Although the protagonist is a man, The Odyssey is a story in which women play a central role CREDIT, ALAMY via BBC The Odyssey, an epic poem attributed to Homer, tells the story of the Greek warrior Odysseus (Ulysses, in the Roman tradition), who tries to return to the kingdom of Ithaca after years fighting in the Trojan War. ? But his dangerous journey back lasts a decade and is marked by exhausting tests and countless dangers. The Odyssey hits theaters this month in an adaptation directed by Christopher Nolan (from Interstellar and Oppenheimer), with Matt Damon in the lead role, among other actors. In Brazil, the film premieres on Thursday (16/07). Although the protagonist is a man, The Odyssey is a story in which women play a central role. The attempt to return home and recover the kingdom depends on the strategies, advice and seductions of the goddesses, nymphs and mortals you encounter along the way. SP Agenda: Film "The Odyssey" is this week's highlight More than a story of heroism, The Odyssey talks about sex, strategy and power, themes that remain current. The poem begins in medias res ("in the middle of events"), with Odysseus crying on the island of Ogygia, where he has lived for seven years alongside the nymph Calypso. After standing out on the battlefields of Troy, he appears defeated and unable to continue his journey, an impression reinforced by the fact that an assembly of the gods is needed to guarantee his release from the island. READ ALSO: 'The Odyssey' trails a journey between dazzling epic and Hollywood exaggeration; g1 has already seen Odysseus and the nymph Calypso: at the beginning of the poem, the two have lived together for seven years ALAMY via BBC But Odysseus is not just tied to Calypso. It also seems trapped in itself. A modern reader might see signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in his inaction. This, however, does not diminish the nymph's power of seduction. Odysseus himself admits that Penelope, his wife, does not compare to Calypso's beauty, after all Penelope is just a mortal. During her husband's long absence, Penelope, however, was far from the image of a passive wife. With courage and cunning, he resisted the advances of the 108 suitors who occupied the palace in the hope of marrying her and becoming the new king of Ithaca. Penelope's stratagem of weaving a shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes, and undoing the work every night is one of the poem's most striking episodes. In a sense, she is a constantly moving target: her success in keeping suitors at bay will have a direct impact on Odysseus's ability to reclaim the throne. It is significant that Odysseus's main ally among the deities is a goddess. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and strategy, has helped him since the Trojan War and leads the efforts to bring him home. Later, when he arrives exhausted and vulnerable in the land of the Phaeacians, a people of navigators, it is Athena who organizes his rescue. She hides his haggard appearance and makes him appear divine, worthy of the hospitality of those people, who offer him shelter and take him back to Ithaca. The mesmerizing song of the sirens lured men to their deaths Getty Images via BBC This helps Odysseus gain the trust of the Phaeacians, a people of navigators, who offer him shelter, treasures and a safe journey back to Ithaca. It is no coincidence that most of the times when she appears before Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, Athena takes on the appearance of a man. At different times, she presents herself, for example, as Mentes, a king allied with Ithaca, and as a herald of the Phaeacians. Athena knows very well that, among mortals, power lies in the hands of men, but she shows that it is women who often change the course of events. Just look at the characters that Odysseus meets along the journey. After arriving in the land of the Phaeacians, he tells his hosts the adventures he has had so far, from lotophages (lotus eaters) to Cyclops. Among these stories, encounters with mythical female figures tend to be the most unsettling precisely because, at first glance, they seem harmless. Seductive appearances Odysseus tells his hosts that he wanted to hear the song of the sirens, who lived on an isolated island surrounded by dangerous rocks in the western sea. In later tradition and in Greek art, mermaids came to be represented as women with the body of a bird or as mermaids with fish tails. In his account, Odysseus highlights above all the irresistible sweet song, capable of seducing men and leading them to death. In Homer's The Odyssey, the sorceress Circe hides her magical powers Alamy via BBC In front of the sirens there was a field covered in the bones of the many men who, in the past, had stopped to listen to their song. Odysseus decides to take the risk: he orders his companions to tie him to the ship's mast so that he cannot launch into the sea in search of that mesmerizing melody. As beautiful as it was, the sirens' song led to death. Circe was another dangerous beauty. Few considered her a threat upon meeting her, but, like mermaids, her docile appearance hid magical powers. Homer portrays her as a sorceress, capable of using herbs and potions to transform Odysseus' companions into pigs. As with many of the extraordinary creatures Odysseus encounters on his journey, Circe both hinders and helps Odysseus. Although she makes him her lover, she also makes his descent into the world of the dead possible, where he meets the prophet Tiresias, who offers him advice for the journey back to Ithaca. The message running through the poem is that feminine monsters and seductive nymphs cannot simply be ignored. To win, Odysseus needs, to a certain extent, to give in to them, but without going too far. The figures he encounters along the way repeatedly test his determination and his ability to act with moderation, a virtue highly valued by the ancient Greeks. It is precisely Odysseus's vulnerability that makes him such a human hero Getty Images via BBC Readers who look at these adventures with skepticism and suspect that they are pure invention, stories created by Odysseus to gain the trust of the Phaeacians and convince them to take him back to Ithaca, are perhaps precisely those most likely to accept this allegorical interpretation. In this case, Odysseus may not have been facing real monsters, but his own inner demons, many of them much more insidious than they appeared. The fluidity of Odysseus's accounts, such as their grandeur, richness of detail, and ability to challenge the limits of credibility, is an essential part of the poem's fascination. It's also what makes him a unique hero. As Emily Wilson writes in her translation, he is "a complex [or complicated] man." Cunning and multifaceted, Odysseus is a master of deception and changes his identity and version of events as suits him. Intelligent, creative and full of flaws, Odysseus is, after all, the most human hero of Ancient Greece. His vulnerability to the seductions of women, and of magnificent worlds like that of the Phaeacians, is at the same time his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. It is no coincidence that his story still arouses the interest of readers.