That's not pandering, it's historically (or at least Homerically) accurate. Memnon, the king of Aethiopia, was one of the defenders of Troy, and his army consisted of thousands of warriors from what is now Africa and India. If they hadn't been given local equipment at some point during the nine-year campaign, they'd have plundered it on the battlefield, since looting corpses was very much the thing to do.
^ Memnon, c 500 BC.
You're half right brother.
Technically, Ethiopians, back then were considered and described as "dark skinned" and not necessarily "black".(i.e, Ethiopian blacks that we have today).
Think Egyptian(s) more like characteristics -wise.
Memnon's skin color is open to interpretation since, again, it's been 3000 years give or take since Όμηρος wrote the Iliad and geographical/human/racial characteristics have also changed since then due to many reason ls (racial/tribal mixing etc).
Talking about misconceptions : not all ancient Greeks were dark skinned with dark hair like most people believe , quite the opposite in fact although, that also depended on various factors like mix of influences from local populations, migrations, interactions with different European groups etc etc...
Talking about the Iliad, Achilles is described by Homer as having "fair" hair - which probably meant he had either blonde, light brown or, that his hair was lighter in tone generally speaking compared to other characters.
This is the thing, we can't talk exactly.in absolutes for all the obvious reasons...
...not that it matters though mate.since from.what I've seen , this movie's cast is...ooof, you have the eternally boy looking spider boy, Matt Damon, Zendaya and Bernthal...Jesus Christ this couldn't be a more tone deaf cast even if they tried and looking at those armors also... yeah, I'm not getting my hopes up
IMO, that straight to TV. Armand Asante movie was A-OK for its time and these politically charged times aren't the right ones as to create authentic feeling historical dramas for all the obvious reasons.
Sorry for the rambling in broken English and oversimplified message but it's pretty.late.over here so...Cheers
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