Who Were the Sea Peoples? Exploring references in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

Biblical Archaeology Review ^ | July 27, 2026 | Zachary Thomas

[SunkenCiv]

In Nolan's new adaptation of the Odyssey, Homer's epic poem about Odysseus's struggle to return to his kingdom in Ithaca after the Trojan War, the "People of the Sea" hang over the plot like a dark cloud -- a rumor of coming destroyers and harbingers of a dark age mentioned by multiple characters along the way... Let's clear up one thing first: No ancient text refers to this group by the name "Sea Peoples." This is a scholarly term popularized by the 18th-century Egyptologist Gaston Maspero to refer to a collection of groups that threatened New Kingdom Egypt... It was once common to read that the Sea Peoples were responsible for destroying towns and cities around the eastern Mediterranean at this time, especially in texts associated with Ramesses III. While there is clear evidence that some destruction happened, more recent analyses suggest that widespread devastation was far less extensive than once thought... the great Hittite capital Hattusha was indeed burned, but archaeologists now believe this was only after it had been abandoned. The city of Ugarit in modern Syria, capital of the kingdom of the same name, is not directly named by Ramesses III but actually was violently attacked and burned, with excavations finding weapons from the battle left in its streets. Yet at neither Ugarit nor practically any other site that was destroyed do we find clear evidence that the Sea Peoples were responsible.

[SunkenCiv]

Theses for the Reconstruction of Ancient History from the End of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt to the Advent of Alexander the Great Immanuel Velikovsky | 1945 The Immanuel Velikovsky Archive

The name of the city Ugarit (Ras Shamra) is probably the equivalent of Euagoras, the Carian-Ionian name of a number of Cyprian kings. The name Nikmed of the Ras Shamra texts is the Ionian-Carian name Nikomed(es). The city of Ras Shamra was destroyed in the days of the King Nikmed by Shalmanassar (in 856 B. C. E). Its destruction is recorded by Shalmanassar and the city is called "the city of Nikdem". A proclamation telling about the expulsion of Nikmed, found in the city, refers to the same event. It is highly probable that King Nikmed (Nikdem) fled to Greece, and that this man of learning there introduced alphabetic writing. Therefore, he might have been Cadmos of the Greek tradition.

[SunkenCiv]

One of *those* topics.

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'Civ's note: They didn't exist per se; the idea that a mighty storm of unknown belligerents arose from out of nowhere, destroyed the Bronze Age, and left no writing, no burials, no characteristic weapons, no structures, and best of all, no ships (on the sea floor of course) is absurd. They are a result of the conventional pseudochronology of New Kingdom Egypt. The Peleset weren't the Philistines, they were the Persians, even the headware matches in the surviving bas reliefs (Egypt and Persia).

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the link!

[SunkenCiv]

• 'The Odyssey' Translator Emily Wilson Slams Christoper Nolan's 'Abysmal' Screenplay: 'I Would Be Ashamed to Have Written Any Part of This Script' [07/27/2026]
• FReeper review: The Odyssey [07/27/2026]

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of the four related keywords, duplicates out, sorted:

• Here's Just Some Of The Historical Evidence For The Biblical Exodus [04/22/2024]
• Did the War Between Atlantis and the Greeks Really Happen? [02/12/2024]
• 1177 BC, the Year a Perfect Storm Destroyed Civilization [05/16/2021]
• Archaeology bombshell: Discovery of 145 human remains that 'solves biggest Bible mystery' [07/31/2020]
• Scholars say Philistine genes help solve biblical mystery [07/03/2019]
• Devastating 'World War ZERO' destroyed ancient civilisations and plunged Europe into a dark age [05/15/2016]
• World War Zero brought down mystery civilisation of 'sea people' [05/13/2016]
• CT Scan Shows Pharoah Ramesses III Was Murdered by Multiple Assassins [03/31/2016]
• Enormous monolith, carved 9350 years ago, found under Mediterranean Sea [08/08/2015]
• Last practitioner of Minoan rituals may have lived in Jerusalem's Old City till '48 [05/04/2015]
• 1177 BCE, the year a perfect storm destroyed civilization [05/03/2015]
• Climate Change Not a Cause of Bronze Age Collapse [11/25/2014]
• Greek Bronze Age ended 100 years earlier than thought, new evidence suggests [10/17/2014]
• The Greek Age of Bronze -- Middle Helmets [04/24/2014]
• Pollen Study Points to Drought as Culprit in Bronze Age Mystery (Global Warming in Ancient Times) [10/26/2013]
• Minoan Frescoes at Tel Kabri: Aegean Art in Bronze Age Israel [07/21/2013]
• Study revisits mystery of Egyptian King Ramesses III's killing [12/18/2012]
• The Sea Peoples, from Cuneiform Tablets to Carbon Dating [10/04/2012]
• Sea Peoples invade: 1192 -- 1190 BC [06/16/2011]
• "Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank" [05/22/2011]
• Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank [05/22/2011]
• Archaeological mystery solved (Sea-Peoples and the Song of Deborah) [07/01/2010]
• "The Catastrophe" What the End of Bronze-Age Civilization Means for Modern Times [09/28/2009]
• In a rich corner of antiquity: gold, wine, plenty of luxury [Colchis, the Vani] [12/29/2007]
• Digging Biblical History, Or The End Of The World [11/21/2007]
• The Sea Peoples [11/11/2006]
• Crete: isle of the dead? [08/03/2006]
• Greek Shipwreck from 350 BC Revealed [02/02/2006]
• King of the Wild Frontier (Hyksos art and architecture in the Sinai) [08/15/2005]
• Arzawa [11/26/2004]
• Unearthed: The Humble Origins Of World Diplomacy (Hittites) [01/18/2003]
• The Revision of Ancient History - A Perspective [04/19/2002]

[T.B. Yoits]

[lee martell]

“Hail, Atlantis!”

[rlmorel]

Excellent!

[Berosus]

Gaston Maspero was born in 1846. He was an Egyptologist of the 19th century, not the 18th.

[bunkerhill7]

They were the Greeks etc. armies who were headed home after the victory over Troy but decided to loot and rampage on the way back just fur the fun of it . Cf the Japanese and the Germans in WW2.

[Brian Griffin]

What comes to mind:

WIKI

The Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic people who inhabited city-states in Canaan along the Levantine coast of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily in present-day Lebanon. Their maritime civilization expanded and contracted over time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia

[AdmSmith]

1177 B.C.: When Civilization Collapsed | Eric Cline

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4LRHJlijVU

[The Duke]

“Ragnar Lothbrok, please pick up at the white courtesy phone.”

[Bob434]

Well, they were SpongeBob, squidward, Patric, sandy, Mr krabs, plankton and and and last but no5 least, David Hasselhoff

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Berosus! Maybe he discovered an ancient time machine in some tomb? 😁

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks all. The Trojan War was earlier than RIII, but later than the pseudochronology places it. The Phoenicians were never in any position to conquer Egypt and by the time of RIII, were already ruled by the “Peleset” (a.k.a. “Pereset”, the Persians).

[Jan_Sobieski]

The Philistines were an amalgam of sea peoples.

[Reily]

There’s some evidence they were Mycenaean refugees who fleeing civilization collapse on mainland Greece.

[higgmeister]

Who would watch that movie to know anything about it?

[SunkenCiv]

• 'The Odyssey' Translator Emily Wilson Slams Christoper Nolan's 'Abysmal' Screenplay: 'I Would Be Ashamed to Have Written Any Part of This Script' [07/27/2026]
• FReeper review: The Odyssey [07/27/2026]