑπαὶ δείους
As a color for objects, χλωρός is somewhere on the yellow–green spectrum: in Homeric epic it is used to describe honey (Iliad 11.631; Odyssey 10.234) and also various kinds of plants or wood (Odyssey 9.320, 9.379, 16.47). But in these epics it is most often associated with fear, as it is here. This color describes fear (δέος) itself in several related formulas with the verb αἱρέω, all of which have as their basic meaning “green fear seized me/them/everyone” (see Iliad 7.479, 8.77, 17.67; Odyssey 11.43, 11.633, 12.243, 22.42, 24.450, 24.533). John Miles Foley (1999:216–217) identifies “green fear” as a traditional phrase, one which reveals “psychological states and tangible objects woven into the fabric of the narrative tradition that are singularly meaningful and recognizable to bard and audience alike.” He argues that a fear so described “is by traditional definition a superhuman, unconquerable force” (1999:217). According to Foley, then, this phrase is a single unit of utterance, with its own, irreducible meaning. At Iliad 15.4 we find a phrasing very similar to the one here, and it does show the supernatural element that Foley identifies: there Poseidon has turned the tide of the battle and the Trojans are pushed back across the Achaeans’ ditch. They are described as χλωροὶ ὑπαὶ δείους πεφοβημένοι (“green with fear after they were put to flight”). The ὑπαί in these phrases (ὑπό also shows up at Iliad 8.77 and Odyssey 22.42 = 24.450) perhaps conveys the idea of this green color rising up to the skin’s surface. In ambush situations in particular, the paleness or changing color of a man’s skin is considered revealing. Idomeneus mentions that ambush especially exposes who is a coward and who is a brave man. The coward is exposed by his skin changing colors from his fear, as well as by an inability to sit still and a pounding heart. By contrast, the brave man’s skin does not change color, and he does not feel too much fear (Iliad 13.276–286). Here, Dolon’s fear is explicit (10.374), and the chattering of his teeth and paleness are manifestations of it. The suitors are similarly described at the moment they realize that the stranger is Odysseus: τοὺς δ’ ἅρα πάντας ὑπὸ χλωρὸν δέος εἷλε (Odyssey 22.42). Thus, in two cases, at least, green fear is also associated with men who realize at that moment that they have been ambushed.