The Odyssey is f*cked..

Indexed: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]Oh, there's one more one more odyssey thing. Okay, if you think Helena Troy cannot be black, you don't know history.

[00:00:09]>> Here we go.

[00:00:09]>> Just for context, this is the leadup to the clip that's going viral.

[00:00:12]>> Apparently, conservatives are freaking out over Christopher Nolan's casting choices for the upcoming epic, The Odyssey. None of these choices are actually we don't we don't know who's not finalized. Nolan literally confirmed the Helen of Troy casting 3 days before this in his Times magazine interview.

[00:00:31]>> But they are flipping out.

[00:00:32]>> If you are a student of history, you know that scholars have debated for decades the extent to which Greek mythology and civilization were influenced by ancient Egypt and North Africa.

[00:00:42]>> The most simple Google search would instantly show you these direct quotes from Homer describing Helena as white-armed and fair-haired. Homer literally names her ethnicity, calling her Aon, the Bronze Age Greeks of mainland Greece, a southern European population with zero subsaharan ancestry. Homer also describes subsaharan Africans as a separate distant people, the Ithopians, the furthest of men, and this is the earliest surviving color depiction of Helen of Troy in human history.

[00:01:08]>> It is very clear that Andromeda is described as an Ethiopian princess.

[00:01:14]>> Homer himself never directly calls Andromeda an Ethiopian. that comes from later Greek and Roman sources. But either way, this only strengthens the argument because Homer makes a direct deliberate distinction between Ethiopians and Aans and he places Helen firmly on the AAN side.

[00:01:28]>> This idea was also explored in a book called Black Athena.

[00:01:32]>> Why does some black people have this focus around replacing historical figures and race swapping them and saying that they were black? It's so weird. Like I see this constantly.

[00:01:42]They're trying to like rewrite history to like include people that are like them. It's a way to claim the culture. I >> think people should read it, which argues that classical Greek culture is heavily indebted to Afroasiatic and Neareastern roots. I actually taught Greek mythology to eighth graders.

[00:01:58]>> And so >> that's the problem.

[00:01:59]>> It is very clear that Andromeda is described as an Ethiopian princess.

[00:02:04]>> And this is the person teaching kids about Greek mythology. Not one singular mention ever about this in the entirety of Homer's work. I covered this.

[00:02:13]>> That's the problem. And this is the thing is that these people, they want to put their ideologies in education. They want to teach your kids this stuff. They literally want to rewrite history, race swap things so they can make themselves look, I guess, like more historically relevant. Like I I don't even know what the term for that is. It's just so stupid.

[00:02:31]>> That are saying that Helen of Troy could not possibly be played by a black woman don't know his Google. Every picture of a statue shows a white woman. Yeah. I wonder why. But yeah, there's just it is this overwhelming amount of people that are trying to like uh you know rewrite history and try to include other races of people inside of European history.

[00:02:52]The desire for control. Yeah. It's it's it's pure tribalism.

[00:02:54]>> I don't understand why you feel the need when there's so much going on in the world. Why? This is what's upsetting you.

[00:03:01]>> You know what, guys? I think representation matters. I feel so valid.

[00:03:06]Dude, I feel so validated right now. I remember my grandmother saying to me, "I don't care what they tell you in school.