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Sea People Warship - Odissey ship

  • Thread starter Thread starter Naima
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Joined
May 15, 2026
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I have seen a lot of criticism for the movie Odissey of Nolan , and in a large part I agree, but one thing that I have changed opinion is the choice of the ship used for the movie.

Nolan used a kind of Viking ship and fitted it to look more like an original Sea people ship , I am not an expert here but , to me

This Ship from the movie :

1791185775093.png

Looks a lot like this ship recnstruction :

1791185847210.png

According to Shelley Wachsmann’s detailed study in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, here’s what we know:
1f6a2.png
Design Features
- High prow and stern: Often curved upward, resembling bird heads or animal motifs.
- Single mast with square sail: Used for wind propulsion, supplemented by oars.
- Rowers and warriors: Reliefs show both, suggesting dual-purpose vessels—transport and combat.
- Deck structure: Some ships had partial decking, allowing warriors to stand above rowers.
- Cutwater or stem projection: A horizontal extension at the bow, possibly for ramming or stability.

1791186093863.png

and to me the movie reconstruction , even if it might not be "perfect" looks more similar to the Sea people Ship than the classic "Classical age ship" used for the Troy Movie.


1791186177310.png

What do you think ?
 
The Trojan War was supposed to last ten years, and when it ended, Ulysses took another ten years to return to Ithaca. So, I would expect the ships used during the Trojan War and those used by Ulysses on his journey home to have essentially the same design, since only ten years had passed.

Looking at the models used in both movies, I believe Nolan’s ships are probably a better representation of the boats that would have been used around that time, approximately 1200 BCE.

The reason I say this is that the ships in Troy look more like a “monoreme,” with a pointed/projecting prow. I’m not even sure whether this type of ship existed at that time. I know that biremes and triremes had projecting prows for ramming, but I’m not sure whether single-banked ships (monoremes) had them as well.
 
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