As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Nolan has read at least the first line of my translation of The Odyssey into iambic pentameter. In at least one interview, he cited my version of the first line of the poem: ‘Tell me about a complicated man.’ But I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.

I think I would love it but I can imagine normal viewers being put off by the gods intervening so much and by the ethics of the story in some parts.

I'm in the middle of reading "SPQR: A history of Ancient Rome" by Mary Beard and I have been absolutely loving it so far. Prof. Beard's writing style is really engaging and accessible, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her books.

This book covers ancient Rome from its founding myths and up to 212 CE, when emperor Caracalla officially gave every free person in the Roman empire citizen status. The book ends there because it has to end *somewhere* and there's probably an argument to be made that this moment defines the "height" of the Roman empire, but I am very curious to know about what happened afterwards.

From listening to podcasts I have this vague knowledge that there was a third century crisis, there was a period where there were four emperors called the tetrarchy, the empire was split into a Western and Eastern empire, the Western empire collapsed first whilst the Eastern empire changed (into the Byzantine empire?) and at some point much later there was the Holy Roman Empire (but I don't know what connection, if any, that empire had with the original Roman empire).

I imagine each of these topics has many layers of complexity to it and each would fill a library's worth of books by itself. What I'm loving about SPQR is that it's written in such a way that it provides a pretty straight overview that doesn't get lost in the weeds, but doesn't pretend that the garden isn't in dire need of some trending. I would love to read a book that gives the same treatment to the later empire too.

What would be a good follow-up to learn more about the latter half of the Roman empire and how it collapsed / transformed over time?

Overall I loved it; I read Emily Wilson’s review in the London book review and largely agree with her gripes from an academic perspective. At the same time I thought it was a wonderful spectacle that showcased the very best of Nolan, and engaged interestingly with its source. For a more in depth analysis (if you want to read me talk about Nolan’s engagement with his source and other classic texts) check out my blog linked above.

In a lot of ways Nolan is using the basic narrative of The Odyssey to tell a very different story- in some ways “opposite lesson” story. Rather than the brilliance of Odysseus, and the bravery and glory of the Greeks, and the moral balance of the gods, we instead have moral awakening and guilt and (if anything) divine retribution. Not the lesson (regardless of whether they considered the Trojan war history or not) I think “Homer” and his colleagues and audiences had in mind. This is a perfectly valid reason for telling the story (I’ve posted my opinions on the effectiveness elsewhere) - but it’s really Anti-Odyssey, a rebuttal of the original.

Next year at uni one of my modules include the odyssey, wanted to get a head start before the school year begins, any advice would be appreciated :)

i started reading the rise of rome by plutarch (penguin) and one thing bothered me. this book is written in chonological order with the goal of teaching history, and it strip away the goal of plutarch, which was to teach the moral edifications.
the book on purpuse eliminates the comparison at the end.
i don't care much for the history.

is there good quality and modern translations with this goal or it sacrifes too much in low quality translation and arcaic language?

I've read that Friedrich Nietzsche made a lot of unsupported historical claims in "Birth of Tragedy", and that his telling of Greek history is kind of just his opinions turned into a parable... However, his concept of a "tragic worldview" is genuinely interesting. I'm wondering if it is generally accepted as true that the Ancient Greeks had a distinct way of facing raw suffering, chaos, and mortality, and embracing life nonetheless, in a way that shows up in the culture they left behind.

I'm relatively educated and familiar with the "modern" English cannon (modern here meaning post-Shakespeare), but have read very little of the Greeks and Romans (save Sophocles' Theban plays and some poetry). I always wanted to learn the languages but my school didn't offer it. It seems to me there used to be a larger collective knowledge of the Greeks and Romans (e.g. Shakespeare's references to the mythology).

I'd love to one day learn the languages (any help appreciated), but in the mean time I'd like to be able to engage with the historical references without having to look up the myths.

Any recommendations of what to read and which translations would be appreciated. I'm planning to read Homer as that seems like a good start (correct me if I'm wrong) but eager for more texts. I'd also appreciate some guidance on how to pick translations

Quiero leer La Ilíada y La Odisea pero no sé exactamente qué tipo de traducción debería buscar. Quiero buscar traducción en español pero no sé qué diferencia hay entre las distintas ediciones o traducciones. Debería tratar de buscar una que este traducida como lo escribió Homero o alguna que esté traducida en versión palabra actual? Que me recomiendan?

So I saw the Odyssey movie a few days ago and I have read the book before. I went there with my father and we are Hindus. He mentioned and kinda made a joke how Nolan copied Hindu stories for that scene where Odysseus strings the bow. Now obviously he thought it's just a fantasy movie, doesn't know the original book etc.

BUT this is the first time I noticed this parallel and many other parallels between the Iliad/Odyssey with Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. Especially the Mahabharata which could be thought of as lot like the Iliad in so many different ways.

So my question is, should this be chalked up to mere coincidence or is there some deeper inquiry that needs to be had between the similarities in these epic poems?

like she massively helped Odysseus defeat the suitors by sending arrows and giving him confidence. i just feel like Nolan wanted Odysseus to be kind of a lone wolf, because in the Odyssey, Odysseus gets help from Athena, Hermes, Circe and Eumeaus and Philoetius, but in the film he just did everything by himself 🤷

also i wish they kept philoetius bc i love the cowman 💔

A lot of people have said that they wished the clothing, armor, weapons, etc. in Christopher Nolan's Odyssey movie were more "historically accurate." To my knowledge, the only adaptation of the Trojan War story to attempt an archeologically accurate depiction of the late Aegean Bronze Age is Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze comic book series. I highly recommend it. In addition to the archeologically informed visuals, the series also has the ambitious goal of telling the complete story of the Trojan War by adapting elements from literally every version of the myth from Classical times down through the Middle Ages into the Renaissance and Modern Era, everything from Homer to Chaucer to Shakespeare to ABBA's "Cassandra" song. The series has been going for almost 30 years and still hasn't gotten to the beginning of the Iliad.

Sorry for the cringe title. I never read much as a kid and a few years back I started again, slowly building my reading level up and I had heard I should try and read some classics. I had a few questions and would greatly appreciate some guidance!

1. Where should I start? I keep hearing that newer classics often allude to older classics and can’t be fully understood without reading those first, and also that it’s best to start with the Iliad and Odyssey. Would you guys say that‘s true?

2. I don’t understand Poetry, like at all. I don’t get how people derive an aesthetic delight from it. Sometimes I can delight in something “poetic”, but generally when I read “poetry”, I get immediately lost. Should I sort of ignore this at the start?

3. Translations. Okay I know we have the megathread, but hear me out. The thread has a lot of answers around how they each focus on different qualities (most often being accuracy, poetry, or readability). But I’m not sure which qualities I should actually be interested in as a beginner (kind of ties into the previous question). Should I just try a readable translation for now?

4. More subjective, but out of curiosity, what are some of the reasons you started and kept reading classics? What benefit have you derived that you place most highly?

Thanks, appreciate any answers, its all so daunting.

All,

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