AWA403 - Why does the Odyssey 2026 trailer feel wrong?
From Ancient Warfare Podcast by The History Network
April 3, 2026 · 14 min · Episode 403
About this episode
John discusses the inaccuracies in the trailer for the 2026 film 'The Odyssey' and the historical context of the depicted armor.
John has been watching the trailer for the 2026 film 'The Odyssey', starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, and something does not sit right. The Trojan War is usually dated to the thirteenth or twelfth century BC, a period associated with Mycenaean or Achaean warfare and distinctive equipment, such as boar-tusk and horned helmets. This is the world shown in archaeological reconstructions and classic works such as Peter Connolly's The Ancient Greece of Odysseus. Yet in film and illustration, the warriors of Homer's epics are almost always dressed in the armour of much later centuries. Corinthian and Chalcidian helmets recur frequently, even though these types do not appear until hundreds of years after the traditional date of the Trojan War. The Odyssey trailer continues this trend, showing both Corinthian and open-faced Chalcidian helmets among Odysseus' men. So how did this confusion of periods become so entrenched in modern depictions of Homeric warfare? Why do artists and filmmakers consistently reach for the armour of Classical Greece rather than the material culture of the Late Bronze Age? Murray unpacks how this visual tradition developed and why it has proved so hard to shift…
People in this episode
Host: John
Topics covered
- film analysis
- Homeric warfare
- archaeological accuracy
- visual tradition
- ancient history
Keywords
- Odyssey
- Matt Damon
- Trojan War
- Homer
- ancient armor
- archaeology
- Mycenaean warfare
- film trailer
- historical accuracy
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Patreon
Books & works: The Odyssey, The Ancient Greece of Odysseus
More episodes of Ancient Warfare Podcast
- AWA406 - What army did Alexander Molossus have in his Italian campaigns? · April 24, 2026 · 14 min
- AWA405 - We got a fan letter! · April 17, 2026 · 10 min
- AW404 - The Marian Reforms · April 10, 2026 · 45 min
- AWA402 - Arausio 105 BC: military defeat or political disaster? · March 27, 2026 · 23 min
- AWA401 - Why Did Helmets Have Crests? · March 20, 2026 · 12 min
- AW400 - Warriors in Bronze · March 13, 2026 · 41 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Ancient Warfare Podcast podcast page.