Thinking About the Odyssey as a War Veteran with PTSD

Zeus' law tells us to treat strangers as we should be treated because they might be gods in disguise. Telemachus, son of Odysseus.

Before I finish my extended multipart article about the United States Navy’s catastrophe in shipbuilding, maintenance and design over the past 30 years. The final part will be really good, but it is process, so I ask you to indulge your patience. However, since I watched Christopher Nolan’s production of The Odyssey, as a combat veteran and historian I think I need to write about it now while it is still fresh in my mind.

Let me begin by saying that Homer, the author of the Odyssey as well as the Iliad did not write a history of the campaign against Troy or its aftermath in the life of Odysseus, however the messages conveyed in both the Iliad and the Odyssey reach deep into the souls of people, especially those who have gone to war. In the case of Odysseus, a man who went to war and his journey to return home. As a veteran of Iraq, I understand both.

The saga of Odysseus is something that I know much about from my study and teaching of Ancient Greek history and literature, as well as Jonathan Shay’s book Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. I find it interesting that even though I had studied Greek history, mythology, and literature that they didn’t become that meaningful until after I returned from Iraq to a country that I no longer recognized.

I will not try to review the film by comparing it with Homer’s epic saga. Believe me, I have grown weary of reading those reviews. Instead, I will discuss some things that really hit me in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s saga.

The first was how Odysseus described the campaign against Troy, and that after 10 years on the beach outside of the city, the attackers reacted against Troy with 10 years of bottled up rage when Odysseus and his soldiers in the Trojan Horse opened the gates to the city. Odysseus was a proud leader, and the deception was his idea. But his actions haunted him. Odysseus’ name means “man of hate” which is not something that we typically honor. But the Greeks considered him a hero, as they did Achilles whose name means “he whose host of fighting men have grief.” Achilles caused the deaths of many Greeks outside Troy, while Odysseus brought about the death of 700 Ithacans when returning home, but the Ancient Greeks considered them heroes, despite their flaws. Tragedy was part of understanding life, as well as recognizing that people as well as “gods” had the same flaws as them.

In the film, Odysseus is haunted by his actions against Troy. He sees them as a disaster for civilization as he knew it. He tells Penelope:

Odysseus: What if... when he left the belly of the horse... and opened the gates of Troy... he saw ten years of rage pour into that city in one night. We left them a gift in offering of peace that they took into their home... We violated all that’s ever sacred between people... and turned the fight into a hunt. To burn the walls of Troy was to burn the world entire. Including his home. What if he knew, that very night as he walked through fires of anarchy and pain... And in the days of sweaty celebrations that followed, what if he knew exactly what he’d done?

Penelope: What all of you had done.

Odysseus: One man’s idea, one man’s trick... to break Zeus’s Law forever. We live in a world of palaces, trades, language, blind to its beauty... until we broke it.

Odysseus recounted his role in breaking a divine law, that of Zeus. That understanding was the basis of the Greek concept of Zeus Xenios. It is a law of hospitality for the hosts and reciprocity for the guests. Hosts were to host to welcome their guests with food, drink and shelter before asking who they were or why they had come, or whether they were beggars or kings. The guests were expected not to presume on their host’s hospitality and pledge to reciprocate when they left. Similar principles are found in Judaism and Islam. Christianity inherited it to some extent from its Jewish roots, though you would hardly know that if you follow the lead of MAGA Christian nationalists.

Likewise, the actions of the Trump regime against immigrants regardless of their status goes against such “divine” laws because they break a fundamental understanding of civilized society, regardless of its religion or culture. Zeus’ law helped to strengthen ancient Greece’s social, political and military connections throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor. It also fostered trade relationships and allowed political exiles from other lands to find refuge and a new life where they could both enjoy the fruits of living in safety and contribute to the Greek civilization.

In Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the saga, Odysseus is haunted by his role in the sack of Troy. The description is not unique, it can be found in the writings of numerous men who have taken part in the brutality of war. Even for those who never killed another person, the sight of the destruction wrought by their nation upon another can be devastating to one’s soul. Likewise, he saw the deaths of his men on his return home as his responsibility, that is one of the weighty issues for any military commander at any time in history, not just the subject of an epic poem.

The Odyssey, be it the Homeric poem, or Nolan’s film adaptation reminds us of our shared humanity and responsibility in this world, especially for those in any position of responsibility. When I left the theater and went back to the pub before going home on Monday night, many thoughts were going through my mind, which came out in disturbing dreams that a deep sleep that I could not escape last night might have been connected. I cannot share them now. I need time to further process them myself and with my shrink. I can only say that they were troubling because I and people who I served alongside was part of a problem and ideology that I always oppose. Nolan’s depiction of Odysseus must have triggered them.

So until tomorrow, have a good night and a better tomorrow. Be sure to watch your six.

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