AWA403 - Why does the Odyssey 2026 trailer feel wrong?
Ancient Warfare Podcast
The History Network
4.3 • 645 Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
Join us on Patreon
patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of ancient warfare answers with me, Murray, your weekly fix of 10 minutes or thereabouts of ancient warfare related ranting and raving as I attempt to answer a question from a viewer, listener or reader. |
| 0:19.5 | That's what I do. I answer questions. You send them in. You can send |
| 0:22.0 | them in to me by postcard via email. You can comment on a previous podcast video or stream. |
| 0:29.5 | You can, of course, back on Patreon, one of three different levels, Legion, Legionary, Optio, and |
| 0:35.4 | Centurion. Now, John, from john now john so no offense john |
| 0:40.5 | john's fine but username serbogo 2002 i much prefer sirbogo but anyway john has asked this |
| 0:48.1 | question uh i watched the trailer for the twenty twenty six movie the odyssey starring matt damon |
| 0:52.9 | as odysseus which will be on general release |
| 0:55.4 | in July 26. Mark your diaries now. As you know, the Trojan War is believed to have taken place |
| 1:01.8 | in the 12th or 13th century BC. The helmets and armor of the Greeks Achaeans were as depicted |
| 1:08.8 | on the front cover illustration of AW15 issue three, where warriors of the time |
| 1:14.1 | period were wearing horned helmets or Bortas garments. I have the book, the ancient Greece of Odysseus |
| 1:19.6 | by Peter Connolly, which also depicts the Achaean heroes wearing similar helmets. But strangely, |
| 1:24.6 | all of the movies on the Trojan War and its aftermath show the Greek |
| 1:28.9 | Achaean warriors wearing helmets and armour from a much later period, in fact many hundreds |
| 1:34.1 | of years after the Trojan War. Furthermore, the vast majority of illustrations and books on the |
| 1:39.6 | Iliad and the Odyssey also reflect this obsession with a much later period of Greek history as far as the military costumes are concerned. |
| 1:46.7 | The helmets shown are generally Corinthian helmets. |
| 1:49.1 | In the Odyssey trailer, a Corinthian helmet is shown in one scene, but Matt Damon and his warriors appear to be wearing the open-faced Chalcidian helmet. |
| 1:57.8 | The Corinthian helmet was developed around 600 BC while the Chalkenian helmet is believed |
| 2:02.2 | to have developed or been popular in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. How did this anomalous situation |
| 2:07.8 | with military costumes of significantly different time periods in Greek history happen? Wow. Okay. It's |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The History Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The History Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.