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Today on Ascend, the Great Books Podcast, we start our 12 week study of the Odyssey leading up to the new Christopher Nolan movie. And we start with book one with Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos of Wyoming Catholic College and Dr. Frank Grabowski of Holy Family Classical School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I'm in debt to both these gentlemen. They do a fantastic job of unpacking all the beauty and depth in book one. Homer is a teacher, he has many things to teach us and today's conversation is fantastic in a wonderful way to to kick off the study of the Odyssey. Also, for those who've been around for a while, you know that we did a year of Homer in 2024 and so we're going to kick it back to an old school Ascend where I start off the episode with a summary, a quick narrative of what we're discussing. So here is a narrative of book one. Sing to me of the Man Muse, the Man of twists and Turns all the Achaean survivors of the Trojan War are safe at home, except for the one who remains stranded on Calypso's island. The Due to Poseidon's wrath, Odysseus. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, pleads with Zeus to help the king of Ithaca, and Zeus explains that Poseidon, the God of the sea, is forever fuming against Odysseus because he blinded the sea God's son, the cyclops Polyphemus. Zeus consults the gods and they concur on two proposals from Athena. First, that Hermes tell Calypso, an immortal nymph, that Odysseus must be set free from her island, and second, Athena will go to Ithaca and help Odysseus son Telemachus search for his father. Homer tells us that the house of Odysseus is full of suitors vying for the hand of Penelope, the queen of Ithaca. Odysseus wife Athena, disguised as Mentes, tells Telemachus his father is alive and will return soon. Athena, as Mentes, tells Telemachus to act, to be a man and to sail in search of his father and to visit his father's friends from the Trojan War. The book ends with Telemachus having the courage to confront the suitors and then being cared for by his childhood nurse. Welcome to Ascend the Great Books Podcast. My name is Deacon Harrison Garlic. I live in rural Oklahoma with my wife and five children. I serve as a deacon at Holy Family Cathedral and as chancellor and general Counsel for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa. We're recording on a beautiful afternoon here at the Chancery if you're new to a sand, we're a weekly podcast that helps you read the great books. We've covered the Iliad, many of the replays, many of Plato's dialogue, some short stories, Dante's Inferno and much, much more. We can be like a small group to you. We can help you read the great books. We have guides, all kinds of articles, podcasts, videos, everything you need to read these great books. It is very much worth your time. Check us out at X, YouTube, Facebook. We have Instagram now which is amazing. I don't run it because I won't download it on my phone, but someone else is so you can go check us out on Instagram. And we have a Patreon. Appreciate all of our supporters who have access to our written guides and also to community chats. So if you want to chat with other people while you're reading the great books, you can come join our Patreon page and visit the great books podcast dot com. Okay, today, today is an excellent day. We are starting a 12 week study of the Odyssey leading up to the new Christopher Nolan movie, which this will be great, beautiful. We have really high expectations, right, that he's going to stick close to Homer. We'll also have an episode after the weekend after the movie comes out. So the movies will come out and we'll have like a reaction episode. I don't have a lot of hope, but we'll compare him to Homer and see how he does. But today we are starting with book one of probably one of the most important books that you could ever read. And to guide us, we have two amazing guests. First we have Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos, who is the associate professor of humanities at Wyoming Catholic. He's joined by several times on the podcast before. Always appreciate his insights. Very humbled that he has returned. Dr. Pavlos, how are you today?
