Post

Literally the first shot of this "historically accurate" Odyssey movie shows a boat that A) Has no steering oar. B) Is under full sail *and* full rowers while entering a cave, presumably to dock inside.

violet allen@blipstress.bsky.social

It's funny how the Defenders of Western Civilization really want Odysseus to be this heroic patriarchal figure when he is canonically kind of a dirtbag.

It then shows a field being ploughed by what looks like a modern English Longhorn bull, when we know from ancient depictions that bronze aged Greek cattle looked *nothing* like that. And I've got no idea what kind of yoke that is, but it's not the kind that pulls a plough.

They get full credit for making (I assume) Menelaus red-headed. That's in the text, even if this guy looks German instead of Greek. But then they give him a medieval Celtic Brooch to hold his cloak together, instead of a bronze age Fibula.

It also has his ox suddenly joined by a horse *also* pulling the plough, apparently by magic, because neither of them is wearing a yoke.

The only owl that looks similar to this in Greece is the European Barn Owl. That owl has a white body, and is (like most owls) Nocturnal. If they wanted an owl to represent Athena, they could have gone with the ONE NAMED AFTER ATHENA, THE LITTLE OWL.

Penelope is watching from behind a wooden lattice, that - no surprise here - makes no sense. Has random pieces misalligned. As soon as she steps out from behind it, her skin tone changes, the fire that was lighting her from in front is now behind her, and the lattice has iron rivets or similar.

That's the last "wait what the fuck, ai?" one I'm going to mention, because that way lieth madness. I'm just going to focus on things that stand out to me as glaringly historically inaccurate, as someone with training in history but *none* in the Bronze Age Mediterranean.

But I think it's worth mentioning that Penelope is played by at least four different women, and that's fine, because the people making it could not possibly care about her as a character, just 'hot wife he's gotta get back to.'

These are not Bronze Age Greek Ships. The curving thing, that they want to put at the front and back of the ship? That should only be at the back. What these are, instead, are bronze age Nordic longboats.

You're just going to have to take my word for it, but when in motion none of these men are doing anything that makes any goddamn sense if what they're doing is "preparing to leave." At least they're not in fucking armor this time, Elon. But they *are* in tunics, not era appropriate chitons.

I SPOKE TO GODDAMN SOON, APPARENTLY SOME OF THEM ARE WEARING THEIR ARMOR ON THE BOAT TRIP, AND ALSO, WHAT IN THE REN FAIRE FUCK IS THIS ARMOR SUPPOSED TO BE?

Okay, having been pissed off more by that, I've gone back. There's a long passage that says how many ships each king brings. Odysseus has twelve ships. There are fifteen being loaded with troops and men, here. And so folks know - he likely had Pentaconters, fifty-oared ships like this:

Fair point! Correcting myself, the Penteconter is an archaic greek ship, not a Bronze Age Greek, so this is still anachronistic - we'd be looking at something more like this Minoan ship. Got stuck on the penteconter because Homer says each of Odysseus' ships had ~50 men, as opposed to the ~20 here.

state song thread guy@statesongxprt.bsky.social

do we know if that ship design goes back to the bronze age? ...both of us are putting so much more thought into this than Elon or any of his goons

I *think* this is supposed to be scale armor (technically possible), and it's wild that a guy wants to wear scale WHILE GETTING READY TO SAIL, but also DOES NOT WANT HIS SCALE ARMOR TO COVER HIS GUTS OR PENIS. THOSE ARE LIKE MY NUMBER ONE AND TWO PLACES ON THE "DON'T GET STABBED" LIST.