Tales Of Brave Ulysses

Like any self-respecting scholar of classical antiquity, I have Opinions about Christopher Nolan’s new Odyssey, even if I haven’t seen it yet. (1) Obviously the most important aspect of any such adaptation is how it relates to my own specialist field, so I was delighted to see a clear Thucydidean influence in the rational explanation of the Trojan War as being all about trade routes and in the use of ancient grandeur to reflect on the present (Mycenae may now be a small place, but imagine if our civilisation lay in ruins…). The decline of the Law of Zeus? Thucydides on the loss of ancient simplicity, obviously. In fact, while the plot is Homeric, the spirit and value system is clearly Thucydidean, which is to say both timeless and modern. (2) Authenticity? Classical reception scholars scoff at authenticity, whether historical or literary! (3) What Nolan’s film does capture perfectly is the essence/spirit/appearance/mood of late bronze age/archaic/early classical/modern…