A Walk Through Homer’s Odyssey: A Guide to the Epic Before Seeing Christopher Nolan’s Film

in History, Literature | July 17th, 2026 2 Comments

You’re gear­ing up to see Christo­pher Nolan’s Odyssey, but you haven’t read the Home­r­ic work. Or you read it so long ago that it feels like you’ve nev­er read it at all. No wor­ries. Above, Tom Hol­land and Dominic Sand­brook, the hosts of The Rest Is His­to­ry pod­cast, take you through the major plot lines of the Odyssey, unpack­ing the lit­er­ary and his­tor­i­cal mean­ing of the epic’s dif­fer­ent tales. It’s a good primer—just what you need to get ready for one of the big­ger cin­e­ma releas­es this year. Enjoy!

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Relat­ed Con­tent 

Watch the First Spec­tac­u­lar Film Adap­ta­tion of the Odyssey (1911)

Archae­ol­o­gists Think They’ve Dis­cov­ered the Old­est Greek Copy of Homer’s Odyssey: 13 Vers­es on a Clay Tablet

The His­to­ry of Ancient Greece in 18 Min­utes: A Brisk Primer Nar­rat­ed by Bri­an Cox

 

 


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  • Stan says:
    July 17, 2026 at 7:47 am

    I don’t see his movies. Too bor­ing and safe. I have seen this before. A famous direc­tor plays it safe and recre­ates or tries to explain a his­tor­i­cal event in mod­ern terms and not unlike anoth­er film by Oliv­er Stone.
    I don’t need a mod­ern recre­ation or expla­na­tion of a his­tor­i­cal event. Hon­est­ly, who allowed him to do that last bore-fest of WWII. A movie about a sto­ry from a war that’s been over for 80 years. Zzzzzzzzzz. Take a risk and find a sto­ry and writer team to cre­ate some­thing fresh. Stop rein­ter­pret­ing or fake-splain­ing his­tor­i­cal events. This is why movies are fail­ing once released. Faux his­to­ry lessons. Movies about events that only a pompous, direc­tor twist into anoth­er failed release.

    Reply
  • Stan says:
    July 17, 2026 at 7:49 am

    I don’t see his movies. Too bor­ing and safe. I have seen this before. A famous direc­tor plays it safe and recre­ates or tries to explain a his­tor­i­cal event in mod­ern terms and not unlike anoth­er film by Oliv­er Stone.
    I don’t need a mod­ern recre­ation or expla­na­tion of a his­tor­i­cal event. Hon­est­ly, who allowed him to do that last bore-fest of WWII. A movie about a sto­ry from a war that’s been over for 80 years. Zzzzzzzzzz. Take a risk and find a sto­ry and writer team to cre­ate some­thing fresh. Stop rein­ter­pret­ing or fake-splain­ing his­tor­i­cal events. This is why movies are fail­ing once released. Faux his­to­ry lessons. Movies about events that only a pompous, direc­tor twist into anoth­er failed release. While we are at it, Scors­ese, please stop. Enough rehash­ing the mob his­to­ry of NYC etc etc.

    Reply

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