Dear Classical Wisdom Member,
Next week, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey finally arrives in cinemas.
Like many of you, I’m enormously curious to see what he does with one of the greatest stories ever told. But before Hollywood offers us its interpretation, I wanted to return to the source… and to ask deeper questions, such as:
Why has the Odyssey endured for nearly three thousand years?
Why does Odysseus seem, in many ways, more relevant today than ever before?
And what does it really, truly mean?
To explore those questions, I could not imagine a better guide than Professor Joel Christensen. Joel is one of the world’s leading Homeric scholars, the editor of the Oxford Critical Guide to Homer’s Odyssey, and the author of numerous books on Homer, including The Many-Minded Man and his latest work, Why Odysseus?
He also runs a regular newsletter, No Other Odysseus! – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Every conversation with Joel leaves me seeing these ancient texts in an entirely new light… and this discussion certainly did that!
We explored why the Odyssey has enjoyed such an extraordinary resurgence over the past quarter century, long before Christopher Nolan ever announced his film. We examined why modern readers seem increasingly drawn to Odysseus rather than Achilles, and what that shift reveals about our own age. We delved into one of the most famous opening lines in world literature, asking what Homer really meant by describing Odysseus as polytropos, a single Greek word that continues to challenge translators thousands of years later.
Joel also discussed fascinating insights into the psychology of the Odyssey, the poem’s surprising relationship with identity, survival, and war, and why its central questions may be even more pressing in the twenty-first century than they were in antiquity.
We also ventured into some wonderfully unexpected territory, from ancient allegorical readings of the Cyclops to how later generations transformed Odysseus into one of mythology’s most controversial heroes.
And of course, we talked about which translations are the best…
So before Nolan offers us his version of the Odyssey, I hope you’ll join us for a journey back to the original. Whether you’ve read Homer dozens of times or are simply wondering what all the excitement is about, I think you’ll come away with a richer appreciation not only of this extraordinary poem, but also of why it continues to speak so powerfully to us today.
Classical Wisdom Members, you can enjoy the full podcast and transcript above. If you aren’t a member yet, make sure to subscribe today to unlock all our resources, including events, podcasts, ebooks and more…
All the best,
Anya Leonard
Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom
