I've said it in the last thread: The Illiad talks a lot about Ethiopian mercenaries under Nubian King Memnon fighting for Troy, and Homer praises their beauty and bravery at length. The ancient Greeks even gave Memnon a spin-off in form of his own literary epic, the Aethiopis. There's an actual literary and most likely historical basis for black people being involved in the battle for Troy that Nolan could have used. Just make Ulysses save Memnon's son from Achilles' wrath out of mercy, make him part of his crew, and teach him the ways of forgiveness - or whatever. It's really not that difficult to introduce black people in a way that is both historically plausible and close to the original narrative.