{"id":542497,"date":"2026-07-10T09:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T09:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/542497\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T09:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T09:42:13","slug":"what-is-the-odyssey-the-3000-year-old-question-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/542497\/","title":{"rendered":"What is The Odyssey? The 3,000-year-old question \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is The Odyssey? <\/p>\n

The Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic poem by the poet Homer. The tale follows Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, on his quest to return home from Troy. It is, in modern terms, a sequel to Homer\u2019s other renowned work, The Iliad, which chronicles the final weeks of the Trojan War. <\/p>\n

What is the story of The Odyssey?<\/p>\n

The poem begins at the end of the Trojan War. The Greeks have won against the city of Troy in what is now modern-day Turkey. Odysseus then starts his 10-year-long journey home. <\/p>\n

His voyage is far from smooth sailing. In a world where gods conceal themselves as men, Odysseus encounters many mythical foes and tests. He becomes trapped on the island of the goddess Calypso for seven years, he defeats the Cyclops Polyphemus, he resists the lure of the enchanting Sirens\u2019 song and he escapes the enchantress Circe, who can turn men into pigs.<\/p>\n

In Ithaca, Odysseus\u2019s wife Penelope and son Telemachus have been waiting for his return for 20 years; 10 at war and 10 at sea.<\/p>\n

Upon arriving home, Odysseus faces his final challenge. In his absence, his home has become overrun by more than 100 suitors vying for his throne and Penelope\u2019s hand in marriage. <\/p>\n

Odysseus, no longer a legendary myth, must protect his family and reclaim his kingdom.<\/p>\n

The Odyssey was written a long time ago. Do people still care? <\/p>\n

The Odyssey was written almost 3,000 years ago, yet its story remains popular with modern audiences. The story has been adapted in literature for centuries and in cinema for decades. If you want to improve your knowledge of ancient Greek myth before watching director Christopher Nolan\u2019s<\/a> ambitious retelling, you could watch some of the celebrated adaptations that came before.<\/p>\n

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)\"JohnJohn Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson and George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Photograph: Getty Images <\/p>\n

Ancient Greece is replaced with the deep south during the 1930s in the Coen brothers\u2019 take on the epic poem. George Clooney<\/a> plays an escaped convict named Ulysses (the Latin name for Odysseus) and encounters a one-eyed villain and escapes the lure of three sirens along his search for hidden treasure. Sound familiar? <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Christopher Nolan\u2019s Odyssey isn\u2019t evidence of a cultural void. It\u2019s the oppositeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ulysses (1954) \"KirkKirk Douglas and Rossana Podest\u00e0 in Ulysses (1954) <\/p>\n

The masterful adaptation starring Kirk Douglas condenses Homer\u2019s second poem but captures its epic scale. Ulysses washes up on the shore of Phaeacia, devoid of all memory and slowly begins to recount his 20-year journey. Perhaps the most famous novel of the 20th century, Ulysses by James Joyce, is based on The Odyssey. <\/p>\n

The Return (2024)\"TheThe Return: Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus. Photograph: Fabio Zayed\/Maila Iacovelli\/Modern Films<\/p>\n

The Odyssey\u2019s most recent adaptation, with Ralph Fiennes<\/a> playing an older and hardened Odysseus, captures the physiological toll of such a troubled journey. The Return<\/a> is a quiet but powerful retelling of a man who is not completely whole upon his arrival home. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Return: In Ralph Fiennes\u2019s new film, a minimalist take on The Odyssey, even the loincloths are skimpyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey is in cinemas from Friday, July 17th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What is The Odyssey? The Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic poem by the poet Homer. The tale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[50678,93,11196,61,60,25049,976],"class_list":["post-542497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-entertainment","tag-george-clooney","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ralph-fiennes","tag-weekendreview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}