Christopher Nolan‘s adaptation of The Odyssey has sparked controversy before it even hits the big screens in a row over historical accuracy.
Ever since the film’s trailer dropped last year, fans have been furious over the cast’s anachronistic language and American accents.
Elon Musk, the trillionaire owner of X, has even taken a nasty swipe at historian Tom Holland in a clash over the film’s casting, with Musk calling Holland a ‘cuck’.
But just how historically accurate is The Odyssey?
According to experts on Ancient Greece, Nolan’s Hollywood adaptation has taken some pretty serious artistic licence with the historical context.
Most notably, historians point out the arms and armour worn by Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, and his fellow warriors are off by ‘seven to eight centuries’.
These details are so far from the mark that one ancient arms expert branded Nolan’s effort a ‘great disappointment’.
However, in terms of capturing the original Homeric epic, experts agree that these details don’t really matter.
Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey has sparked a row over historical accuracy. But just how inaccurate is the film?
Historian Tom Holland, of The Rest is History, accidentally provoked a raging argument on social media after sharing his praise for the film
X’s owner Elon Musk responded by calling the respected historian a ‘cuck’. Musk and his fellow critics have been outraged by the film’s casting of American actors and a black woman in the role of 12th–century BC Greeks
One of the biggest gripes that history buffs have taken with Nolan’s cinematic rendering is that Odysseus is shown wearing totally the wrong type of armour.
The Odyssey is an epic poem, most likely written or at least compiled by one or more poets some time between the sixth and third centuries BC.
However, the poem is set even further back in time, during the Mycenaean Period, which ended around the 12th century BC.
Dr Stephan Blum, an archaeologist and Troy expert from the University of Tübingen, told the Daily Mail: ‘From an archaeological perspective, the weapons and armour shown in the trailer are considerably later than one would expect for the Bronze Age.
‘They resemble equipment from the Classical Greek period rather than the Late Bronze Age and are therefore roughly seven to eight centuries too young.’
Matt Damon’s Odysseus appears to be wearing an iron chestplate while King Agamemnon, Benny Safdie, sports a striking piece of matt black steel armour.
Neither of these would have been available during the period the Odyssey is actually set, where bronze would have been the only available metal.
Real Mycenaean armour was made of enormously thick sheets of bronze that hung around the warrior like a heavy metal dress with a high collar.
Historians point out that Matt Damon and his fellow warriors are wearing armour that is about 800 years too modern for the Odyssey’s setting
Likewise, Dr Blum points out that Odysseus shouldn’t be carrying a round shield or wearing a crested helmet.
Instead, real Ancient Greek soldiers would have carried brightly coloured figure–of–eight shields and worn conical helmets covered with boar tusks.
Matt Easton, historical arms and armour expert, says that this is a ‘huge missed opportunity’.
Mr Easton says: ‘Mycenaean armour is so distinctive and would have given the movie a more colourful and memorable look.
‘Shields of that large cow hide design dominated their art and warfare. It would really have stood out.
‘Instead it just looks like the standard grey and brown palette of regular prop department armour with nothing to stick in the mind … A 2 out of 10 for effort.’
Strangely enough, however, Odysseus is carrying exactly the right type of sword for this period of time.
In the trailer, Matt Damon can be seen carrying a ‘Mycenaean Type–G’ sword, also known as a ‘horned sword’, a type of bronze blade that was common in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Real warriors from the Mycenaean period would have worn heavy bronze plates that hung down like a metal dress alongside conical helmets decorated with pieces of boar tusk
However, arms and armour are only the start of the long list of historical anachronisms abounding in The Odyssey.
Dr Andrew Bayliss, an Ancient Greek architecture expert from the University of Birmingham, points out that Odysseus’ palace ‘looks like a combination of the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae and the Classical Athenian acropolis’.
Likewise, Professor John Bennet, an expert on Aegean archaeology from the University of Sheffield, notes that the trailer shows a statue which is ‘definitely 6th century BC Greek’.
However, one thing that every expert the Daily Mail spoke with agrees on is that none of these details really matter.
Professor Bennet told the Daily Mail: ‘Anyone who knows the archaeology of the period would find bits to quibble with. But, of course, this isn’t a real history, this is a poetic creation.’
Nor did the Ancient Greeks themselves care about making things historically accurate.
In fact, it may well be truer to the spirit of the original Homeric text to keep updating the performance for modern audiences.
‘The poems are based on an oral tradition, and an oral tradition is constantly fluid because you constantly have to play to your audience,’ says Professor Bennet.
However, Matt Damon is carrying a historically accurate sword. This is a ‘Mycenaean Type–G’ sword
‘This whole notion of a fixed text is actually alien to the original poetry of Homer’s day.’
The actual texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey as we have them have lots of anachronisms, including repeated references to the use of iron which wouldn’t have been possible in the Bronze Age.
Similarly, every generation of Ancient Greek civilisation adapted both the presentation and style of the poem to fit their own tastes.
Dr Bayliss told the Daily Mail: ‘When the ancient Greeks depicted the Homeric heroes and the Trojans, they depicted them to reflect their own time.
‘So vase–painters in the 600s and 500s BCE painted Odysseus and Trojans like Hector as if they were Greek hoplites rather than Mycenaean–period soldiers.
‘After the Persian wars (495–480 BCE) they started painting the Trojans as if they were trouser–wearing Persians.’
Likewise, historians have been delighted to see that Nolan’s adaptation includes fantastical details like gods and goddesses, who play a key part in the original text.
Fans of supposed historical accuracy, such as Elon Musk, have also been furious about the movie’s casting.
Critics have been furious that Lupita Nyong’o was cast as Helen of Troy. However, real experts say this decision reflects a three–thousand–year tradition of updating the Odyssey to match the tastes of contemporary audiences
Online critics have complained that the actors are speaking with American accents.
However, Dr Baylis says that the accents of the cast don’t matter ‘at all’.
He says: ‘It’s pretty much impossible to make a myth historically accurate. The Odyssey is an epic poem transmitted by oral recitation. It would have morphed and changed over the generations.
‘I don’t mind that Matt Damon sounds American rather than Greek, and I don’t think the ancient Greeks would have been troubled by that either.’
Similarly, Elon Musk and fellow critics were incensed to see a black woman, Lupita Nyong’o, cast as Helen of Troy.
While these casting choices perhaps don’t reflect the real ethnic makeup of 12th–century Mycenae, real historical experts simply don’t care.
Dr Blum adds: ‘Homer’s epics are nearly three thousand years old, and I think contemporary adaptations can legitimately take certain creative liberties to make these stories resonate with modern audiences.
‘The nationality of the cast, in my view, is of little importance. What ultimately matters is whether the film captures the spirit, complexity, and enduring appeal of these extraordinary stories.’
