“The Odyssey” is an incredible journey.

Once again, director Christopher Nolan recruits a cast of top-notch actors and mixes timelines to tell his ambitious version of Odysseus’s journey in Homer’s “The Odyssey.”

Set after the conclusion of the 10-year Trojan War, the story follows hero Odysseus (Matt Damon) as he returns to Ithaca, a journey that takes almost as long as the war itself. Borrowing from the Greek tradition of oral storytelling, Nolan’s nearly three-hour adaptation is told through the tales of a bard (played by Travis Scott) who tells stories of the great warrior and Odysseus himself as he reflects on the events of his journey home.

If understanding “The Odyssey” seems like a laborious journey in itself, here’s a breakdown of the timeline, monsters and myths behind Nolan’s epic adaptation.

the war

In times of peace, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) hosted parties in their palace for everyone; even beggars were welcome. Zeus’s law insisted on showing hospitality to all guests because anyone could be a god in disguise. Odysseus also prided himself on being the only person capable of bending his sturdy bow. At these celebrations, he would invite men to try their hand at wielding the bow before easily stringing it himself and shooting an arrow through 12 axes for entertainment.

Before “The Odyssey” began, conflict was brewing abroad. The queen of Sparta, Helen (Lupita Nyong’o), was the most beautiful woman in the world. Prince Paris of Troy liked it and Helen left Sparta to go to Troy. Her despised husband, King Menelaus (Jon Bernthal), turned to his brother Agamemnon (Benny Safdie), king of all ancient Greece, for help. Agamemnon was also married to Helen’s twin sister, Clytemnestra (also played by Nyong’o), but his loyalty was to his brother. Agamemnon gathered an army, thus beginning the Trojan War.

Before joining the war, Odysseus told Penelope that she must remarry if her young son Telemachus (Tom Holland) came of age before his return from Troy. Odysseus then held a lottery to determine who would serve in Ithaca’s army. When Antinous (Robert Pattinson) tried to get Sinon (Elliot Page) to take his place, Odysseus intervened. He selected Sinon to serve so that Antinous could stay behind and care for his family.

The Greeks spent ten grueling years fighting at Troy. As the war dragged on, Odysseus came up with the idea of ​​building a wooden horse to hide his soldiers and allow them to pass through the city gates. The rest of the army would move away so as not to arouse suspicion and one man would stay behind to present the horse as a peace offering. That man was Sinon, who was intentionally kept unaware of the plan in order to deliver a convincing performance.

Days later, Odysseus’s enemies discovered the Trojan horse but believed that Sinon was a threat, so they killed him. Sinon claimed that the horse was an offering to Athena (Zendaya) until her last breath. The soldiers brought the Trojan horse inside the gates. Odysseus and his men waited until nightfall to leave. They rushed to open the gates, where Agamemnon and the rest of the Greek army were waiting, and together they took the city of Troy, ensuring their victory. The war finally ended.

The trip

The three kings (Agamemnon, Menelaus and Odysseus) separated at Troy and began their return journeys.

Helen reluctantly returned to Sparta with Menelaus. To prevent a similar war from happening again, Menelaus left a scar on her face, permanently marring her famous beauty. Agamemnon was delighted to return home, where he believed Clytemnestra would welcome him with open arms, despite publicly sacrificing her daughter for good luck before the war. In Agamemnon’s absence, Clytemnestra planned her revenge for her daughter’s death. Shortly after his return, she murdered him.

Odysseus and his men were also unlucky. With the ruin of Troy also came the desecration of the law of Zeus, which proved dangerous to the returning Ithacans. They had angered the gods during the battle, especially the sky god. The winds unknowingly carried the Ithacans to the island of Polyphemus (Bill Irwin), the one-eyed cyclops.

While exploring the island in search of food, the men became trapped in Polyphemus’s cave with the Cyclops’ flock of sheep. In a desperate attempt to escape, they stabbed Polyphemus in the eye, blinding him. However, the Cyclops was the son of Poseidon and this attack angered the sea god. With the wind and sea now against them, Odysseus and his men were then driven towards the Laestrygonian giants, who brutally attacked them, leaving them with only one ship and its crew.

Their next trip was to the island of Aeaea, where Circe (Samantha Morton) turned Odysseus’ men into pigs. The hero eventually convinced the sorceress to return them to human form, but before they left, Circe told Odysseus that his army must visit the underworld and speak with the prophet Tiresias (James Remar), if they wished to return home.

The men sailed to the underworld, where they raised an army of the dead. One of the spirits was Sinon, who was angry at Odysseus for betraying him and not telling him about the Trojan Horse plan. Sinon also told Odysseus that the fallen soldiers of Ithaca could not rest because they were not honored with the proper funeral rites of Greek warriors. Sinon ordered Odysseus to seek revenge against Antinous in Sinon’s name and that he should also sail west to honor the lives lost. Agamemnon appeared next and warned Odysseus, telling how he was murdered by his wife after being too confident in receiving a hero’s welcome. He advised Odysseus to return home in disguise and stealthily discover his true allies. Tiresias then told Odysseus how he could return home. First, he and his men must get past the deadly sirens. They must then choose to sail through the whirlpool Charybdis, which will kill all the men on board, or pass the sea monster Scylla, which will only kill six men.

In the end, Odysseus’ choice will not matter, as Tiresias told him that all of his men will die after reaching Apollo’s island and killing the sun god’s cattle. Odysseus was convinced that he could deceive the prophecy and decided not to tell his men of his fate (or his choice between Charybdis or Scylla). However, he told them of the danger of the sirens and ordered his men to put wax in their ears so that they would not be tempted by their fatal song. Odysseus insisted on listening to her song and was tied to the mast. Once they passed, he told his men the song, which left him in tears and revealed everything he could ever want, but also why he could never have it.

Odysseus must then choose between Charybdis or Scylla. Confident that he could defy the prophecy, he ordered his men to attempt to cross the whirlpool and emerge on the other side. His men, distrustful of what they believed to be poor guidance, headed toward Scylla. As predicted, six men died.

Now, realizing that Odysseus did not reveal what Tiresias told him, the soldiers demanded that he share everything he had learned, primarily the second in command, Eurylochus (Himsesh Patel). Odysseus told him the prophecy and begged his men to promise not to kill any cattle on the island of Apollo, which they were approaching. They agreed, for a short time.

Shortly after their arrival, the men realized that they were trapped on the island of the sun god, since the wind did not allow them to sail. They were increasingly tired, hungry, and frustrated with Odysseus for withholding information, even proposing to leave the king on the island. Their hunger reached new levels and the men finally broke their promise to Odysseus and killed one of Apollo’s animals.

The winds died down, allowing them to continue their journey home. Odysseus’s men insisted that they would rather drown than starve. Shortly after, the combined anger of Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollo created a storm that killed everyone except the king.

Odysseus appeared on Calypso’s (Charlize Theron) island, where he ended up spending seven years. Calypso had been banished to live on the island of Ogygia after the Olympians defeated the Titans long ago. She fed him lotus flowers that made him forget about Penelope and Telemachus, sending his mind into a state of peace. After Odysseus finally confronted his trauma and the real reason he didn’t want to return home, Calypso helped guide him back to Ithaca.

Calypso told Odysseus that he must submit to the will of the gods, something he had until now been opposed to doing. He built a raft to escape from Ogygia, letting the ocean carry him away and deposit him on land. Athena appeared to him and revealed that she was finally back in Ithaca.

Finally at home

Odysseus returned to Ithaca 20 years after his initial departure, disguised as a beggar. The first person he found was the blind swineherd Eumeo (Juan Leguizamo), who had just been attacked. He then runs into Telemachus, who does not recognize his father until they run into Argus, Odysseus’s old dog. After waiting for Odysseus to return, the dog wagged its tail and died. Odysseus ordered Telemachus not to tell Penelope anything about his return, but to convince her that she should choose a suitor.

The law of Zeus still had weight in Ithaca, despite rumors of “the sea people” plundering everything in their path as they approached home. In Odysseus’ absence, Penelope courted dozens of suitors eager to marry and control Ithaca. She rejected his advances, believing that her husband would return home, and becomes angry when Telemachus says that it is time to choose a spouse.

Odysseus, still disguised, asked the suitors for food during dinner that night. Antinous spat into his bowl and two of the suitors hit him. Telemachus put an end to this in honor of the law of Zeus. Penelope wanted to meet the mysterious beggar, without knowing that he was Odysseus. Secluded behind a screen, Odysseus told stories to Penelope as if he were serving alongside Odysseus, trying to convince her to let go and find a new suitor. One of Penelope’s former slaves recognized Odysseus’s scar on her leg and implored her to keep quiet. Odysseus finally named his trauma and why he didn’t want to return home: because he had broken Zeus’s law after taking Troy.

Meanwhile, Antinous lurks nearby with a knife, ready to kill Telemachus, but is distracted when Penelope announces that she is ready to choose a suitor. The next day, the gates are sealed for Penelope’s challenge: the suitors must string Odysseus’s arrow and shoot an arrow through 12 axes, just as the king once did. Telemachus and Eumaeus stored the remaining weapons upstairs. The suitors were embarrassed one by one, until Antinous demanded that Penelope simply choose the best of them. Odysseus then takes off his disguise and completes the challenge easily.

A fight broke out when the suitors attempted to overthrow Odysseus, and Melanthius (Logan Marshall-Green) managed to break into the upstairs room to retrieve the weapons. The king successfully fought against a hundred men and emerged victorious, but not before killing Antinous in the name of Sinon.

Odysseus and Penelope were reunited and Telemachus was crowned the new king of Ithaca when Odysseus promised to sail west to honor the men who died along the way. The west symbolizes death in mythology, but is also connected to the land of Elysium, the final resting place of Greek heroes.