All posts tagged: Odyssey

Oldest known ‘Odyssey’ fragment on display in New York City

Oldest known ‘Odyssey’ fragment on display in New York City

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Christopher Nolan’s rendition of The Odyssey is arguably the movie of the summer. The cinematic masterpiece was filmed in IMAX and included a soaring score from an award-winning composer, but the original presentation of the epic poem in the ancient world would have been a much humble affair.  Before it was written down, bards recited the adventures of Odysseus and the Greeks orally. Most scholars assume that the Iliad and the Odyssey were composed sometime between the eighth century and the mid-seventh century BCE, and finally copied down by the mid-sixth century BCE. The earliest known fragment from the Odyssey is from the third century BCE—and New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) has put it back on view.  “This fragment is …

The Odyssey tickets being resold by touts at 5 times face value in South Korea

The Odyssey tickets being resold by touts at 5 times face value in South Korea

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Tickets for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey are being resold for up to five times their face value in South Korea, as demand for IMAX screenings has prompted the country’s film council to begin collecting reports of suspected ticket scalping. IMAX tickets at CGV Yongsan I’Park Mall in Seoul, one of South Korea’s most sought-after premium cinema venues, have appeared on secondhand trading platforms for more than 100,000 won (£53), compared with a face value of 17,000 to 22,000 won (£9 to £11.6) depending on the day and screening time, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily. Some listings have gone considerably higher, with SBS News reporting that three consecutive seats for an evening screening on 14 August were being offered for almost 300,000 won (£158). Scalpers had begun advertising tickets before the film even opened in South Korea on 5 August. Some …

The Met Has Put the Oldest Existing Copy of the Odyssey on Display

The Met Has Put the Oldest Existing Copy of the Odyssey on Display

Published by Jenni Sidey

Likely prompted by the runaway success of a certain classically oriented movie in theaters this summer, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned the oldest preserved fragment of The Odyssey to one of its galleries, where it can be seen and appreciated after a long time out of view. The relic is now on display in Gallery 162 in the museum’s section devoted to Greek and Roman Art. In a round-up of Odyssey-related collection treasures on its website, the Met describes the relic as the first early Ptolemaic fragment of the text ever discovered and notes: “Dating from around 285–250 BCE and made in Egypt, this fragment is beautifully inscribed using a combination of charcoal and water via a stylus on papyrus—one of the most popular materials for writing in antiquity—and contains three lines that do not exist in today’s standard text.” In a new video on the Met’s Instagram page, Sean Hemmingway, the curator in charge of the Met’s Department of Greek and Roman Art, attributes those three lines to oral recitations by disparate …

Why Myths Still Matter: The Odyssey, the Ego, and the Self

Why Myths Still Matter: The Odyssey, the Ego, and the Self

Published by Jenni Sidey

In my most recent post on Why Myths Still Matter (here), I was referring to the pivotal point and, for me, most moving scene in Christopher Nolan’s newest film The Odyssey (2026) in which the lost, disoriented, discouraged, delirious, dispirited, defeated, and exhausted hero Odysseus, guided by the goddess Athena (in Jungian terms, representing his own anima or inner feminine wisdom), builds a makeshift raft of the remaining broken timbers of his totally wrecked ship, places it in the ocean water, lies down upon it, and surrenders to the natural tides, winds, and currents to take him to his destination. He is a broken, beaten man but finds the inner courage (or desperation) to relinquish control and trust the mysterious power and wisdom of the sea and the gods (the unconscious) rather than continuing to rely on his heroic masculine ego to forcefully and willfully solve the challenge of getting back home to Ithaca. The great Swiss psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung (1955/1963) once pithily commented that “the experience of the Self is always a defeat …

Matt Damon’s stuntwoman Devyn Dalton shares the exact upper-body workout she used to build “the greatest arms” in Hollywood for The Odyssey

Matt Damon’s stuntwoman Devyn Dalton shares the exact upper-body workout she used to build “the greatest arms” in Hollywood for The Odyssey

Published by Jenni Sidey

Forget The Odyssey’s extensive A-list cast and spellbinding special effects. The breakout star of Christopher Nolan’s epic blockbuster has undoubtedly been Matt Damon’s 4’ 6” tall stunt double Devyn Dalton. The 35-year-old’s impressively muscular physique has made headlines ever since Damon singled her out for having “the greatest arms I’ve ever seen”. Latest Videos FromFit&Well “Apparently my arms have their own career now,” she tells Fit&Well, exclusively sharing the workout she used to prepare for the role. So what does she credit for her success—and leading man-worthy biceps and triceps? You may like “There really isn’t one secret exercise,” she admits. “They’re the result of years of consistent training and doing a lot of different things. I strength train, but I also do calisthenics, boxing, Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu and stunt work, so my upper body is constantly being challenged in different ways.” Start your week with achievable workout ideas, health tips and wellbeing advice in your inbox. Her mix of strength and conditioning, she explains, has allowed her to build muscle while maintaining the athleticism, …

Which Translation of The Odyssey Should You Read? A Guide

Which Translation of The Odyssey Should You Read? A Guide

Published by Jenni Sidey

There is no such thing as reading Homer. There is only reading somebody’s Homer, which means the translation of The Odyssey you pick up matters more than almost any other decision you will make about this book. The Greek has been carried into English for four centuries now, and every translator has struck a different bargain about rhythm, plainness, speed and strangeness. Choose badly for your taste and you will stall somewhere around the cattle of the Sun. Choose well and you will wonder why nobody told you a three-thousand-year-old poem could move like this. The question has stopped being academic. Christopher Nolan’s film has sent readers back to the source in numbers nobody in publishing predicted. In the week of 3 August 2026, Publishers Weekly reported that Emily Wilson’s version reached No. 2 on the overall US bestseller list, while Robert Fagles’s rival edition rose 93 per cent in a single week. Wilson’s has now passed a million copies in the US alone. So which one should you actually buy? Here is the honest …

10 Books to Read Before Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

10 Books to Read Before Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

Published by Jenni Sidey

Film adaptations usually send a trickle of readers back to the source. Nolan’s The Odyssey has sent a flood. The numbers are genuinely unusual: Emily Wilson’s translation has passed a million US copies and reached No. 2 on the overall bestseller list, while Publishers Weekly reported Robert Fagles’s rival translation up 93 per cent and Madeline Miller’s Circe up 128 per cent in the same week. Which raises a practical question for anyone holding a ticket. The poem is long, the mythology is dense, and the film assumes a certain amount of knowledge. Here are ten books to read before Nolan’s The Odyssey, ordered by how much work each one actually does for you. The Two Essentials Before Nolan’s The Odyssey 1. The Odyssey by Homer. Obviously. The only real decision is whose English you read it in, and that decision matters more than most people expect. Wilson’s 2017 version is fast, plain and metrically disciplined, which is why it has become the default. Fagles is more theatrical. Lattimore is the most literal. We have …

Spider-Man Stays Top at China Box Office as The Odyssey Storms Previews

Spider-Man Stays Top at China Box Office as The Odyssey Storms Previews

Published by Daniella Wilson

Spider-Man: Brand New Day held its grip atop China‘s box office for a second weekend, pulling in $28.9 million (RMB 196.6 million) over the Aug. 7-9 frame for a local total of $185.4 million (RMB 1.26 billion) in 12 days.  The Sony tentpole launched in China with a massive $121.3 million five-day haul, of which $19 million came from Imax, a record for the format in the market. The film is now days away from surpassing the $199 million earned by 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, the last U.S. superhero release to clear $100 million in China. But it was Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which doesn’t officially open in Chinese theaters until Friday, that arguably delivered the weekend’s most surprising number. Playing Saturday and Sunday only, and exclusively on Imax and CINITY screens, Universal’s adaptation of the Greek classic took $6.9 million (RMB 46.8 million) in previews — enough for fifth place and roughly 7 percent of the entire weekend’s business from a tiny sliver of the nation’s screens. Earlier four-city previews on Aug. 1-2 …

Zendaya’s Best Red-Carpet Looks From Her ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Press Tour

Zendaya’s Best Red-Carpet Looks From Her ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Press Tour

Published by Sam Flores

After legendary promotional tours for Dune, Challengers, The Drama, and The Odyssey, it was hard to imagine how Zendaya could top herself at her next premiere. The Euphoria star swung from ancient Greece and straight into the Marvel universe for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and that hard work has paid off, as that movie has made a jaw-dropping $1.67 billion globally, as of this writing. Can we credit some of those ticket sales to her spider-themed red carpet looks, expertly assembled by image architect Law Roach? How can we not? The duo’s secret can be summed up in two words: method dressing, that is, the narrative art of tailoring one’s appearances to the project or role at hand. Zendaya and Roach are widely credited with popularizing this approach, leveraging the well-established power of clothing as a tool for communication. When it comes to method dressing, the 29-year-old newlywed—a fashion icon perched on her high heels—makes masterful use of that tool. For the promotional tour for Spider-Man’s latest adventure, Roach juggled archives from major fashion houses, …

The Odyssey becomes Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing film

The Odyssey becomes Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing film

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Sir Christopher Nolan’s latest cinematic endeavour, The Odyssey, has sailed past the one billion US dollar mark at the global box office, cementing its place as the highest-grossing film of his illustrious career. This monumental achievement comes less than a month after its highly anticipated release. The blockbuster, which premiered on 17 July, is a sweeping adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic. It stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, chronicling his arduous 10-year journey home following the Trojan War. Garnering strong critical acclaim, the film has amassed an impressive 1.104 billion dollars (£819 million) worldwide. This figure surpasses Nolan’s previous record-holder, the 2012 Batman instalment The Dark Knight Rises, which earned 1.085 billion dollars (£805.70 million). Its 2008 predecessor, The Dark Knight, had previously grossed 1.005 billion dollars (£745 million). The film stars Matt Damon and …