The Odyssey

“And yeah, I think we'll get to that. I think people will realize that's the reality of this. I hope so. Do you know what always gives me hope is that when every time I taught Greek mythology to the kids and we did the Odyssey, everybody got locked in.”

“James Joyce is actually the root of this. Yes, it's a distilled version of these things. That's brilliant. I had Alex Petkiss on the show, and he did a breakdown of The Odyssey, but because he can read the original Greek, he's able to get much more rich explanation of what's going on because sometimes words have multiple different meanings.”

“around them, but also delivering that in a way that's like, oh, I can just sit back and relax. The episode with Alex Petkas, like two, two and a half hours about the Odyssey, is straight fire. Like, you don't need to remember anything that he said. You can just sit back and enjoy an amazing retelling of the Odyssey by a guy with a beautiful voice for two and a half hours”

“They after 10 years, they finally end up sacking and destroying the city. And the man responsible for the victory, ultimately, in the Greeks' eyes and certainly in the eyes of the Odyssey is Odysseus himself. Because he came up with the idea of the Trojan horse.”

“So this is set in about 1200 BC. Right. Yeah. And, and it, the, The Odyssey is kind of a sequel to the Iliad, which is a longer, somewhat longer poem. And, uh, you know, this is a story about what happens at Troy itself and Achilles is the big hero there.”

“Well, 10 years, I guess, after the Iliad would have ended. Um, and, and makes the case that Odysseus was actually, there's this kind of dialogue between the Iliad and the Odyssey of who is the best of the Greeks or the best of the Achaeans.”

“He, I mean, he's seen spears go in and out of faces and just incredibly awesome stuff that, that you see in the Iliad and a little bit in the Odyssey, but that he's one of those kind of, um, warrior class people are hanging around this kind of guys knows people like Achilles and Diomedes.”

“It kind of glamorizes war. Not. Not uncritically, but then the Odyssey is, um, is kind of, if it's, if it's a poem by an old man, it's, it's also written for a wider audience.”

“I mean, that, that might be the, the real target audience. Of, of the Odyssey, it's like a, like a broader range of people. And there's also women much more, you know, explored in depth in the Odyssey. Um, so.”

“It's actually 20 years after the Trojan war started when the odyssey timeline begins. And, um, we learned. in the first you know 100 lines or so of the Odyssey that Odysseus you know kind of got got got off course trying to get back from troy several of the greeks had this experience and”

“we'll do something about this Poseidon will just have to deal with it and and that's how the action kind of kicks off in in the Odyssey and long story short you know Odysseus gets released from the islands uh by the god's will Telemachus son is sent on this kind of vision quest rite of passage initiation journey and Athena helps him out with that”

“we should get to okay so what's what's the rite of passage thing yeah so it's good to start with telemachus probably be so when you when you start the Odyssey it's kind of like wow i thought this was about odysseus and you know page after page you don't meet the guy really until he's five”

“They're not doing what they're supposed to be doing. So, Homer cares a lot about these things. More in the Odyssey than he does about the Iliad. He's like… Like, little things that sort of signal, you know, good order in culture and society. Okay. And is that the end of this rite of passage?”

“Odysseus is stark naked and, um, he emerges from his bush and he holds a little like branch in front of his private parts so that, uh, to, to have a little bit of dignity and, you know, approaches these girls.”

“And to get to him, you know, you don't go down to the underworld in the Odyssey, you go out. And so you have to sail many days. And so long story short, he, he sails many days, you know, it gets misty and weird.”

“you see this tension between the Iliad and the Odyssey where Homer kind of poses the question what is worth striving after? Achilles died young he traded a long life for eternal glory.”

“from the iliad what he cares about in death is his family you know this this is the thing that matters i think that's one of the big messages of the Odyssey what really matters in the long run what is permanent what can you make permanent is glory permanent is people talking about you”

“quarrels to an end that actually makes a settlement that people can live in peace again. Um, and so that's the kind of justice that, that the Odyssey cares about that, that, that, that Zeus himself, Homer has Zeus himself say that, you know, the world actually is a fair place. If you play by”

“to be diplomatic and when he can be crafty and where the lying is justified in that all of that stuff's just nice. I don't feel burdened by it. I don't feel burdened by learning about the story of the Odyssey in the same way as I feel burdened. If it's some very prescriptive”

“about heroes, about somebody to emulate. And mind you, they're not simplistic. I mean, like the Odyssey doesn't, you know, he makes a lot of mistakes. Yeah. You can debate about his actions. The Greeks would debate about his actions. I mean, a lot of the later Greeks thought he was a bad guy.”