There are many proposed routes of the Odyssey that dart all over the Mediterranean without clear reason so I've created this corrected map with textual descriptions and journey times.

After watching the Odyssey, I think Nolan deleted a lot of important details that could be pulled from the original Odyssey and other ancient sources. He especially struggles to develop complex female characters. Although Penelope’s character was decent, it was too attached to Odysseus and Telemachus. Further, I would argue that Nolan flattens Clytemnestra very badly, in turn, to shape Agamemnon as a heroic character who was betrayed. However, multiple sources discount this narrative. One important point/version omitted from the movie is that Agamemnon killed Tantalus (Clytemnestra’s first husband) and killed her first child. Of course, because this is not the mainstream version, I could see why Nolan omitted this. 

Another aspect was Iphigenia, which the movie omitted the mythological reason for her sacrifice to Artemis (reasons varied, but it was Agamemnon’s fault). Both of these mythological details, I think, deeply weakened the portrayal of Clytemnestra in the movie. Especially the reason why she decided to kill her husband.

I am deeply troubled by how Nolan handled the Circe (or Kirke) scene. This scene was unnecessary and inaccurate to the original text.

The last character, in my opinion, is one of the big lost points of the movie. I don’t understand why Nolan decided to remove/mention Cassandra. If Nolan’s movie is truly anti-war or meant to focus on the collapse of civilization, Cassandra is one of the best characters to illustrate the tragedy of war/collapse of Troy. After Ajax raped Cassandra, she was bought back to Mycenae by Agamemnon. Therefore, it is difficult for me to understand why Nolan would delete all these female characters, to portray Agamemnon in a very heroic and positive light. I am not sure if that is fully accurate according to ancient sources like Orestes, Iphigenia, and the Trojan Women. Indeed, it is a good movie, but…Odyssey should be a Classical poem that includes various complex female characters. Especially when Nolan referenced Emily Wilson’s translation, his movie juxtaposed with Wilson’s interpretation of the story.

I love Greek mythology and legend and I love retellings. I love Madeline Miller and both her books. I really enjoyed Sweetbitter Song as well about Penelope. I love feminist reworkings of myths. But I absolutely hated The Penelopiad. I am seeing so many people praise this book as a retelling ever since The Odyssey film came out and I truly don’t understand why it’s at the top of so many lists of retellings. It is not remotely feminist at all in its characterization of any female character even with Penelope narrating, and she herself is portrayed in probably the most unlikable version of her I’ve ever seen. The way Helen and Penelope’s maids are treated is so awful and Penelope endorses this! It’s so blatant there’s no way it can even be read as satire. Everyone else I’ve seen talk about this book though seemed to really like it a lot.

An exploration of how Nolan’s Odyssey interacts with historical ideas about the end of the Bronze Age and ancient narratives about the Sack of Troy.

For everyone who has problems with the thematic changes Nolan made for his film, were you all expecting a 1:1 Adaptation? As much as I would have loved to see the Phaeacians, Further interaction between Odysseus and Circe, The Shade of Achilles… etc. these elements being left out shouldn’t be what’s preventing you from enjoying a movie. Many adaptations of texts from antiquity have been made, not in just film. Greek tragedies being interpolated to connect with contemporary issues are written every year. Nolan, adapting the odyssey with his own themes and characteristic choices, is just as valid as the writers of said modern tragic adaptations. Odysseus is a different character, more angsty and guilt ridden, which is not true to how he is represent in Homer. So what. Clearly most people in this sub are extremely attached to the Homeric epics, as am I, but how hard is it to step outside your own bubble and view his narrative for what he is trying to display. Unless you are disagreeing with his themes of anti-war , guilt, repressing memories, that’s an entirely different issue. I personally think Nolan did an exceptional job with this film. No it was not a perfect adaptation of Homers Odyssey. The Character of Odysseus in Homer is one of the most entertaining and stimulating characters to read on, and if another director in the future were to portray him more like Homers, I would be ecstatic. However it is unfair to treat Nolan’s Film as trash simply because he is not providing an exact Copy of Homer, from text to IMAX film.

There's of course the cop-out answer of "I haven't read all three" (and I believe this will skew the votes), but I'm very curious what draws people to each of the epics. Nostalgia? Language? How much the themes of each poem move you?

With the recent discourse, on twitter I’ll occasionally see someone say that everyone read the Odyssey in middle/high school. I didn’t though, I only read the Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, and Macbeth. How common is reading the Odyssey in middle/high school?

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Obviously this question stems from the recent movie. There are a lot of discussions about the movie some in good faith and some not.

But one of the topics that keeps interesting me is the themes of the movie and specifically how they relate to the “original” version of the story.

I’m not asking about a discussion of the movie itself but at the surface level it seems the movie makes changes that adapts the characters and themes to be that more so through a modern western lens.

My question is this: my understanding is that the earliest complete texts of the Odyssey we have are from the Byzantine empire, around the years 800-1000 CE. Modern translations of the story use these and a compilation of other sources in order to craft a modern translations.

When people talk about the “original” version of the story- regarding story beats, character arcs, themes etc. what are they actually referring to? The Byzantine version? Surely there would have been changes to the story, however little, from the time period the story is attributed to- to 2000 years later when the Byzantine complete texts were created.

Do we have any basis for how the story’s interpretation changed over the years? Or do we have a pretty good understanding of what the actual Original Greek version was?