The University of Cincinnati has a connection to the new Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey, based on Homer's epic Greek poem from the 8th century BCE.
The movie is set at the end of the Trojan War.
UC Classics Department Research Associate Jeff Kramer says much of what we know about the setting, the legendary city of Troy, comes from professor of classical archaeology, Carl Blegen. In the 1930s, he led an archaeological survey to the ancient city in what is modern day Turkiye.
Homer wrote Troy had been sacked around 1184 BCE, and Blegen found evidence to support that. He discovered there were several distinct layers of artifacts and architecture, where the city had been built and rebuilt on top of itself.
“In one of those cities, Troy 7-A, seemed to indicate that there had been some sort of conflagration, some sort of fire, perhaps some sort of attack,” Kramer says. “Obviously that is the one with which we associate with the Trojan War, and of course, this is a real city and not something out of a myth, written by Homer.”
Kramer says the story of Troy has been told for a couple thousand years, and Blegen's work shows it wasn't just a story. Kramer says the Odyssey can give us insight into who we are today.
“The more we excavate — not only at Troy but all these other sites in the entire Aegean — we find more about the people which we then learn, for the most part, were people just like us, with the same desires, the same dreams, the same wishes,” Kramer says.
Blegen directed UC's excavations at the site of Troy from 1932 to 1938, and the entire expedition had Cincinnati connections.
“Not only did Carl Blegen — and occasionally his wife would join him — but William Semple, who founded [the Classics] department, and his wife, Louise Taft Semple, also participated in the excavation,” Kramer points out. “Two other individuals who participated were Dorothy and Marion Rawson, whose grandfather made his fortune in the pork-packing business, a very unique Cincinnati enterprise.”
Marion Rawson was an archaeologist from Cincinnati who studied under Blegen. She and her sister joined Blegen's excavations at Troy later.
Kramer says other members of the UC Classics Department are currently conducting more excavations around the Mediterranean Sea, including in Sardinia, Crete, and Pylos, Greece. The Classics Department includes archaeology, literature, and history.
Kramer is “cautiously optimistic” about Nolan’s movie. He says he’s familiar with Nolan’s previous work and is interested to see how the different stories in the Odyssey are woven together.
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