Some critics have bemoaned the flattening of a complex character. But Nolan’s film echoes a literary tradition of reimagining Circe as a survivor, a truth-teller and a figure of female empowerment.
Articles on Homer
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The women of Homer’s Odyssey were cunning, desiring and powerful. Nolan’s adaptation turns them into figures of suffering, sacrifice and regret.
Christopher Nolan turns Homer’s legendary warrior into a case study of moral injury, a condition that often appears in war veterans who struggle to forgive themselves.
Judging this version against an apparent ‘original’ misunderstands both the ancient poem and how myth actually works.
When the Odyssey first began to circulate in ancient Greece, no one knew its author. So how did ‘Homer’ become the name on the book’s cover?
The magic flower is used by the nymph Calypso to purge Odysseus’ trauma.
When Odysseus finally reaches Ithaca he doesn’t walk through the door and say who he is. Here’s why.
Hollywood has a habit of rendering complex literary heroes into one-dimensional figures. Nolan’s The Odyssey dodges this trap.
The Sea Peoples are widely blamed for the collapse of the interconnected world of the Bronze Age. But what’s the evidence say?
The Greeks didn’t locate their deep past in far-off fantasy lands. These stories happened in places all around them.
The Iliad does not unfold as a smooth, continuous narrative. Instead, it advances through a succession of micro-episodes.
The fragment wasn’t placed besides the body, but stuffed inside it.
Preserved in the margins of ancient literary works are notes that reveal how the Greeks strove to map mythical places onto locations in the known world.
The Odyssey hits cinemas in July 2026. But will it celebrate Odysseus as the clever hero – or finally confront the wreckage he leaves in his wake?
Odysseus is one of ancient literature’s most complex figures.
Both art forms encourage us, the listeners, to react, reflect and ultimately select with which speaker to side.
Odysseus has returned home but his biggest challenge is still ahead of him, winning back the woman he loves.
As Donald Trump has gained fame and power, his rage at opponents and appetite for vengeance appear to have sharpened. A classics scholar looks to literature for help understanding him.
Homeric heroes must get nature on their side if they are to overcome the enemy.
The shifts associated with being in your 40s and 50s – gray hairs, career doldrums, a longing for something more – seem as inevitable as aging itself. It wasn’t always this way.
Top contributors
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Emeritus Professor of Classics, La Trobe University
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Rachel Hadas is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of English, Rutgers University - Newark
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Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis University
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Research Associate, Institute for Prehistory and Early History and Medieval Archaeology, University of Tübingen
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Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University
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Research Associate, Curation and Communication, University of Tübingen
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Doctoral Researcher, Physics, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa (UEPG)
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Associate Professor in Drama, The University of Queensland
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PhD Candidate, University of Liverpool
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Reader in Classical Studies, The Open University
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Associate Professor of Ancient History, University of Leicester
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Lecturer in Ancient History, Cardiff University
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Associate Professor of Classics & Ancient History, University of New Brunswick
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Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
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University of Reading
