Over the weekend, a first-look photo for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of epic poem The Odyssey revealed Matt Damon in Odysseus mode, complete with a helmet and cloak that’s right in line with our expectations for sword-and-sandal productions. Because it was released on the Internet, though, it was immediately criticized by both amateur and professional historians for a lack of historical accuracy.
The chief point of contention revolves around the helmet, because in The Iliad (the prequel to The Odyssey) original author Homer describes the “cleverly made” leather helmet Odysseus is given for a raid as follows: “On the inside there was a strong lining on interwoven straps, onto which a felt cap had been sewn in. The outside was cleverly adorned all around with rows of white tusks from a shiny-toothed boar, the tusks running in alternate directions in each row.”
It’s a model known as the boar’s tusk helmet; social media user @sanstitre2000 drew their own rendering of what it might look like on a more accurate version of the Matt Damon shot.
First look at Matt Damon as Odysseus in Robert Egger’s ‘THE ODYSSEY’ pic.twitter.com/CNkTe3ZNyF
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— sanstitre (commissions closed) (@sanstitre2000) February 18, 2025
There’s nothing preventing Nolan from suggesting that maybe Odysseus had more than one helmet, and researching when exactly a helmet like Damon’s might have been worn doesn’t lead to any easy answers about the ancient times being depicted here. As @GreekMythComix points out, the armor style is largely inspired by 6th to 4th century BC artwork found on pottery of that era — whereas The Iliad and Odyssey are set in the Bronze Age, circa 12th century BC. (What’s a half-dozen centuries though, give or take?)
Said poems are themselves not considered to be a straightforward recounting of history — there’s a whole Wikipedia article about the centuries-old debate over how much historical truth might be found in Homer’s original work. (Especially given that in the original texts, the gods play a pretty big role in the way events unfold.)
Nolan has a track record when it comes to listening to criticism of his projects and responding; see, as one example, the way that Tom Hardy’s Bane voice was altered prior to the release of The Dark Knight Rises, after fans complained about his dialogue being difficult to understand in preview footage. So there’s every chance that when the final film premieres on July 17th, 2026, we’ll see some new helmet styles.
No matter what, the period-era costuming puts to bed suggestions that Nolan’s adaptation would take place in literally any other time period than the story’s original setting — maybe. Though if it does turn out that part of this odyssey involves going to space… god help all of those characters.
