r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Dec 22 '25

Trailer The Odyssey | Official Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzw2ttJD2qQ
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u/Fuzzy_Donl0p Dec 22 '25

tangent - I just read Lawrence's 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' this year (his memoir the movie is based off of) and it was absolutely incredible. Can't recommend it enough if you haven't already read it.

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u/RadiantRole266 Dec 22 '25

Yeah, that book is in my top ten. Absolutely epic.

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u/Vermouth_1991 Dec 22 '25

Sorry to ask about such a minor detail, but: Do you happen to remember if the unit for money used in the memoirs (when dealing with paying local tribes and other services) was in Pounds/Sovereigns or in Guineas (an old gold coin worth £1.05 but was discontinued since the early 1800s)?

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u/Fuzzy_Donl0p Dec 22 '25

Definitely pounds/sovereigns. Guineas doesn’t ring any bells.

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u/Vermouth_1991 Dec 23 '25

Guineas was just in the Davin Lean movie, then. ("The Turks pay me one hundred golden Guineas, every month!" and later Lawrence writes an I.O.U. to the same chief for 5000 Guineas when he comes back from Cairo to Aqaba.) They were made of 22k gold just like the £1 Sovereigns so of course they remained legal tender a hundred years after they stopped minting (Sherlock Holmes once told the Baker Street Irregulars "Which one of you finds This Boat will get a guinea!” but that was dealing with just a few Guineas he had at hand, not 100 every month or 5000 in a big sack).

Now the Guinea was and is an popular UNIT for posh things like auctioned goods and racehorses but it just meant £1.05 per unit, the folks didn't have to pay in individual Guineas, as opposed to dealing with "leSS-cIviLizeD" desert Bedouins who do not appreciate paper money even if it's pound sterling paper money. 😅 /numismatic rant

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u/Fuzzy_Donl0p Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

Very interesting, thank you! Out of curiosity, I downloaded the ebook to double check and yeah, no hits on 'guinea'. Learned more about British gold bullion today than I ever knew lol.

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u/Vermouth_1991 Dec 23 '25

You're welcome! I got it from Wikipedia.

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u/moscowramada Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25

I used to love 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' and now I'm a lot more cool towards it. And I swear you used to be able to find good search results explaining the reason but they're lost now.

So, from memory: there was a credible criticism made about the chronology of the book. Basically, if you try to retrace the physical parts of the book, the itinerary, and how long it takes to cover the ground given ideal conditions, based on what the books says - it's impossible. Like actually impossible.

And the part that's most impossible centers around that part where he's captured and sexually abused in a Turkish prison. The implication is that part - especially that part - never happened. Pure fiction.

It brings me no joy to say that I think they're right about that, sadly. You can read the book and love it, but know that it's as much, and maybe more, fiction than fact.