Amidst all the ballyhoo about the release of Christopher Nolan’s new sword-and-sandals blockbuster, I started to hum to myself that fine song TALES OF BRAVE ULLYSES. My thoughts turned to November 1967 and the release of Cream’s Disraeli Gears on which it appeared. Cream were at the peak of their popularity and owning that album was sure proof that I had my finger on the pulse of the British Blues Boom.
The music was written by Clapton and the lyrics were by Aussie poet and illustrator Martin Sharp. (I’d always presumed they were by Pete Brown who co-wrote with Jack Bruce). Sharp also did the artwork for the album and Wheels of Fire. I’d not heard of him but I understand that he went on to become something of a national treasure in Australia. He was one of the founders of weird and wacky OZ magazine, the bible of the Underground scene and made a great contribution to its visual appeal.
If you read Oz you were definitely “on the bus”. It was dripping with exotic sex, strange drugs and alternative rock n roll. Few newsagents would touch it. I bought my copies at a dodgy greengrocer’s in Wealdstone.
Cream were far from alone in making a reference to the Odyssey. Ever since Chapman translated the poem into English for the first time in 1615, the story has fascinated readers of all ages. There have been over 60 full translations and many references to the story.
The most memorable modern example is James Joyce’s novel ULYSSES, published in 1922 and one of the great works of fiction of its time.
But then there are the pop songs..
Suzanne Vega’s CALYPSO.
Steely Dan’s HOME At LAST from Aja…”Well the danger on the rocks is surely past/ still I remain tied to the mast…”
Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane’s RE-JOYCE which references Molly Bloom’s monologue in Joyce’s novel.
The Coen brothers’ movie OH BROTHER! WHERE ART THOU? in which George Clooney plays Ulysses Everett McGill. The film is set in 1930s America and is loosely based on Homer’s pope. Featuring THE SOGGY BOTTOM BOYS and a whole bunch of special guests.
Uberto Pasolini’s THE RETURN from 2024 with Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as Penelope which is very low-key compared to Nolan’s re-telling.
My first question to you is: How many other songs, books, poems or movies can you think of that refer to Homer’s ODYSSEY?
My next question is: When did you first become aware of Ulysses/Odysseus?
He was certainly on my radar long before the Cream song. I’m sure I must have read about him. Maybe in a posh comic like LOOK AND LEARN. (I don’t remember much Greek mythology in the Beano and Dandy.) Jackanory maybe? Blue Peter?
Here’s a great anecdote about translator Emily Wilson.
When Emily was eight, a perceptive teacher saw through her camouflage and cast her as Athena in a school production of the Odyssey. (The headmaster played the Cyclops, and the children relished poking his eye out.) “It was a turning point in my life,” Wilson writes in the notes to her translation. The experience kindled a love of theatre shared by her mother; it also, she suggests, gave her a model of “human and nonhuman” shape-shifting. “Translators have to be chameleons,” she said, “leaping from a green leaf to a brown one.”
Which brings us neatly on to the three classicists who I mentioned in my headline.
Two weeks ago the only one I knew of was Mary Beard, whose books and TV series are popular here in Sweden.
Over on FACEBOOK, @nigelthebald tipped me off about Radio 4 presenter, stand up comedian and author, Nathalie Haynes. I became a fan in the first minutes and soon discovered that several of my friends in the UK are frequent listeners to her radio show. She is so amusing.
Anglo-American translator and academic, Emily Watson, the first woman to fully translate THE ODYSSEY, has been in the headlines a lot recently. Not often that a humble translator gets that kind of attention. A fascinating woman. I’ve read a lot about her too and will share some articles in the comments.
My final questions to you all.
Have any of you studied Latin or Ancient Greek at any point in your life? I did but all I remember is IN VINO VERITAS and the names of LPS by the NICE, ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS and of course COLISEUM – NOS MORITURI TE SALUTANT.
Have you any favourite translators or modern writers who have written about the Classical World?
I’m open to all suggestions. Detective stories set in the Roman Empire would fit in nicely. As would Rick Riordan’s excellent Percy Jackson books for young adults.
What about movies? Ray Harryhausen’s JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS from 1963 must have a few fans here.
And if we’re doing sword and sandals, we mustn’t forget the Sapphic delight that was XENIA WARRIOR PRINCESS.
Elon Musk and his MAGA mates, who accused Nolan of “pissing on Homer’s grave” must have just loved Xenia. As far from a tradwife as you can get.
The MAGA maggots really want a slice of the Classical cake and do not take kindly to these pesky feminists rocking the boat.
Ithaca here we come, shipmates! This may take a while…..
Here’s an article about artist Martin Shaw and Oz..
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/24/how-martin-sharps-art-for-oz-magazine-embodied-the-summer-of-love
Strewth!
Bodie and Doyle in a haze of dope smoke with scantilly clad ladies and terrible print? Or the judge, hiding in his chambers reading revolutionary comics? The expanded mind boggles.
Ha!
OZ was always a bit racey for me at the time. I tended to go for the International Times, although by comparison it was a bit earnest.
If you don’t know Nathalie Haynes, this interview is an excellent introduction.
Here is her radio show
https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/m001brj5?at_audience_id=SS&at_bbc_team=BBC&at_brand=b077x8pc&at_link_title=Natalie_Haynes_Stands_Up_for_the_Classics_Homer_The_Odyssey&at_mid=HIfCdNyoeB&at_nation=NET&at_objective=consumption&at_product=sounds&at_ptr_type=media
BBC Audio | Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics | Series 8 | Homer: The Odyssey
THE NEW YORKER has some superb writing. This very long, very detailed portrait of Emily Wilson from 2023 BY Judith Thurman is well-worth your time. Her dad was the biographer, A.N. Wilson.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/09/18/emily-wilson-profileqt
And let’s not forget THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS.
Here is their podcast. Emily and Thomas Jones discussing NOLAN and HOMER. An excellent listen. They know their Nolan!
I’ve just bought the Emily Wilson translation, which is at the top of my inbound pile. If I remember correctly, my introduction to the yarn itself was while still at Junior Mixed school, likely by dint of some Home Service educational broadcast that we all tuned into once a week.
You asked about classics study – yes, I did Latin at school; hated it at the time (thank God for young Thornton, whose prep I cribbed) but have been eternally grateful that it was forced upon me for all those years, as despite my still poor declension of verbs, the vocab retained has been an absolute etymological Godsend ever since.
Here’s a snapshot of third form homework:
Thanks @VulpesVulpes. That is absolutely brilliant.
Completely agree with you. Rather boring at the time. But a linguistic godsend ever since.
You can tell how poor my grammatical memory is in that I said ‘declension’ of verbs rather than conjugation. I may have to do detention again this week. Chiz.
Or you could have said “declension of nouns”.
That would’ve been right, too!
You are young Thornton, and I apologise for cribbing your prep.
Declension of Nouns – TMFTL
Saw Ray Harryhausen a couple of times in conversation his stop frames may look a tad creaky but they have a solidity that CGI doesn’t.
I did Latin in the first year but that was it, though I did find myself singing the school song Dulce Domum in my head while heading into town today.
Anyway to help your understanding of the classical world here’s Les Barker’s Jason and the Arguments.
https://sheridanwilde.com/lyrics/jasonandthearguments.php
Here Odysseus when I had lunch with him on Ithaka.
http://flic.kr/p/2srQA6n
Les Baxter was a new name for me. Thanks @hubert rawlinson. A great discovery.
Gone now but clearly an artist to see live in his heyday ..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Barker
I saw him a few times with Mrs Ackroyd (the dog not the band). I recall Les using the shower as Mrs Ackroyd waited patiently for him to finish.
Here’s his odit.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/26/les-barker-obituary
Odit short for oddity and not a mistype………honest.
KFD first it’s Martin Shaw and now Les Baxter – not good enough. Room 9.
More News from Nowhere by Nick Cave is a condensed version of the odyssey through the lens of Nick and his paramours.
Thanks for mentioning that @Foxnose. New to me. A remarkable song with a wonderfully atmospheric video.
I did Latin for three years at school (in the 80s). One of my classmates is now of the very few Latin (school) teachers left in NI.
But enough of all that – here’s Focus with ‘Eruption’ based on the tale of Orpheus and Euridice.
Having coincidentally seen the film and heard the song in short order, I reckon PG had been after the poem when he/they wrote Firth of Fifth;
“And so with gods and men, the sheep remain inside their pen
Though many times they’ve seen the way to leave”
“Undinal songs urge the sailors on
‘Til lured by the sirens’ cry”
“Now as the river dissolves in sea
So Neptune has claimed another soul”
Father Tiresias crops up later on the album too.
Undines were water nymphs (based on the Greek nereids) though not sea nymphs but river nymphs and originated from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus.
“Undinal” – “Not a din”. 🙂
At least it’s not a urinal by R Mutt.
Arf!
Ancient Greek and Latin O-Levels. Did not do Homer but did do Virgil’s Aenead. Cannot relember which bit. Instead did Xenophons the Anabasis for Greek. Before Nolan and Wilson Donna Tartts The Secret History does a good job of making the study of the classics cool.
The Secret History! A wonderful novel.
It’s years since I read it but I just googled and see that it’s full of classical references. Thanks @moseleymoles.
https://pshares.org/blog/the-secret-historys-fates-allusions-and-tragedies/
A truly wonderful novel, must reread it (my third time) – and such a gob-smacking debut that she’s struggled to follow it up. The Goldfinch had some great ideas was at least 300 pages too long, and I can’t remember much about The Little Friend except being disappointed.
Also Latin and Ancient Greek o-levels. Got a B in Latin and an H in Greek, which is shorthand for complete abject failure. I still feel I was robbed – we were a small group of 6 or so, all at roughly the same level, and everybody else got an A.
I asked the teacher to challenge, but he refused, the bastard. I still know what a hoplite is though.
For the two years of A-levels, along with my mate Chris Jordan, I also ‘did’ Ancient Greek at o-level, at least as far as the published timetable was concerned. The classics master (thanks, Mr. Porter) kindly allowed Chris and I to fill our free periods with Ancient Greek lessons, at which we occupied seats at the back of the room and quietly got on with our A-level Biology homework. At the same time, ear-wigging the Greek lessons was fascinating and enjoyable, especially without the pressure of future exams.
Those strange things that lurk in an unopened corner of the brain but somehow and want to make themselves known.
I recall a programme based on the title of Orpheus in the Underworld, unfortunately all I could dredge up was it was something to do with Freddie and the Dreamers. It appears it was a section in the show Little Big Time and was called Oliver in the Overworld and went on to be a series ‘Alas’ there is very little left to see.
https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1960s/little-big-time/
Don’t have nightmares.
Oh and it’s where the ‘song’ Gimme Dat Ding was first heard.
Anyway from the ridiculous to a study in comparative mythology.
Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces.
https://www.jcf.org/learn/joseph-campbell-heros-journey
Nice one @hubertrawlinson. You are on a roll.
Lots to get our teeth into there.
@Kaisfatdad Here’s the Hero’s Journey developed from Campbell should you wish to follow in the footsteps.
https://www.storyflint.com/blog/heros-journey-christopher-vogler
Interesting stuff, hubert. It made me think of Jung, and sure enough he was an influence…
Earlier figures had proposed similar concepts, including psychoanalyst Otto Rank and amateur anthropologist Lord Raglan.[1] Eventually, hero myth pattern studies were popularized by Joseph Campbell, who was influenced by Carl Jung’s analytical psychology. Campbell used the monomyth to analyze and compare religions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey#:~:text=In%20narratology%20and%20comparative%20mythology%2C,comes%20home%20changed%20or%20transformed.
I can’t believe we’ve come so far without without anyone mentioning Anais Mitchell’s very successful musical, HADESTOWN.
It’s been a remarkable project which began many years ago.
https://boston.broadway.com/buzz/anais-mitchell-on-the-making-of-hadestown-and-how-an-old-tale-became-a-modern-classic/
And if we’re talking about Orpheus, let’s remember the Oscar-winning film from 1959, filmed in the favelas of Rio, that put bossa nova on the world map…..
And then going back to 1950, there’s Jean Cocteau’s extraordinary, ORPHÉE, inspired by the same story and filmed on a very low budget in post-war Paris
This is a fascinating curio – an epic, orchestrated version of the Orpheus myth from a song/narrative that can be traced from Greece to Viking-era Scandinavia to Shetland… from whence (on Unst) the last fragments of it were collected from a man named John Stickle in 1947. In this version of the tale, the queen is captured by the King of Elfland from where she needs rescuing, rather than from the Underworld of Greek myth.
Archie Fisher fleshed out the fragments into the classic recorded for Decca in 1970.
That is fascinating, @ColinH. I wasn’t expecting a Scottish folk version of the Orpheus myth. Or a FOCUS song based on that story.
Some wonderful discoveries on this thread.
Archie’s album is on Spotify and I look forward to listening to it.
I recommend The Rest Is History podcast on The Odyssey – two entertaining episodes telling you all you need to know
A few more interesting titbits. The Odyssey from a Greek perspective…
“The Odyssey” is not a myth. It is a founding document. It is the moment human beings first discovered that they had an inside – and it is the blueprint from which an entire civilization, and everything that civilization would eventually give the world, was built.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/opinion/1309672/the-odyssey-is-not-a-myth-it-is-the-blueprint-of-a-civilization/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTIsFJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeU4UaXR2hmUskyrs_YiKZnpEll5ERLli_KJL320DoRWICRXF9WbIBTZzn1RQ_aem_2wONqTU8W91SLH9lBjaEIg
Here’s an introduction to some of the different translations of the Odyssey.
It’s very well done. The goal is to find a version which you feel you will enjoy.
There are many to choose from! Columbia University made this list.
There are over 60 complete English translations of Homer’s The Odyssey, starting with George Chapman’s 1615 edition, with prominent modern versions by Emily Wilson, Robert Fitzgerald, and Richmond Lattimore.
Notable Historical and Public Domain Translations
• George Chapman (1614–1615): The very first complete English verse translation, written in rhyming couplets.
• Alexander Pope (1725–1726): A grand, neoclassical 18th-century poetic adaptation.
• William Cowper (1791): An early attempt using blank verse for greater fidelity to the original Greek.
• Samuel Butler (1900): A famous prose translation known for Butler’s eccentric theory that a woman wrote the epic.
Prominent Modern Translations
• Robert Fitzgerald (1961): A powerful, driving poetic version that defined mid-20th-century classic reading.
• Richmond Lattimore (1965): Highly regarded for its strict, line-by-line accuracy and scholarly precision.
• Robert Fagles (1996): A theatrical, highly readable verse translation designed for modern audiences.
• Stanley Lombardo (2000): A fast-paced, energetic translation shaped closely around the oral tradition of epic poetry.
• Emily Wilson (2018): The first published complete English translation by a woman, written in sharp iambic pentameter that matches the Greek line count
I’ve also heard good things about Daniel Mendelsohn
He went on an Odyssey cruise with his cantankerous old dad and wrote a wonderful memoir about it.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/13/an-odyssey-a-father-a-son-and-an-epic-by-daniel-mendelsohn-review
https://www.the-tls.com/classics/greek/the-odyssey-homer-book-review-a-e-stallings
Does anyone know how well Stephen Fry’s 2024 ‘Odyssey’ re-telling (rather than translation) stands up amongst this jostling crowd of learned presentations?
I checked.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/04/odyssey-by-stephen-fry-review-a-jaunty-version-of-homer
Fry has done a re-telling rather than a translation. And that is not a complaint. Readers are not always ready for the original.
Rick Riordan is good at that sort of thing.
And back in the early 20th century, Scottish writer and folklorist, Jeanie Lang retold the Odyssey for younger readers.
FROM THE Digilibrary
Jeanie Lang was a writer known for her contributions to children’s literature and educational stories. She adapted classic works for younger audiences, including her popular retelling of “The Story of Joan of Arc” and “The Story of Robert Bruce.” Her adaptations simplified complex historical narratives, making them accessible to children while maintaining the essence of the original tales. Lang’s works were part of a broader effort during the early 20th century to introduce young readers to important figures and events from history.
https://www.heritage-history.com/index.php?c=read&author=langjean&book=odyssey&shem=isphc,
The rather decent illustrations were the early work of Heath Robinson.
https://artvee.com/dl/stories-from-the-odyssey-cover/
Probably first introduction to the world myths was in Marvel comics starting with Thor. I’m sure there were some comics that presented the Greek myths and stories too.
Having a search I came across this from the Victor comic (I never read it as they always seemed to be about re-fighting WW2 or football).
I’m sure they will have been an introduction to some.
https://downthetubes.net/move-over-christopher-nolan-jordi-bernets-ulysses-has-our-attention/
Holy Zeus!
I have PDFs of The Victor, including the run from 261 to 276 – those containing the ‘Ulysses The Wanderer’ yarn.
I’d forgotten all about them; I was likely too busy reading the brilliant ‘No Return From Zorun’ in The Hornet at that time (an utter sci-fi classic that would be perfect for the Nolan treatment). If anyone wants a copy of the Victor ‘Ulysses’ run, PM me.
Ulysses the Wanderer!
No Return from Zorun!
We really hit gold this morning!!
Back to the comic book reading of our youth.
Our family had a subscription to LOOK AND LEARN.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_and_Learn
An educational magazine, not a comic book! It was based on a similar publication from Italy. It certainly had a lot of visual appeal and could compete in this respect with EAGLE, home of DAN DARE.
Reading about it yesterday, I was reminded sci-fi series which was one of the highlights every week: THE TRIGAN EMPIRE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trigan_Empire?shem=isphc,
The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, later shortened to The Trigan Empire, was a science fiction adventure comic series written mainly by Mike Butterworth with artwork (initially watercolours, later gouache) by Don Lawrence, among others. The series, which ran in British magazines from 1965 to 1982, told the story of an alien culture in which futuristic technology, such as antigravity vehicles and energy weapons, blended with architecture, dress, and customs based on those of ancient civilizations, the most obvious being those of ancient Greece and Rome. The stories revolved around a heroic leader who defended his empire from constant threats from both outside and within. A new original graphic novel revival was announced in 2025 and scheduled to debut in 2026.
A real walk down memory lane.
It was probably my entry drug into the world of Marvel Comics.
I vividly remember being out for a walk at Ruislip Lido and discovering an early copy of X MEN in a hedgerow.
So utterly bizarre and exciting. Farewell Trigans. Hello Magneto!
I gave a way a huge box full of a few year’s worth of Look and Learn magazines a year or two back – fantastic things that I could not bear to just see head for the skip.
I did a year of Latin and found it incomprehensible. I can only remember the odd word and Nominative Vocative Accusative Genetive Dative Ablative. I only remember this because the progressive teaching methods of the time required me to write it out 500 times after school once. I still have no idea what it means.
I studied Latin at school for about 8 years until I was 16, I think – getting a B at O-level. I don’t remember much, apart from the rhythm of the rote learning – with the 6 cases for the nouns as you have there, ‘explained’ with the last three being Genitive: of, Dative: to or for, Ablative: with, by or from.
Also, amo amas amat amamus amatis amant, amabo amabis amabimus amabitis amabunt – all the ways we love in the present and future tenses.
Caesar adsum jam forte – it gets all Molesworth, really.
If you want your kids to study Latin (and why wouldn’t you), send them to a German Gymnasium – it’s one of the standard second languages the kids have to choose (after English). Fortunately my daughter made the sensible choice of French, which is of course just a variety of modern Latin.
Keats wrote a poem called On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer. The last few lines go:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
I’ve always wondered whether Peter Gabriel read this before writing Watcher of the Skies. And these lines are used a lot by PG Wodehouse, mostly in the Jeeves and Wooster books, mangled or misremembered by Bertie.
That is a fascinating comment @SteveWalsh.
I didn’t know about the Keats quote. Difficult to believe Gabriel didn’t know the poem.
I also didn’t know about Bertie’s mangling of famous quotes. Sounds hilarious. I must read some more Wodehouse!
Everyone should read more Wodehouse. I have more than 90 of his books and have recently started re-reading them in roughly chronological order. PGW never fails to make me smile
When I was a kid I loved the Celtic, Norse, Greek and Roman myths in the kids versions that were around then by writers like Rosemary Sutcliff and Roger Lancelyn Green. And Ulysses was my favourite character – I loved that he was smarter than anyone else (the Greeks thought this was a good thing; the Romans had him down as a devious bastard). So I’m looking forward to the film even if classicists like Emily Wilson are not keen on it.
Bob Dylan is a fan too – The Odyssey is one of the three books he cites as an influence in his Nobel Prize speech:
‘The Odyssey is a great book whose themes have worked its way into the ballads of a lot of songwriters: “Homeward Bound, “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “Home on the Range,” and my songs as well.’ Not sure about that Bob – it seems they all have in common the idea of heading home, but that’s about it. Still he writes entertainingly about Odysseus: ‘He’s trying to get back home, but he’s tossed and turned by the winds. Restless winds, chilly winds, unfriendly winds. He travels far, and then he gets blown back… He’s always being warned of things to come. Touching things he’s told not to. There’s two roads to take, and they’re both bad. Both hazardous…it’s been a hard road to travel.’
Bob says ‘In a lot of ways, some of these same things have happened to you.’ And that’s what is amazing about Homer’s two poems. They are thousands of years old and yet they are still read and still part of our culture because they tell great stories and show the human character and experience as fundamentally unchanged (the occasional Cyclops, Siren or magic spell notwithstanding).
Love your quote about that man from Ithaca, @BLUEBOY!
And Ulysses was my favourite character – I loved that he was smarter than anyone else (the Greeks thought this was a good thing; the Romans had him down as a devious bastard)
Wilson may have her doubts about some aspects of the new film, but she also realises what a good thing it is for interest in the classics.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/27/odyssey-translator-emily-wilson-attacks-nolan-blockbuster?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Nevertheless, Wilson acknowledged the impact the film is already having on cultural awareness of ancient Greek literature as well as cinema itself. Saying “the release of The Odyssey is still an event to celebrate,” she suggests: “This epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas … translations of Odyssey, including mine, are flying off the shelves … [and] perhaps the film will persuade a few college administrators not to cut their literature, language and history departments.”
“Nolan,” Wilson says, “is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful.”
Thanks too for quoting Dylan’s excellent comments on the Odyssey. And, as you write, it’s one of the greatest works of global literature and will doubtless continue to delight for as long as we humans read.
I just stumbled across this excellent quote from Wikipedia about the enormous impact of the rediscovery of the classical world during the Renaissance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_mythology_in_culture
With the rediscovery of classical antiquity in the Renaissance, the poetry of Ovid became a major influence on the imagination of poets and artists, and remained a fundamental influence on the diffusion and perception of classical mythology through subsequent centuries.[2] From the early years of the Renaissance, artists portrayed subjects from Greek and Roman mythology alongside more conventional Christian themes. Among the best-known subjects of Italian artists are Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Pallas and the Centaur, the Ledas of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and Raphael’s Galatea.[2] Through the medium of Latin and the works of Ovid, Greek myth influenced medieval and Renaissance poets such as Petrarch, Boccaccio and Dante in Italy.[1]
Peter Gabriel had definitely read Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Fountain of Salmacis is, in parts, lifted pretty closely from it if I remember rightly
Probably did it at prep school.
I now rather wish my comp (being a former grammar) had kept up Classics O level for us oiks, but they emphasised modern languages instead. My loss.
Anyway, mention of Homer in music reminds me of the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis and his very “pagan” evocations of classical culture. “Ais” uses verse from the Odyssey.
Thanks @Pessoa. Giannis is a real discovery.
What an extraordinary piece of music and what a remarkable man! Composer, architect and student revolutionary who was forced to live in France for many as he faced a death sentence at home in Greece,
Wiki’s page on him is fascinating.
Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; Greek: Γιάννης “Ιάννης” Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, pronounced [ˈʝanis kseˈnacis]; 29 May 1922[a] – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde[2] composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and engineer.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iannis_Xenakis
Despite Xenakis’s reputation as a “mathematical” composer, his works are known for their power and physicality. Alex Ross wrote that Xenakis “produced some of the rawest, wildest music in history—sounds that explode around the ears. Rarefied methods were employed to release primordial energies.”[44] Ben Watson expressed admiration for the “terrifying emotional impact of [Xenakis’] sonic objectivity”, describing his music as possessing “truly majestic otherness. It is an alien shard, glimmering in the heart of the West.”[45]
Talk about topical! This hilarious parody just appeared on my YTUBE FEED.
Walter Hill’s 1979 thriller, THE WARRIORS, was based on Xenophon’s ANABASIS. (Not a work I am familiar with!) I saw it in 1979 in a drive in California. Memorable to put it mildly.
As you can see, the parody is very well done.
I am familiar with Xenophon’s Anabasis – it was our set book for my epic O-Level failure. There was a lot of this sort of stuff:
“After he had driven past the whole body, he drew up his chariot in front of the centre of the battle-line, and sent his interpreter Pigres to the generals of the Hellenes, with orders to present arms and to advance along the whole line. This order was repeated by the generals to their men; and at the sound of the bugle, with shields forward and spears in rest, they advanced to meet the enemy. The pace quickened, and with a shout the soldiers spontaneously fell into a run, making in the direction of the camp. Great was the panic of the barbarians. The Cilician queen in her carriage turned and fled; the sutlers in the marketing place left their wares and took to their heels; and the Hellenes meanwhile came into camp with a roar of laughter. What astounded the queen was the brilliancy and order of the armament; but Cyrus was pleased to see the terror inspired by the Hellenes in the hearts of the Asiatics.”
On reflection, I was right to get an H. My classmates were swots, and I diskard them utterly.
Thanks @mikethep.
It’s an eye-opener to see quite how uninspiring some of these classic really were.
There must have been a lot of very bored schoolkids.
I have to say that Walter Hill’s version is a lot more enjoyable than the original!
Statues coming to life, I’m sure I saw this when the BBC put old films on on a sunday afternoon.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026776/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl
Nightlife of the Gods by Thorne Smith.
Sorry to be be a bit late in replying but Nightlife of the Gods sounds like a hoot @hubert.rawlinson.
The entire film can be watched on YouTube.
As Mark Kermode commented recently, ever since people started making movies, they started to make films of the Odyssey.
Here are a few splendid Old School Sword and Sandals flicks…
And talking about films based on myths, legends and fables, this GUARDIAN list is a cracker.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/09/from-greek-epics-to-biblical-blockbusters-the-20-best-mythological-movies-ranked
Their Number One is right on the money.
I love latin, but didn’t like learning it much. Or wasn’t that good at it: Gd 6 at O level, the lowest pass grade. However, eternally grateful for the leg up it gave me into language acquisition, and the widening and understanding of vocabulary. mind you, my mother duped me into choosing it, saying it was essential to then do medicine at uni. (It used to be,) I never quite got the same bug for greek, as a whole different alphabet seemed a tad OTT.
I have a Latin GCSE. We were forced to do it for the first 2 years of school, then it was up to you if you took it. 5 of us took it for GCSE; one chap I knew took it on to A-Level and did Greek as well.
It was very enjoyable; for reasons unknown to me now I dropped Geography and History at GCSE (the former never bothered me much, but I would love to have done History now) and a good chunk of the exam was coursework based on life in Rome (we did Gladiatorial combat, Chariot racing, the baths and Roman food, I think – Garum with everything). Also did a chunk of poetry – Juvenal’s “Dangers of Rome at Night” being more memorable than Catullus wanting to kiss his missus hundreds of times over.
Anyway, not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet, but for anyone about my age (late 40s) this might be the first thing you think of when you hear the word “Ulysses…”
Thanks for introducing us to ULYSSE 31 @Milkybarnick.
A French–Japanese–Luxembourgian animated series based on the Greek mythology of Odysseus set in the 31st century with 26 episodes!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_31
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131190/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_2_in_0_q_Ullyses%2031
It is mentioned in this article..
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/27/the-odyssey-andrei-konchalovsky-hallmark-channel-1997-bernadette-peters-vanessa-williams
Excellent article about all the controversy surrounding Nolan’s ODYSSEY. I particularly enjoyed this comment about Elon and his cronies getting so very hot and bothered about it.
“Prof Daniel Mendelsohn, whose translation of Homer’s poem was published last year, said at the UK’s Hay Festival in May that he was amused by “all of these bros suddenly worrying about Greek literature”. According to a report in The Telegraph, Mendelsohn said: “What’s so funny is that Helen has the tiniest role in The Odyssey… so the debate is particularly silly.” But he proposed that Nyong’o’s casting was “consonant with the concern of the Troy myth, which is how to think about beauty… I think [Nolan’s] choice of this very beautiful actress who happens to be African lands you squarely in the middle of a very old discussion.”
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260626-why-the-odyssey-has-caused-so-much-controversy
And this was also good….
Another fuss arose from a trailer in which the actors – even the British ones – were heard to use American accents and modern colloquialisms. Exhibit A was Tom Holland saying, “My dad is coming home,” in his Spider-Man voice, instead of intoning “father” in a manner befitting the Royal Shakespeare Company.
“It sounds like they’re trying to have an epic conversation on the sidewalk outside the Starbucks,” cracked one commenter. “It felt so out of place,” said another. “I’m hoping the dialogue isn’t too contemporary and pulls the viewer out of the period.”
Christopher Nolan makes films in which the left can find endorsement as easily as the right, and frequently at the same time – Tom Shone
This doesn’t quite make sense. Considering that the “place” is Greece and the “period” is thousands of years ago, the dialogue still wouldn’t be true to Homer even it was slightly more pompous and old-fashioned. The fact is that the Ancient Greeks, whether real or mythological, didn’t talk like 21st-Century American actors or 20th-Century British ones. But it’s a time-honoured Hollywood convention that sword-wielding Greeks and Romans, much like wizards, Norse gods – and even some Nazi officers – should sound grandiose and English.
“British accents in historical epics can feel right because of a long cinematic tradition,” says Deacy, “not because they’re any closer to ancient Greek speech.” For that matter, she adds, formal dialogue isn’t any closer to Homer than informal dialogue is. “More colloquial dialogue could even be closer to the spirit of Homeric storytelling than the elevated language that can be associated with antiquity – especially as the Odyssey was oral performance and popular entertainment, not just canonical text.”
If you haven’t listened to classicist Nathalie Haynes talking about Homer’s Odyssey on BBC Sounds STAND UP FOR THE CLASSICS, then you are in for a treat.
https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/m001brj5?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile
In the meantime, here she is with an overview of London’s very Greek summer which features many well-known female characters from Ancient Greece..
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/16/odysseus-odyssey-cate-blanchett-electra-persona-women-ancient-greece
ELECTRA/PERSONA at the National Theatre, which juxtaposes Sophocles and Bergman sounds remarkable.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/jul/30/sophocles-bergman-cate-blanchett-nina-hoss-electra-persona