I first read the Odyssey at university. I was surprised by how much I loved it considering how old and how blokey it was (blood, war, boys being boys) – not to mention the fact it is 12,109 lines of epic poetry.

It’s a story about coming home (too soon?), following Odysseus and his men as they try to get back to the island of Ithaca after the Trojan War. Credited to Homer, the tale features men, monsters and gods. At around 3,000 years old, it remains a ripping yarn that many have tried their hand at adapting or expanding.

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood stays true to the epic poetry form while giving voice and agency to Odysseus’s long-suffering wife Penelope and her chorus of maidens as they wait on Ithaca for him to return.

Circe by Madeleine Miller is another brilliant book in the same ilk that expands the tale of the goddess who becomes Odysseus’s lover and guide home. More recently, Ralph Fiennes skilfully turned his hand to playing a fittingly sinewy Odysseus (he’s a ripped warrior but he is nearly 50 and has been away from proper food for a while) in The Return, which focuses on the climactic conclusion to Homer’s epic tale.

Director Christopher Nolan has now taken on the epic and is receiving rave reviews. I will be seeing it this weekend for sure and am ready to be blown away by what critics are calling a masterpiece that harks back to the epics of old Hollywood.

While you can expect myth and magic with a story that sees gods changing the winds, cyclops attacks and men becoming pigs, the land and sea across which Odysseus sails is real. In this piece, Pragya Agarawal, explores how ancient........

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