First, a brief review. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is magnificent. I’ve a few gripes, which drop it from an A to a mere A, but none are to do with the woefully dumb braying about race and gender in the film. My concerns centre on language.

Nolan seemingly chose to have Telemachus, son of Odysseus and Penelope, refer to his parents as ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ to make the source material more accessible. If audiences can deal with Bronze Age myth, I’m sure they can survive without teeth-grinding anachronistic Americanisms like ‘mom’.

Then there’s the decision to cut the famed ‘nobody’ joke from the scene where Odysseus blinds the Cyclops. It’s one of the best known passages from the epic poem. Cutting it feels like ditching Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene.

Nevertheless, my quibbles aside, the film is superlative. What really seals its greatness is Nolan’s decision to reference some of the most complex and intriguing events in ancient history to titillate his audience’s palate.

Both the Sea People and the Bronze Age Collapse are mentioned in passing in the film. The historical Troy - a city that was probably called Wilusa by its inhabitants and was part of the Hittite empire - fell, it’s believed, around 1184BC.

The Bronze Age collapse happened around the same time, as the great civilisations of the eastern Mediterranean fell apart. Mycenaean Greece, Minoan Crete and the Hittites all fell. Egypt just about survived.

There are numerous theories why it all went to hell. The most likely answer is that an assortment of causes vectored together and triggered runaway disintegration. 

Droughts and volcanic eruptions affected climate and food production. Weaponry had become so advanced that mass killing was more easy than ever. Trade routes made imperial economies interdependent so if one fell they were all in trouble.

Then there was migration. That’s where the Sea People come in. Nobody really knows who these mysterious folk were, but they took part in a........

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