Why does a 2,800-year-old epic poem about a man trying to get home still captivates millions? As Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of Homer's Odyssey hits theaters, two leading interpreters—Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate the poem into English, and Madeline Miller, author of bestselling retellings like Circe—explore what makes this story eternally resonant and how modern adaptations honor ancient complexity. Emily Wilson's translation uses iambic pentameter and maintains the original's line count to activate the poem's oral performance qualities and emotional rhythms that prose translations often lose.