Here's everything you need to know about Greek mythology before watching The Odyssey.

Here's everything you need to know about Greek mythology before watching The Odyssey. This is spoiler-free. It's just things you're supposed to remember from the book to kind of get the movie better. First is this thing called Zeus' Law. This is probably the most important thing in the entire film, like the thesis of the movie itself. Essentially, it is this thing in Greek mythology where it is this idea that if a beggar or traveller or soldier or homeless person shows up at your door asking for food and shelter and safe passage, that you should give it to them because it could be a god in disguise. One of the things Zeus is the god of is hospitality. And a lot of in Greek mythology, gods appear to people disguised as things, people, animals, and whatnot as a test to see if they are like righteous or virtuous. So this is an essential thing in the film. I won't explain the meaning of it yet, but just know that's what it is. Number two is the story of Helen and the Trojan War. So Helen was married to Menelaus, who is the king of Sparta, who is the brother of Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief of all the Greeks. Helen falls in love with the prince of Troy, who is named Paris. So they run away together, leaving her husband behind to go and live in Troy, which starts this entire big war to get Helen back. But Helen and Menelaus, her actual husband, don't really love each other. So this idea of getting Helen back is actually kind of propaganda to get all these other kings and stuff involved in this great conquest. Because in actuality, they want to take down Troy because it controls the largest trade route. Like this is a war over wealth and resources disguised as being this war over like chivalry and love and all those things, because they know that it's more like marketable and will get people on board. And even after Helen comes back, she hates her husband. They don't like each other, right? She cheated on him.