A goddess offers Odysseus immortality. He says no.

Eight years on Calypso's island. Paradise, more or less. And he spends his days sitting on the beach, weeping for a rocky little kingdom he may never see again.

Welcome to Part 2 (of 6!) of our series on Homer's great epic.

Part 2 covers Books 5 to 8. We finally meet the man himself, and he arrives naked, half drowned, and buried under a pile of leaves. Why would anyone choose death over eternal life? And why does the greatest hero of the age get home on charm rather than force?

Follow Odysseus as he builds his own raft, survives Poseidon's wrath, and talks his way into the most powerful household on the island of the Phaeacians. Meet the women who hold the real power: Calypso, the princess Nausicaa, and Queen Arete, honored like no woman of Homer's own day. Plus King Alcinous, and the blind bard Demodocus, whose song brings Odysseus to tears.

Christopher Nolan cut three of these four books from his film. They may be the ones that tell you most about who Odysseus really is.

Timestamps:

00:57 Women, Power and Odysseus

03:19 Hermes Visits Calypso

05:25 Odysseus Trapped and Weeping

06:14 Zeus Orders Release

11:03 Calypso's Final Offer

14:07 Why Mortality Matters

17:45 Raft Building and Agency

20:32 Poseidon's Storm and Shipwreck

23:29 Phaeacia's Backstory

24:10 Nausicaa's Dream

28:10 Nausicaa Meets Odysseus

30:54 Winning Nausicaa's Trust

39:47 Athena Guides Odysseus

40:53 Bronze Age Heroic Lens

43:48 Arete and Royal Honor

46:32 Palace Splendor and Supplication

49:19 Clothes Test and Charm

52:53 Cleos and the Bard

56:12 Feast and Demodocus Song

01:02:04 Games and Odysseus Flexes

01:06:46 Aphrodite and Ares Trap

01:13:03 Gifts and Nausicaa's Farewell

01:14:56 Trojan Horse Song and Tears

01:22:43 Closing Thoughts

Callouts:

• Special thanks to Dr. Richard Johnson for his longtime support of the show. You are Caesar and Odysseus's Top Guy!
• Special thanks also to the team at ZCash, who are building a digital network to transfer money with complete privacy. I've used their wallet Zodl, and it's worth checking out.
• In tribute to the life and aspirations of Savitha Shanmugasundaram, a University of Texas at Austin honors student who died tragically in the March 1 mass shooting, her parents have established the Savitha Shan Endowed Scholarship at UT Austin. The fund is intended to extend Savitha’s legacy by supporting the educational journeys of future UT Austin students. Please consider donating if you can.

Something is very wrong in the opening scenes of the Odyssey.

The master of the house is gone. His wife is besieged. His son is powerless. And the men eating him out of house and home are waiting for the right moment to strike.

Welcome to Part 1 (of 6!) of our new series, where we cover Homer's great epic.

Part 1 covers Books 1 to 4, the monsters haven't arrived yet — but the groundwork for everything is laid here. What does it take to reestablish order once it has fallen? What kind of man can do it?

Follow Telemachus as he learns to speak, to threaten, and to travel among serious men, and meet the figures who shape his fate: Athena, Penelope, Nestor, Menelaus, Helen, and the doomed suitors led by Antinous.

As Christopher Nolan's film approaches, it's a perfect time to dust off a copy of Homer's Odyssey, and follow along this epic story in our 6-part retelling.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why the Odyssey begins with Odysseus's absence
1:08 Introducing the show
1:25 Book One: Athena visits Ithaca
4:05 Telemachus welcomes the stranger
7:33 The poem's opening lines and Odysseus's epithets
10:06 Odysseus and the wrath of Poseidon
11:43 The Council of the Gods
13:58 Athena's plan to help Telemachus
17:20 Athena's instructions: call an assembly
19:08 The story of Orestes and Telemachus's zeal
22:08 Penelope's first appearance
27:00 Telemachus finds his courage
29:25 Book Two: The Assembly begins
31:56 Antinous defends the suitors
35:59 The omen of the eagles
37:55 Telemachus's plan revealed
40:16 Athena returns as Mentor
45:15 Telemachus sets sail for Pylos
46:48 Book Three: Arrival at Pylos
52:41 The story of Agamemnon and Aegisthus
1:02:17 Book Four: Arrival in Sparta
1:05:28 Helen's grand entrance
1:11:41 Helen's magic drug
1:19:50 Menelaus and Proteus, the shapeshifting sea god
1:27:08 Menelaus's fate: the Elysian Fields
1:32:09 The suitors plot to kill Telemachus
1:33:23 Closing thoughts

Callouts:

• Special thanks to Dr. Richard Johnson for his longtime support of the show. You are Caesar and Odysseus's Top Guy!
• In tribute to the life and aspirations of Savitha Shanmugasundaram, a University of Texas at Austin honors student who died tragically in the March 1 mass shooting, her parents have established the Savitha Shan Endowed Scholarship at UT Austin. The fund is intended to extend Savitha’s legacy by supporting the educational journeys of future UT Austin students. Please consider donating if you can.

A conversation with Morgan Watkins of TheBaseCreates and George Carter from Old Sovereign Publishing about the importance of re-enchanting the world through theatre and the tradition of the classics, specifically focusing on a new drama competition called "The Great Panathenaea".

Links:

• TheBaseCreates YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBaseCreates
• TheBaseCreates X: https://x.com/thebasecreates

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