The Cyclops and Odysseus's Fatal Mistake

Have you been enjoying my podcast and now want even more history? Sign up history and watch the world's best history documentaries on subjects like How William Conquered England What it was like to live in the Georgian era And you can even hear the voice of Richard III We got hundreds of hours of original documentaries, plus new releases every week And there's always something more to discover Sign up to join us in historic locations around the world and explore the past. Just visit history. com slash subscribe You want to get your backyard summer ready, but you don't want to break the bank? Wayfair gets it, planning on dining alfresco or relaxing poolside Wayfair has everything you need to prep your space. Shop now and save up to seventy percent off during Wayfare's Fourth of July clearance. sccore huge deals on outdoor furniture, area rugs, and more. We're talking thousands of products for every style and budget. Plus, surprise Flash Deals July sixth. Don't wait. Shop Wayfare's Fourth of July clearance now through july sixth at wayfare dot com d Pay fair, every style, every home. Quick question, when was the last time a display ad changed your mind Now think about the last time a friend told you about something they loved. Different feeling, right? That's how podcast advertising works. A host who's built real trust with their audience talks about your brand in their own words, in their own voice. It doesn't interrupt the experience. It's part of it. With ACast, you can access the world's largest podcast marketplace Choose the right shows, the right audiences, the right format. then watch the data tell you it worked. You're not buying impressions. You're buying influence. Learn more by visiting acast dot com slash advertise It is the original story. It's foundational. It is essential. A man goes on an adventure He goes on a voyage. Many different things happen to him. terrible things, deadly things, romantic, beautiful, fantastic, lucky He experiences the lowest of the lows. He is inches from death. And it all ends with a showdown, an epic climax. followed by Love, wealth F and home It is every story that has come before and every story that has come since. And that is the story I'm gonna be telling today folks, as I look to the East Rosy finger Dawn has done her work The sky is the colour of roses. It's early in the day. A full day at sea awaits. The rig is taught, my provisions are packed Ahead of me, as I look to the south, I can see the wooded slopes of Ithaca. Friends, we are following in the wake of Odysseus through the Mediterranean in this Odysse season, we'd be exploring the actual history behind the myth, and what could have been the true inspiration for the trials and tribulations that Odysseus faces on his voyage? And what is it about this story that keeps us coming back time and time again In this episode, I am on my sunsil vessel cleaving through the water and I am going to tell the story of the Odyssey So take your place on the benches, grip an all, push off, and smite the wine dark waters. You listen to Dance Snow's History, and together we are making for Ithaca Odysy It's an account of the ten years that follow the conclusion of the Trojan War The massive Greek expedition to Asia Minor to subdue the proud city of Greek and bring home Spartan Queen Helen. who had eloped or been tricked into leaving her husband and moving to troll with her boyfriend. It's a story divided up into twenty four sections or books And Homer starts the story not with Odysseus, but by talking about the chaos on the island of Ithaca homeome of the hero Oysus We learn in this first section Odysus is missing in action presresumed, lost at sea been away and accounted for ten years His wife, Queen Penope, is holding out hope His teenage son, Telemachus, is sad and angry in a very teenage way He misses the father he never knew. And he's also being belittled, he's being threatened. he's being mocked By horde. of men in his own palace, a horde of suitors They want to marry his mum And they probably want to steal his kingdom and treasure It's not until around twenty percent of the way into the story that we finally meet our hero The suckcer of cities, the wiley Odysseus When we first glimpse Odysseus, he's trapped on an island spepecifically Calypso's island. He's been there for seven years. And he's suffering terribly, folks. This is a very sad part of the story. He's held against his will he is forced to live on this tropical island Making love to a beautiful goddess that isn't his wife. It's a terrible ordeal It's only from that point onwards that we really hear about the journey, the adventure that he's been on Now for the purposose of this telling for this episode, I'm going to go straight the start of Odysseus' journey on a Tel act and chronologically from the beginning without jumping around like Homer does focus in this episode is going to be on that epic Voyage home what happens when he gets home There be other episodes in this series are going look at all the bigger themes of the Odyssey. Is there any basis in historical fact here Might something like this have happened But also a it tells us about ancient Greek fatherhood, kinship, all that sort of thing. But for now Let's just revel in the story Theur story starts Troy att the end of the war My journey starts here. It is a beautiful spring day. I'm on a a raised hill, a raised piece of ground, there's lots of Beautiful wild flowers Swirling in the wind all around me got poppies as far as the eye can see. It's a riot of red I'm at one of the great hinge points of history. This is the where Europe meets Asia because I'm here on the Asian coast of Turkey And I'm looking out And I can see Europe. to the north there's a tiny little ribbon of water. It's the Dardenellves. It's such a narrow stretch of water. That's the only passage between The Mediterranean and the world's oceans and the Black Sea. It's one of the most important strategic choke points in the world, one the most important waterways in the world And for that reason, this part of the world has always mattered. That's why Byzantium was here, Constantinople, Istanbul. and that's why we think Troy was here as well And it's the ruins of Troy that brought me here today. It was the city of Troy that b Odysseus and the Greeks here thousandousands of years ago I'm looking down at what, according to Homer, would have been the field of battle for a decade for ten years All the terrible sights and sounds of conflict men dropping their guts in rough trenches corpses Phil. Crying for birds of prey Breeding grounds for pestilence in those fields down there, men Watch their mates coughing blood, they cradle them in their dying moments theirir intestines loosed by Trojan bronze. Down there, the Greeks would have wept beside funeral pires, wondering what madness had brought them to these ringing plains of windy Troy Now if I turn around and face the other way. I wrench my eyes away from the view and I'm looking at the ruins of Troy, largely uncovered in the eighteen seventies by the eccentric and Treasure seeking archeologist Heinrich Schleman He's the man who excavated here. he excavated Mycenae in Greece as well. he was determined. he was driven by the urge to find hard evidence for the myth of the Trojan War. And as a result, his excavation was sloppy and destructive And partly because of that The ruins of Troy can be quite hard to decipher today. There's no obvious structures that stand proud No temples like you get elsewhere in the ancient world But it's not entirely his fault. It's also because There was Cstant activity here for thousands of years There was building work here four thousand years ago and it continued as an important settlement right the way through the Roman period. So archaeologists Roughly nine different eras of Troy, nine different troys, if you like, each one would be destroyed by fire or earthquakes or abandoned or sacked by an enemy and then people would go and build. on top of those ruins and see you've got elements of all nine of those troys. across two millennia The Troys that we think now are interesting because they roughly speaking fit the dates of the Odyssey and the Iliad are troys six and seven There's evidence of magnificent walls. In fact, I'm looking at some of these walls now blocks of stone Even today they stretch six or seven meters above the ground, but they would have reached more than that nine, ten meters. There arere big square watchtowers you can see the foundations of And there would have been palatial buildings on the top of this hill. reccent discoveries justest there was a much wider settlement that flowed down the slopes of this hill and out into the plain below, of which Perhaps only two percent has been excavated today. So you're talking about a very serious site Late brronze Ege, so seventeen hundred ish DC to twelve hundred SBC Now Acheologist and historians are attached that because that roughly corresponds to a flourishing of a place called Mycenae in the Greek world, which in the Trojan war myth is King of Mycena was Agamemnon, the overall commander of the Greek force So we can say This was a big, important, rich settlement, taking advantage of all the passing trade of its key position in the world And we can also say that in just after twelve hundred BCE, This site was destroyed. There is destruction evidence, there is evidence for burning.. It was destroyed by a foreign enemy They were Myceneans, perhaps they were Greeks There were people Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus. in that Greek force. But now sadly we're entering the realms of absolute speculation But there's a podcast all about that myth, so let's just keep speculating It was here that we are told that the Greeks and Trojans were locked in stalemate for a decade Eventually, all wars come to an end And the Greeks owed victory to one of their number A man celebrated for his cleverness, his deceptions, his lies, his trickiness. Don't get me wrong, he was god light in battle. He could take his place beside Ajax, even the demigd Achilles. But he was also smart. He had brains as well as brawn. His name was Odysseus And he was the king. of the island of Ithaca The horse wasas his idea You know the story The Greeks built a massive horse made of wood. Trojans were famous horsemen, so the Greeks left it outside their gates Was it an offering? Was it an apology, a reparation partarting gift Well, certainly it looked as if the Greeks had left. The lookouts on the battlements saw no ships or powered vessels been hauled off the beach They'd gone camp, once a city of tents and people was now just a sea of junk. Abandonment Trojans had a debate prorophetess Cassandra. she was shrieking dire warnings about what would happen if the horse was dragged inside the gate into the city The warnings were dismissed as hysteria in Came the horse The Trojans dragged it in partartied. the last of their carefully hoarded wine, their bread and their meat They celebrated the end of the war And they were Almost right the war was Nearly finished In the dead of night horse's belly Out climb the elite of the Greek army. Godlike, Odysseus Daring Noptalomus Son of Achilles with a point to prove, Thrasmedes, son of wise old King Nestor and others. coma toast Revelers overpowered the sleepy gate guard, lifted the mighty beam that held those towering gates in place and threw them open Th those lofty gates barred for a decade, now wide open in like a torrent rushed the rest of the Greek army which had hidden itself around the corner and snuck back under cover of darkness. Ensuing slaughter can be imagined Men butchered, blood ran in torrents, drenching the earth. Women and children screaming Chacko Marched off to the boats A lifetime of enslavement ahead. Troy, B The Greeks Bickard Over the spoils of war, of course They sailed home in their contingents. There was no Grease after all A quarrelsome galaxy of statelts with them. shhared language, religion and culture and interest in other people's treasure and women There were Spartans, Myrmids, Cretans, Ithicans, And now they all went on their way The hulls groaning with booty The Voyage home. Beun The Odyssey is a story about bad weather There are no pastures in the Odyssey where Odysseus lies under a shady canopy complaining about the heat This is not the Greek yachting holiday that you might have in your mind's eye. There are storms. And frankly, from the description of sailing and weather and shivering nights under woolen blankets, I would tell you if I had to take a guess that this story was actually set In the Isles of Silly Orkney As's a reminder, I suppose the Meditrane B a lot more violent in its weather than us vacationers give it credit for We got our first storm right off the bat. It's the first of many storms that dists will experience The gods were angry at the Greeks for their astonishing, rapacious violence Friends, it takes a lot for the Greek gods who love war, seemingly, to say no, that is too much oo much you cross the line But the Greeks managed it. Trojan temples have been despoiled, priestesses are brutalized And the gods were angry. And so as the fleet sailed across the Aegean heading home, they were smashed by a storm Some of these Greeks were blown so far of course, they went and settled in Libya or even the Biaric, Ibitha enters the chat at this point. Others like Ajax, the mighty Ajax were killed Cpses food for fishes Odysseus, for his part, is only blown to Thrace, not very far away it's in northern Greece He takes the opportunity there to sack another city. as he put it in his own words I sacked the town and killed the men We took their wives and shared their riches equally among us And this point probably worth mentioning, a close reading of the Odyssey I have to say makes it a little tricky for a modern audience to really root for Odysseus. differentere times, I guess I had a fascinating chat on that subject with the classist, Emily Hauser, and she gave me a really valuable insight The word hero in English is unambiguous. It's a character we root for and that most of the time we admire, we approve of, we maybe want to be like it. In Greek, it's something much more nuanced hero in one of these epic talales is someone who is so ambitious to be remembered someomeone who is so thirsty for fame and immortality that it leads them to go on these great journeys and adventures, but it also leads them eventually to utter ruin and not just their own ruin, but of their community, of their family They're a gigantic character. They're hungry for honour and fame. The audience are fascinated by them, they're drawn to them, they're kind of impressed by them, perhaps but one whose ambition will eventually burn everything down And there's definitely a whiff of Napoleon here Millions might die as they tryry and sate their appetite. For glory. It's not a great parallel, but I wonder If A useful modern approximation is Tony Soprana can't look away We werere almost impressed by so many elements of his character and his deeds But we know that it all ends in death and ruination for everyone he's close to We're drawn to him But it's not a matter of straightforwardly admiring emmpathizing or rooting for And that's why Vysseius the hero is not always sympathetic in the Odyssey He often makes mistakes And most of those mistakes come from his overweenaning ambition And on this occasion, we get an example of that. In Thrace he overreached himself He later blames his men, obviously, but responsibility was his Wh the Ithicans were enjoying their stolen wine other men's wives The Fracan's counter atttack They came like leaves and blossoms in the spring at dawn Odysseus and his men were driven back to their ships. Bronze swords flashed. Odysseus had to make a fighting retreat. They dragged their ships off the beach. casualties were high They managed to escape, but they sailed with heavy hearts lamenting their fallen comrades those fallen soldiers would not be the last The weather's nice and clear now, no storms about it. In fact, it's so calm that we've to turned the engine on Unlike Odysseus, we're luck enough to be able to Push our boat through the water when there's no wind with an engine. We out to row. I've got time to look around me now and What you realize first of all is there's just a multitude of islands here in the Ionian Well I think I could probably say about a dozen. I've got left cs Mighty left casts to my starboard side as we're heading down here. Ahead I can just about see here, got lots of little tiny small ones, one or two private islands, I'm told As we head down here And Greek hows famous the world over. people love coming for holidays vacations But actually, these islands have shaped The Greek character, the Greek story Greece is Greece because of its particular geography. These islands the wiggly coastlines, the headlands, the bays, lots of little coves, places to stop, little sheltered spots There's harbors and caves all over the place The geology of this area, the plate tectonics, the seismic activity ensured that the Greek world Huge advantages. For example, deposits of copper were forced up to near the surface in Cyprus. which is an essential raw material in the Bronze Age. You can't a bronzege without copper There are also a thousand places to hide your ship from gales, sudden squalls or even enemy ships. There' just so many little harbourors you could put in, pull your ship up on the beach, trade, communicate with the local inhabitants Exchange and spread your language, your culture, your ideas. And this geography of these islands and headlands and a rocky mountainous interior, let's not forget, all of that meant that a diverse collection of statelets popped up. They were s ever shifting. Sometimes one island would hold sway over a neighbor, other times it might be the other way around. There were pirates, there were kings all over this scattered landscape, and often they were more and the same person Each island that I'm looking at might have its own government, to a certain extent its own rues, society, character idiosyncrasies. And the Odyssey our hero bounces from island to island. He never quite knows who he's going to fight And that idea brings us to his first unreal experience. Odysseus has been flung across the waves by a savage gale which ripped his sails, healed his ships right over, and he arrived an island A lush island with the population What addicts I've come ashore just climbing up the thickly wooded slopes of One of these islands now and It really is one of the the great pleasures of this part of the world, and that's exploring each new island you land on. there are so many of them. Just like Odysseus. He would have sailed on the coast and have found an anchorage We hear in the Odyssey that they would drop heavy stones as anchors with ropes, lines tied to them. and then they would swim ashore, wade ashore, they would then tie ropes to trees and rocks on the shores. they anchoring themselves in the water and tying themselves to the land, so securing themselves really well They drag their ships Right up on the beach, these ships had flat bottoms. They were designed to be hauled up on the shore and left there, and the crews would typically camp on the beach beside the hulls. On this particular occasion, Odysseus sent men in shore to have a wrecky look for supplies of fresh game meat meet any locals find freshwater springs And those men instead found The Lotus eaters These were people who We're addicted to a special sweet, delicious fruit Odysseus tells us that once they ate it, they lost the will to come back They hadd forgotten home In the end of this, he had to go and find them and he dragged them back to the boats, he tied them up below the deck And he ordered his men to get back on their benches and smite. the grave waters with their oars This is an interesting story because this is the first Brush with the supernatural I in the Odyssey. It'd be the first of many Next, Odysseus pulls up at another island This one Home to the cyclops A one eyed giant. We obviously no idea where this is. Euripides, the ancient Greek playwright, he locates the land of the Cyclops on the Isle of Sicily. He thinks it's near Mount Etna Virgil Roman epic poet. he has the cyclops also living on Sicily, also near Mount Etna Now who might disagree with Euripides and Virgil Let's say that Odysseus' next voyage is up here to North East Sicily in the shadow caves all over this landscape They've been sacred sites, they've been storehouses and They're now many of them tourist attractions. The hillside here is absolutely dotted with them. So it feels like the right place to get back to our epic story, because Odysseus' next trial would take place in a cave It is one of the most famous set pieces of the Odyssey of that epic tale. One that interestingly shows Odysseus Aie' most foolish But also his cleverest, his most wly. It's from this story, I think we get that reputation that he was a cunning, brilliant man, a man capable of planning a subterfuge like the Trojan Horse But this particular episode is hugely important because it is one that determines H and his men's fate He pulled his ships up onto the beach in a good natural harbour It was an island cloaked in fog And afterfter sleeping on that beach, he explored inand He was pleased to see there were lots of goats here for the cooking skewers. they Well The meat washed down with strong wine And the next day He pushed Further in lland, they're been good explore. He and twwelve his favorite men found a cave in which somebody lived. was well appointed, but everything was on a massive scale It was obviously a home But it was a home to a giant Frates weighed down with cheese. There were pens full of lambs. the well crafted bowls for milking His men urged him to steal as much they could and then Get out of there, hurry back. Odysus refused He wanted to stay He wanted to meet the giant Odysseus later admits in his words that leaving would have been the better choice He brought no joy to my companions And that, friends, is an understatement. At dinner time the giant came back brought in his flock of sheep and rolled a huge rock over the entrance the cave And he built a fire and he did some chores. And it was only then that he noticed the band of Ithacans skulking in a corner After a brief exchange in which oddly Odysseus asks for a gift This giant with one eye, this cyclops grabbed two men and then Olysus' words, knocked them hard against the ground like puppies so that the floor was wet with brains Then he devoured them likeike a mountain lion Odysseus wanted to kill the giant But he realized that he wouldn't be able to shift the entrance ste His surviving men would just eventually die beside the corpse of the cyclops which they'd killed So we'd have to think of a plan. And it would have to be quick. Because in the morning the Cyclops gobbled another two men and left with his flocks for the day. Odysseus had worked out a way to escape As the Cyclops came back that evening and ate another two men, Odysseus approached him and offered him the strong wine that he and his men were carrying with them Cyclops loved it. He was unused to one He was more as a goatsmilk kind of guy. Odysseus tells the Cyclops in a slightly friendly chat that his name was no man then fell into a drunken stoopper We hear that he vomited out a wine with chunks of human flesh in it At that point Odysseus leaps into action. He'd spent the entire day whittling a huge log into a sharp pointed spear. His men now shouldered that weapon and heated the tip in the fire Then They rammed it with all their strength into the eye of the cyclops. plunge it in and twisted as a man drills wood for shipbuilding The Csyclops's blood poured out. The sound was like the shriek of a red hot ax headad when a blacksmith drops it into ice cold water. So didid his eyeball On the spear, Odysseus later says Horribly then he howled Neighboring cyclopses came running and asked if he was okay. He roared that no man was killing him They told me shut up and get a grip In the morning, the wounded cyclops. rolled back the rock. let his flocks out. They sl to go out and graze. He couldn't keep them locked in the cave for the rest of their lives to make sure Odysseus couldn't escape put his massive arm across the entrance. carefully felt the sheep before letting them out one by one. Odysseus ordered his men to cling to the undersides of the sheep lashing themselves to the lustrous, thick Ely fleeces The Cyclops checked each one of them, but only by brushing his hands over their backs and sides He didn't think to check underneath This is But is m Eescape They heard of the beast aboard their ship pulled their oars through whitening waters, they rode for their lives and then This just does something inexplicably stupid. Odysseus giddy with the excitement of the escape roared abuse at the cyclops. The giant bellowed back and hurled boulders in a blind rage. They almost hit the ship. The crew begged their leaders to shut the hell up. Stop taunting this wild man Again We're right. Instead, Odysseus decided to shout that he was Odysseus Ithaca He wanted the Cyclops to know who had done this to him. And the cyclops raised his arms intont the heavens and bellow Listen, Earthhaker. Blue haired Lord Poseidon Acknowledge me. Y son Be my father Grant that Odysseus the city sacer will never go back home Or if it is fated that he will see his family, then let him get there late and with no honor in pain and lacking ships, then having caused the death of all his men and let him find more trouble in his own house That sent ice through the soul of every man aboard The cyclops turned out unfortunately to be the son of the sea god Poseidon. Surely they were now First They sailed on without looking at the sea around them uneasily Mourning the Ever Mounting casualty List. Terrified. by the Cyclops' incantations. You listen to Dan Snow's history. Don't go anywhere, there's more to come Summer' here and that means travel season is in full swing, road trips, last minute flights, quick weekend getaways, or anything else that feels like an escape And sure, travel can be a little chaotic Plans change, things go off track But that's what makes it memorable wife then When you're out there making the most of it, it helps to have somewhere reliable waiting for you That's why Best Western hotels and resorts is such a solid option. It's cozy, convenient, and exactly what you need after a full day of exploring, wandering or just figuring it out as you go This summer get one thousand bonus points and a chance to win two hundred fifty thousand bonus points. So wherever you're headed, make your stay part of the journey and make it count with this limited time offer Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwesttern. com No additional purchase necessary for sweeps, seeee Bonus Point Tin season Sweep rules for details and visit Bestwestern. com for complete terms and conditions You want to get your backyard summer ready, but you don't want to break the bank? Wayfare gets it, planning on dining alfresco or relaxing poolside Wayfair has everything you need to prep your space. Shop now and save up to seventy percent off during Wayfair's Fth of July clearance. sccore huge deals on outdoor furniture, area rugs, and more. We're talking thousands of products for every style and budget. Plus, sururprise Flash Deals July sixth. Don't wait. Shop Wayfair's Fth of July clearance now through july six at wayfare dot com d ay fair, every style, every home H Ever wondered what it feels like to be a gladiator, facing a roaring crowd and potential death in the Colosseum? Find out on the ancient podcast from History Hit. Twice a week, join me Tristan Hughes as I hear exciting new research about people living thousands of years ago, from the Babylonians to the Celts, to the Romans And visit the ancient sites which reveal who and just how amazing our distant ancestors were. That's the ancients from History Hit. First It all went reasonably well They arrive at another mythical island called Alius a floating island where the inhabitants feast and live at ease The king gave Odysseius a leather bag tied with silver wild in it was wind gusty winds. because this king was steward of the winds, appointed by Zeus, king of the gods. So Odysseus now set sail And for nine days and nights, they had the perfect breeze because all the contrary winds were locked up in the leather bag Ithaca appeared on the horizon. They'd made it. They were almost home. But at that point, Odysseus, who'd been steering constantly, not trusting anybody else, was overcome with exhaustion fell asleep. His men grumbled that Odysseus was harding all the precious, mysterious treasure that had been given to him by the King of Alius. They snuck into the stern. They undid the bag to look inside, and instantly all the winds rushed out at once, They were flung in the opposite direction. The blasts of stormwinds pushed them all the way back to Alias Odysseus walked up to the palace hoping for more feasting and perhaps another bag of wind, but no The king was sure now thatdysseus was hated by the gods. He sent him away Odysseus says that they were dispirited and they grew warn out with the agony of rowing Because their folly had deprived them of fair wins. apparently rode for a week before coming to Listregonia Here they met more giants As a tall agend, I have to say I resent the implications made in the Odyssey that height is usually an indicator of extreme barbarity. But sure enough, these were pretty barbarous dudes. The people of L Bregonia ate his men They rushed to cliff tops and rained down rocks on his fleet. Ships splintered into flotsome men in the water were speared like fish Odysseus through the cables of his ship with his sword and rored at his men to row pull their lives and just reach the open sea Once out of range, they took stock They were aloneed only crew to survive. I find it very strange that this is the moment when Odysseus loses his entire fleet This is one of the greatest disasters of this disaster strewn story And yet the Lice Dragodians they really get their fair share when it comes to art and stories and culture. This is the forgotten catastrophe of the Odyssey. And I have a little feeling that might be put right in the forthcoming movie. Let's see After all their losses at Troy The vast majority of the litickants are wiped out here their flesh devoured by these giants or by the fish in the abyss to which the ships were sent barrage of rocks Off the survivors sail The lonely ship reached another island This one, I yeah They lay on the beach, exhausted, their hearts consumed with grief It was only on the third day that they went in lland and explored Areki party apparently wept as they pushed through the trees. They were so sure they'd meet some deadly enemy like those they'd only narrowly escappe from thus far Instead though They found a beautiful house surrounded by drugged animals, wolves and lions just lolling about. And from inside this house they heard singings It was Cersei, who we're told was a beautiful Dreadful. The manen approached She welcomed them She gave them food and w One man alone remained cautious Once bitten twice shy as they say. He hid himself And he was the witness. of the monstrous scene that unfolded Cersei tapped the men one by one with a wand as they gorged at this banquet And they were transformed into pigs. They squealed in terror as they were herded into a pen The witness, the only survivor sprinted back to the ship Through his tears, he recounted what he'd seen. He begged Odysseus not to go in land to rescue his men, to cast off the mooring lines, haul the ship back into the deeper water for the men to take their places on the rowing benches and they could make their escape Instead Odysseus determined to go back for his crewman No man will be left behind He strapped his silver studded sword across his back and went But thankfully, he was st toopped in his tracks by a god at this point, the boyish messenger god Hermes, who tipped him off and gave him the antidote to Cerces's magic. A white flower with a black root Thank goodness for that He arrived at Cerse's house and he was invited in. She sat him down in a lovely chair, pushed a footstool beneath his feet, mixed him a drink in a gold cup. into which she slipped her drug. After he took a deep draught of this drink, she tapped him with her wand, and ordered him for the pig sty Odysseus drew his sword and stood over her ready to strike I do like that She begged him to stay his hand There's a great quote here. Now sheathhe your sword and come to bed with me. Through making love, we may begin to trust each other more Wds to live by Odysseus shows more self control than most men, I suspect would have done at this point when confronted with such an invitation from a beautiful goddess with braided hair He made her promise first turn his men back into, well, men and not do any more harm to them And with those formalities over, Odysseus tells us I went up to the dazzling bed of Cersei And it must have been dazzling because They stayed in this enchanted place for a year Every day they feasted on meat and sweet strong wine A later literary traditions tell us that Cersei actually gave birth to children by Odysseus. But there's no mention of that in the Odyssey itself Eventually His men came to him and said, Sir It's time to go. And Odysseus says, My warrior soul agreed Cersei reluctantly let him go, but she did tell him what he needed to do next, and it was daunting. He had to go to the underworld. Yes. place where the dead go House of the god Hades, to ask the spirit of the prophet Treresias for guidance on how to get home And how to lift Poseidon's curse He did as instructed. blown by a convenient magical wind to the shores of the underworld. He disembarked, he made his offerings, he called upon the dead It was an ordeal. Ghosts of the dead crowded around affected by the warm, fresh sheep's blood that he poured onto the ground They came like moths to a flame He saw many of his former comrades, Agamemnon, lord of men, slaughtered by his wife and her lover the moment he arrived home Achilles greatest of the Greek heroes. Procylus Achilles Dearest friend Ajax, second only in looks and strength to Achilles himself You also saw Minos, Heracles, Sisyphus, Tantanceselus, Orion the Hunter It was a who's whoo of Greek mythology He was heartbroken then to see his mother's spirit He died while he was away at the war Three times you tried to hug her. Three times Her wraith. vanished in his arms. He did get to talk to Tyresias though The Prophet told him to stay clear of the island on which the sun god Helios grazed his precious cattle. Avoid the whole place. If you do go there, do not on any account kill and eat any of those animals If he restrained his crew, if they avoided the sweet meat of Helios then they may well make it home If not, His ship crew be destroy simple as that. If he was lucky enough to survive, He would still be much delayed in going home and face all kinds of challenges when he did in fact get there. There's any way of living into a comfortable age, There any way dealing with Poseidon's curse B. to go on another epic journey. He had to Hf an o on his shoulder and walk inland far as he could go until he reached a place where the people knew nothing of the sea or ships. So once they said, what on earth is that on your shoulder? He would know he'd got far enough And once there he should plant the oar in the ground sacrifice a bull to Poseidon men Finally A peaceful old age would be his. Esentially, Tyresus is saying you undertake some missionary work on behalf of Poseides And with that Quite the night for Odysseus came to an end. On they sail. Cersei had warned him of perils that lay in his course The first was the sirens Sried skin These were monsters that used their sweet voices to bewitch sailors Eranced They forgot all desire to reach wife children inststead they tried to go ashore where the sirens would devour. Worn by Cersece, Odysseus used wax to block all his men's ears Curious about their sweet songs He had himself tied to the mast with the strictest of instructions to his men not to untie him no matter how hard he begged, wriggled, or pleaded The men there is blocked up, rode past the island, no problem The sirens broke into their honeyed song. They called out Odysseus by name They tempted him ashore. Now interestingly, they tempted him ashore, not with some of the later tellings because they were all beautiful and lovely becausecause they sang a heroic song. about Odysseus That thing which all men desire more than anything, who listen to their own praises bellowed to be let free. He wriggled, he struggled, he strained But thankfully, His m ignored him On they went out of the range of the sirens, but not out of trouble head with an arrows a tiny stretch of water no wider than a bowshot, which contained not one but two monsters. Odysseus marched the length of the deck, exhaling his men. They had to row hard, to avoid being sucked down by Charybdis A monster who sucked black sea water down and then belch it out three times daily As luck would have it Charybdis did indeed Take a great big slurp of water down at exactly that moment. There was a dreadful gurgling noise and as she expelled it all, the water spouted up churning like a boiling cauldron on a huge fire The men hold on their oars in terror, keeping to the other side. From above them, another monster, Sylla burst out of her cave, stretching her six long necks down, each with a gruesome head, jaws lined with three rows of teeth, she snatched up six men from the crew. They screamed as they were taken off reaching out to Odysseus in their death throes It was, he later said The most heartrending sight I saw in all the time I suffered on the sea The next island they came across was surprise surprise the island on W razed the sun god's cattle Odysseus begged his men to bypass it. The second in command said you may be strong. You never seem to tire. You must be made of iron But we men have had no rest and no sleep Odysseus gave in ure they went, but he made the men swear a most binding oath, a mighty oath, we're told that they would not kill or eat any cows or sheep they found on that island And they swwore the oath. That night the winds got up They couldn't leave the island A storm blew in. and lasted for one month. ate all of their supplies They tried to catch fish and birds. Hunger gnawed at their bellies It was desperate. O one particular day, Odysseus. left the group and went off to pray for guidance and he fell asleep. you won't the smell of roasting flesh in his nostrils. The men had got together and decided that death at sea at the hands of the gods was preferable to a slow miserable death from starvation Odysseus ran back to the beach. and watch as they ate the cattle of the suun god he was careful not to touch a morsel himself The wind died the very next day. Suspicious They set out The punishment of the gods was swift and decisive I'll quote the next bit of the odyssey at length because it's one of my favorite and I think most important bits. When they lost the alld We could see no other Only the sky and the sea Zeus made a mass of dark blue storm cloud hang above our ship. The sea grew dark beneath it. For a moment the ship moved on, but then came Zephyr which is a kind of wind. shhrieking, noisily rushing with torrential tempest. A mighty gust of wind broke off both force days. The tacking was all scattered in the hold. The mast was broken backwards and it struck the pilot in the stern. It smashed his skull. His bones were crushed, his skeletons smashed He fell down like a diver from the deck. his spirit left his body. At that instant, Zeus thundered and hurled bolts to strike the ship, shakaking it filled with sulphur All the men fell overboard And they were swept away like seagulls on the waves beside the ship prevented them from reaching home On Odysseus lived to tell the tale. You managed to cling to some wreckage drrifted for ten days tell He washed up ashore Another island And on this new island was what he would later describe as the dreadful Beautiful Divine So To be fair to Odysseus, he didn't have much choice No way of sailing across the ocean, leaving that island behind And so there he stayed Calyipso loved and cared for him He was forced to have sex with her liiving in this succulent island prison, wanting for nothing art from his freedom and home Now some people critizes this issue. They say he stayed here for seven years Because he liked making love to a divine woman But Homer reminds us he had no choice He wept on the shore He dreamed of wife and home He's the victim here, folks Let's have some sympathy The years went by. Odysseus is trapped in this Terrible place At home in Ithica meanwhile, his wife assumes fears that he's been lost at sea His son Telemachus grows into adolescence, not remembering the father who'd left reluctantly to go to Troy when he was but a baby Bachelors from around Ithaca and nearby Islands have gathered to press their case with the widowed quQeen These suitors, dozens of them, arrive to claim the most eligible widow in the Ionian Islands. They feasted by day, abusing the traditions of hospitality, drinking the house dry They ordered servants around, assaulted slave girls, rendered Queen Penelope a virtual prisoner in her own palace. And their presence was an obvious threat to her son, Telemachus's inheritance. his life Odysseus had been told of this by various people in the underworld, so knew what was going on And he knew what his absence meant for his wife, his son, his possessions, his kingdom He longed for home And in the end, Odysseus ght someuck because he did still have allies in high places highighest of places. Thina. of the shining breastplate, hoorse hair plumed helmet. She with her bronze tipped spear, as happy skewering enemies on the battlefield as she was outwitting them with her enormous wisdom She Godddess Athena persuaded her father Zeus, king of the gods, the Thunderlord So release Odysseius and let him continue his journey Zeus was willing. He liked Odysseus He was more, and I quote, sensible than other humans You also get the sense of that Zeus tends to take the path of least resistance, agreeing with the last powerful woman in his life who's given him instructions Hermes, the messenger, was sent to tell Calypso to release Odysseus. Down went the handsome youthful God Calypsoa was distraught, but she did not dare to defy Zeus she brought her to s some tools She l in some stout trees. And she helped him fashion a raft After one Last night together in the cave Odysseus set off with wine and food and a gentle wind in his makeshift sail He stayed by the stars at night, but after seventeen days he reached the island of the Phaans Pesided who'd been distracted doing something else, suddenly realized that Vysus had gone away and spotted him clinging to his little raft Furious, he thrust his trident into the ocean and stirred. A nightmarish squall smashed Odysseus, wind blowing from all directions. He barely survived Savved by divine intervention ofisprusalland, he manages to get ashore He's washed up, naked, freezing. His entire expeditionary force is now dead. He's got no money, no booty, no clothes No ship, nothing at all. covers himself in Lee's for warmth He's terrified of the dangers that lurk for him on this new shore But instead of giants, witches and monsters He hears the laughter of girls. daughter of the King of Facia is throwing a ball with her entourage on the beach Possibly the first recorded. b game in history Odysseus talks his way out of a pretty challenging situation and ends up in the palace being wined and dined by her father Eventually, he tells everyone who he is. And he tells his story. A spell bound The King instantly orders that a ship be readady, heaped with treasure, Onddysseus is center board The final voyage to Ithaca is strangely uneventful. Odysseus is fast asleep when they arrive and they leave him in a cove. a mound of goodies treasure beside him. moreore wealth, in fact The need accumulated from the sack of Troy These generous facans then sail off home There's no happy ending for them But so often with people who Odysseus reaches out and touches They come to sticky ends. Poseidon turns the ship and its crew into a rock. punishment as they neared their home port. So as usual, Odysseus is fine The supporting cast gets absolutely rinsed Oh, I tell you what, I am absolutely freezing. I've just swam ashore on the coast of Ithaca. It seemed like a sort of Romantic irronic idea when we were planning this podcast a few months ago, I'm regretting it now. I'm just going to get my sandals on because the rocks here are so spiky and sharp. and my little feet can't cope And I'm going to head in land to exxplore Ea and try Find the out and warm up Well, the good thing about these islands is that if you are a bit chilly you go out of the water, you warm up pretty quick because they rise so steeply out of the waters of the Ionian that you get a a good sweat on climbing up the hills I'm climbing up the sides of Ithaca now. This is that famous island, one of the most famous islands in the world because of Homer and the Odyssey We do need to clear something up. There is A heated debate, which is for the real geeks like me is is modern Ithaca the Ithaca that's described in the Odyssey? and that really gets us into the discussion about what elements of the Odyssey, if any, are sort of rooted in history, in geography. Was there a king of Ithaca called Odysseus big health warning at this point. If it hasn't been clear until now, let me say categorically that this is a story in which a man consorts with gods survives a run in with a one eyed giant A six headed monster. He gets to look after a bag of wind, he goes into the underworld to chat with his dead mum and his former besties This, friends, is not a true story However Clearly a real culture, real places, people, stories, landscapes inspire this epic. And it is possible that the modern island of Itha is among those places. It is also possible That Homer had never been to Ithaca. It was just a romantic, far flung island on the very edge of the Greek world. and the poets who wrote the Odyssey, Homer, whatever you want to call them They just thought if they had a nice ring to it, we do not know. It is also possible everyone Now we'll get into it. The Ithaca is not actually Iacaca. Ithaca was another island. It's even possible that Ithaca was a peninsula of nearby Cefalonia that actually was formerly in isreland and is now not because of various seismic other activities, but we don't have to get into that, folks. I'm on an Island Cicer, and this is where I'm going to tell the rest of the story of the Odyssey. What is interesting is there is evidence of Bonze Age Greek, we've got Mycaean period building activity here in Ethaca and I'm heading up to a site now. There's a set of archeological remains here on this Lofty hillside which do date from the right kind of period in which the Odyssey, we think was set. It has been called the Palace of Odysseus, not just by modern tourists and local entrepreneurs, and not even just by sort of romantic Victorians. It's been called the Palace of Odysseus for a very, very long time indeed There is evidence at this site that I'm going to that there was an Odysseus cult here way back in ancient times So we associate it with Odysseus, but so did the Romans, so did the Hellenistic Greeks They came here immune with the spirit of Lus to connect with one of the great stories. Sit, look Maybe. Maybe, just maybe This was a royal palace, Maybe there was a king called Odysseus. But for the purpose of this podcast, telling the story of the Odyssey, it doesn't really matter because this is where I'm going go to talk about where our complicated, our much turned hither and thither hero finally ends up. You listen to Dan Snow's History hit. The best is yet to come. Tick with us You want to get your backyard summer ready, but you don't want to break the bank? Wayfair gets it. Planning on dining alfresco, or relaxing poolside? Wayfair has everything you need to prep your space. Shop now and save up to seventy percent off during Wayfair's fourth of July clearance. sccore huge deals on outdoor furniture, area rugs, and more. We're talking thousands of products for every style and budget Plus, sururprise Flash Deals july sixth. Don't wait. Shop Wayfare's fourth of July clearance now through july sixth at wayfare. com Pay fair, every style, every home. H Ever wondered what it feels like to be a gladiator, facing a roaring crowd and potential death in the Colosseum? Find out on the ancient podcast from History Hit. Twice a week, join me Tristan Hughes, as I hear exciting new research about people living thousands of years ago, from the Babylonians, to the Celts, to the Romans And visit the ancient sites which reveal who and just how amazing our distant ancestors were That's the ancients from History Hit Strange thing about the Odyssey, Well actually one of the very many strange things is Odysseus' behavior when he reaches Ithaca He doesn't just march sure into his palace and shout I'm home First things first, he hides the treasure he was given by the unfortunate Phaacians all that bronze, all the precious stuff. He and Athena, who is on hand, they stash it in a cave Then he knows he has to play it very cautious. I think this gives us an insight into power and authority in Homer', Greece He's been away for twenty years. So lots of his key allies and supporters, they're going to be dead or enfabbled A young generation will have grown up owing him nothing but the most superficial loyalty. He has lost the entire expeditionary force with which he sent saes twentywenty years before The first born sons of Ithaca, many of the elite, the pride of their parents Well, they disappeared over the horizon with Odysseus and not one of them comeome back No one bones are whitening on the dusty plains of Anatolia or being nibbled by sea creatures or lineing the edge of Scyilla's cave or you know, you get the point It is a military and demographic catastrophe of the highest order He's the only survivor, and embarrassingly, he also has a mountain of treasure He has to assume that his welcome might be a little bit frosty. Young bucks are eyeing his wife, his wealth his crown He cannot rely on a posse of old loyal comrades to reestablish his rule I think we can assume that power in Homer's Greece ebbed and flowed. Loyalty was transactional leadeadership was asserted gifted So this isn't the them decide that what they need to do first is conduct a thorough wcki She turned him into an old man And he went for a stroll First he called in an old slave, his pigman, his swine herd, who he thought he could rely on And sure enough, O Eumaeus, as he was called, welcomed Odysseus in King was rememember, disguarded an old man, he an old beggar. he's got rags on his back But you may have fed him and sheltered him in his humble abode and told him of the goings on in the palace Odyses' wife was being pressured by suitors to pick one of them She was resisting And while that stalemate went on The suitors were helping themselves to or the's food and wine Odyssus decided to take a closer look He went to the palace itself outside it on a dung heap Nnackered, neglected ancient was a flea bitten dog As Odysseus approached, it roused itself Its ears went back and with a yelp, it recognised its old master who had cradled it as a puppy twenty years earlier and then disappeared. This very touching moment The old dog staggered to its feet Aen Sorrowful Odysseus goes inside Now old begaran that he was, he's abused by the cockshaw young suitors in their fancy clothes Food was thrown him Homer gives us a glimpse into what a palace feast was like The housegirls brought baskets of bread and heaped it up beside them and houseboys fill their wine bowls up with drinks they reached to take the good things set before them. Once they were satisfied with food and drink, the suitors turned their minds to other things, singing and dancing, glories of the feast. A slave brought out a well tuned lyre and gave it to Phemius, the man the suitors forced to sing for them Wine, song and dance. A the fringes of the room were beggars. and Odysseius has to fight another beggar for table scraps. You'll be shocked to hear that the other guy took an absolute pasting Odysseus had look at things, he takes the lie of the land, and then he returns to the swine herd's hovel, where he reveals himself to his son Telemachus Athena briefly conveniently changes him back into his actual form, and he and father and son cling to each other weeping They also plan He tells his son the key thing is to take all the ornamental weapons off the wall, ostensibly for cleaning Thina does the rest She placed an idea inside Penelope's head Then she turns Odysseus back into an old beggar He and his son, Telemachus go to the palace They witness the quQeen announcing to the assembled suitors that she will indeed marry one of them Odysseus must be dead by now But to choose which one they must prove themselves Inspired by Athena, she sets them a challenge She wants them to match her former husband's skill and strength His mighty massive bow was fetched from a story arrows brought, and twelve battle axes placed one behind the other in a perfect line. In each there was a hole And she demanded that the suitors bend the bow atttach the bow string, fit an arrow, draw it back and shoot That arrow all of the axes. Siters can't believe their luck They squabble as to who will go first But one after the other, they try and they fail They can't even string the b. That is they can't bend it enough for them to fix the bowstring into the notches at either end certainly can get an arrow off turnurn nasty They accuse her of setting an impossible challenge But then an old Frail voice calls out from the back of the room. Beggar demanded his turn. was laughter and scorn. That skinny old bag of bones Telemachus, though called out that he should indeed be allow was silence As Odysseus stepped forward He caressed the bow. with the grip of an expert Checking for weakness reconnecting with his precious weapons. In a liquid move, he wraps it around a leg and heaves back the other tip. slipping the bow string over The string which sang like swallow song So far so good The suitors Horrified Pale. Zeus from his lofty perch unleashed a peal of thunder Odysseus emboldened by that sign from the son of Kronos, Lord of the gods, picked an arrow He notched it Fletching next to the string the wooden shaft resting on the bow Left leg forward, right back, shoulder square, but relaxed, head turned, looking straight over his left shoulder. He breathed in And in one movement brought up the bow, right arm back, bicep swollen. Le arm thrusting the center of the bow forward, tricep like steel withith this he now stood, bow bent into a shallow Uw, bronze arrow tip resting on the fingers of his left hand, white with gripping the bow One eye closed Pause. A breath out Steady as a statue An old beggar with the strength and poise of a demigd. The room spellbound And then fingers on his right hand releaseed the string The arrow hurtled straight and true. through the axes it went Thudding into a solid beam Shouts of protest, confusion Chaos Odysseus had his moment. His enemies were confounded. He ripped off his rags. He stood naked, muscles like knotted wood, scars of battle and hunting like tattoos across his body. the embodiment of a hero bellowed Playtime is over He whipped another arrow up to his cheek and trained the bow this time on a man, the leader of the suitors, Antinous, just taking another swig from a golden goblet. He saw the flash of bronze streaking for his throat, felt the impact and the last thing his brain registered was the torrent of hot blood that erupted from his neck. the gold Cup cltered to the floor his twitching feet lashed out and kicked the table over, bread and meat splashing pool of blood The suitors scrambled to defend themselves. They clawed at the walls for weapons but found they'd been taken down They ripped at the doors to escape and found them bolted. In the uproar, Telemachus took his place shoulder to shoulder with his father, sword at his side, spear in his hand, bronze weapons flashing The suitors still didn't understand. They thought perhaps this beggar accidentally killed Antinomus They screamed at Odysseus that the vultures would feed on his corpse. And Odysseus roared back dogs So you thought I would not come back home from Troy And so you fleeced my house while I am still alive. You thought no man would ever come back to take revenge. now you are trapped inside the snares of death. How they knew Now they understood Blood ran cold in their veins They saw death in that naked bone Sam desperately yelled that they were sorry It was all aninuous. It was his fault. haveave mercy. We'll pay you back for the food and wine. We didn't mean any disrespect Odysseus laughed and told them to fight or die their knees buckle Stop Brave ones tri to make a fight of it One of them tried to take the lead, U turn the tables, use them as shields, use your knives, swords, if you have them at your sides Odysseus sent an arrow smashing into his chest which sent more food smashing to the ground. Darkness drenched his eyes The fight back effort decapitated before it even started Odysseus shot until the arrows were spent Th he put on the horse hair plumed helmet that his son fetched for him, gripped a bronze tipped spear in both hands, and went to work Odysseus the city Sacer Odysseus the man slaughterer The suitors lay in the piles Fish houled up in a net from the deep, gasping in the hot sun as the air steals their lives Odysseus was smeared in blood like a lion that's gorgeed an ox Dreadful sight. Chest and jowls, red Hunting He looked upon his work The suitors were dead to a man I'm just sitting on a boulder looking at these old T warm stones Yeah at Odysseus's so called palace in Ithaca. And folks, you'll forgive me for getting a little bit carried away, a little bit romantic here It is intoxicating to imagine Something like that actually happening here. A version of it. Imagine some of these stones witnessed that terrible slaughter that day. After the battle in the palace, Odysseus ordered the bodies of the men he'd slaughtered be cleared out He sort of takes control very vigorously. The king is back in his palace at this point. He orders the floors be scrubbed, the walls cleaned, and the air fumigated