What Happens in The Odyssey?

Summary

What Happens in The Odyssey?

Dan Snow's History Hit
Episode Date: July 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this sweeping retelling, Dan Snow traces the epic voyage and perils of Odysseus as chronicled in Homer's The Odyssey. Framed by on-location narration from the landscapes of the Mediterranean, Dan delivers not just a summary, but an immersive journey through ancient myth, blending vivid storytelling, historical context, and critical reflection on what makes the Odyssey timeless. The episode unfolds chronologically, exploring Odysseus' pitfalls, the myth’s historical roots, and its enduring impact.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction: Why The Odyssey?

• Dan sets the stage by placing The Odyssey at the heart of the Western storytelling tradition.
  • "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." (01:43)
• The narrative structure and emotional arc are established: the lowest lows, an epic showdown, culminating in homecoming and reconciliation.
  • Quote: "It is every story that has come before and every story that has come since." (02:04)

2. Setting the Scene: Troy and the Bronze Age Backdrop

• Dan broadcasts from the ruins of Troy, reflecting on the archaeology, the myth’s possible historical underpinnings, and its legendary siege.

  • Evocative imagery of poppy-strewn fields and ruined walls underscores the blend of real and imagined history. (06:31–11:50)

• Discussion of Troy’s strategic importance and Schliemann’s excavation.

• The role of Odysseus in devising the Trojan Horse, leading to Troy’s fall. (11:50–14:12)

3. The Perilous Voyage Begins

• After Troy, the Odyssey becomes “a story about bad weather”—the Mediterranean Sea as a force of chaos and divine wrath.

  • "There are no pastures in the Odyssey, where Odysseus lies under a shady canopy complaining about the heat...there are storms." (14:48)

• The anger of the gods—punishment for Greek sacrilege and hubris after Troy. (15:28–16:09)

  • Some Greeks die or are blown far off course; Odysseus sacks a Thracian city, and his overreaching ambition is highlighted as a tragic flaw. (16:18–18:42)

4. Odysseus as Hero: Ancient and Modern Views

• The complexity of the ancient Greek concept of 'hero'.
  • "In Greek, it's something much more nuanced. Hero...is someone who is so ambitious to be remembered...it also leads them eventually to utter ruin." (16:42–17:33)
  • Modern analogies made: Tony Soprano, Napoleon—figures we watch with awe and dread. (17:41–18:04)

5. Island-Hopping and Mythic Trials

• Geography of the Greek world and how islands shape story and culture. (19:20–21:05)
  • "These islands have shaped the Greek character, the Greek story. Greece is Greece because of its particular geography." (19:23)
• First supernatural encounter—the Lotus Eaters. Odysseus rescues men addicted to forgetfulness. (22:30–23:21)
  • Quote: "They had forgotten home. In the end, Odysseus had to go and find them. And he dragged them back to the boats, tied them up below deck..." (23:01–23:06)

6. The Cyclops Polyphemus—Heroism and Hubris

• The infamous cave episode on Sicily or nearby.
  • Description of Cyclops’ brutality and Odysseus’ infamous 'Nobody' trick. (25:19–29:23)
  • Quote: "He knocked them hard against the ground like puppies, so that the floor was wet with brains." (26:50)
  • In his escape, Odysseus foolishly reveals his name, invoking Poseidon’s curse. (29:38–30:50)
  • "He wanted the cyclops to know who had done this to him." (30:08)

7. More Adventures: The Bag of Winds and Cannibal Giants

• The gift of the winds from Aeolus, nearly home, but sabotaged by his own crew's curiosity—blown back to Aeolus and then cast away. (34:39–35:55)
  • Notable moment: "Nine days and nights they had the perfect breeze...but at that point Odysseus...was overcome with exhaustion and fell asleep. His men grumbled...They snuck into the stern, undid the bag...and instantly all the winds rushed out." (35:03–35:30)
• The Laestrygonians, cannibal giants, destroy all but one ship—the greatest losses of his journey. (36:08–37:32)

8. Circe’s Island: Sorcery and Seduction

• The men are turned into pigs by Circe; Odysseus, aided by Hermes, resists, secures his men’s release, and stays for a year as Circe’s lover. (37:36–40:17)
• The goddess directs Odysseus to seek guidance in the Underworld. (40:44)

9. Journey to the Underworld: Prophecy and Loss

• Encountering the shades of the dead (Agamemnon, Achilles, his mother), and receiving prophecy from Tiresias. (41:05–42:49)
• The pivotal warning: do not harm the cattle of the Sun God Helios. (42:17)

10. The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis

• Odysseus, curious, has himself bound to hear the Sirens' song ("the thing which all men desire more than anything—to listen to their own praises") (44:06–44:29)
• The monster Scylla snatches six men; Charybdis swallows the sea. Most heart-wrenching scene for Odysseus. (45:34–45:53)

11. The Cattle of the Sun and the Final Disaster

• Trapped by storms, the crew grows hungry and, despite oaths, slaughter Helios' cattle. Zeus destroys the ship; all die but Odysseus. (46:12–48:43)

12. Calypso: Island Captivity and Despair

• Odysseus is washed up on Calypso’s island, held for seven years, desiring only home. (49:15–49:52)
  • "He was forced to have sex with her, living in this succulent island prison, wanting for nothing apart from his freedom and home." (49:19)
• Back in Ithaca, Penelope and Telemachus beset by aggressive suitors, palace in disarray. (49:54–50:27)
• Divine intervention: Athena persuades Zeus to free Odysseus; Calypso helps him build a raft. (50:58–52:11)

13. Among the Phaeacians: Hospitality and Homecoming

• Washed up exhausted, Odysseus is aided by the Phaeacians (Nausicaa, her father the king) who send him home with treasure. (52:25–53:30)
• Poseidon punishes the Phaeacians for helping Odysseus. (53:33)

14. Return to Ithaca: Disguise, Revenge, and Restoration

• Odysseus returns secretly, hides his treasure, and surveys his changed kingdom, disguised by Athena as a beggar. (59:11–61:14)
• Reunion with loyal swineherd Eumaeus, revealing himself at last to his son Telemachus. (60:55–62:00)
  • Touching moment as Odysseus’ old dog recognizes him and dies of old age and joy. (61:38–61:47)
• The contest of the bow: Penelope’s test for the suitors. (63:20–64:08)
  • "An old frail voice calls out...The beggar demanded his turn." (64:31)
  • Odysseus strings his bow and shoots through the axes—a feat none but the true king could accomplish. (65:42–66:18)
• The slaughter of the suitors: Odysseus and Telemachus avenge the abuse of their home. (66:23–69:09)
  • Violence is thorough—even disloyal slave girls are executed in retribution. (69:24–71:11)

15. Penelope’s Final Test and Reunion

• Penelope remains hesitant: a final test involving the immovable marriage bed convinces her Odysseus is the real man. (71:15–72:08)
  • "He said, you can't move our marriage bed...it was locked into the fabric of the house. It was then that Penelope could relax. This was her husband. He was back. Only he could know that intimate detail of their life. And she threw herself into his arms. Odysseus was home." (71:15–72:08)

16. Aftermath and the Unfinished Ending

• The Odyssey does not end with domestic bliss. The relatives of the slain suitors demand vengeance, precipitating near civil war, quelled by Athena. (72:08–72:53)
• Odysseus still has tasks left by prophecy—most notably carrying an oar inland to make peace with Poseidon, and rest only after more wandering. (72:53–73:30)
  • "For Odysseus and men like him, there is no end." (73:28)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the timeless hero:

  • "Hero...in one of these epic tales is someone who is so ambitious to be remembered, someone 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." (16:42)

• On myth vs history:

  • "This friends, is not a true story, however, clearly a real culture, real places, people, stories, landscapes inspired this epic." (55:04)
  • "It is intoxicating to imagine something like that actually happening here. Imagine if some of these stones witnessed that terrible slaughter that day.” (69:44)

• On homecoming:

  • "He was tall, strong. We hear that his hair was as thick and curly as hyacinth." (71:11)

• On the enduring nature of the Odyssey:

  • "For Odysseus and men like him, there is no end." (73:28)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:43 — Introduction: the foundational nature of the Odyssey.
• 06:31–11:50 — Dan sets the stage at Troy, links myth with archaeology.
• 14:48 — The Greek gods’ anger, storms begin Odysseus’ troubles.
• 16:42–18:04 — Discussion of heroism and its perils (ambition, glory, downfall).
• 22:30–23:21 — The Lotus Eaters: first supernatural test.
• 25:19–30:50 — The Cyclops: cunning and hubris, Poseidon's curse.
• 34:39–37:32 — Bag of winds; Laestrygonians’ destruction of Odysseus’s fleet.
• 37:36–40:17 — The Circe episode; rescue and enchanted captivity.
• 41:05–42:49 — Underworld: prophecies and the caution about the sun god’s cattle.
• 44:06–45:53 — The Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis.
• 46:12–48:43 — Slaughter of Helios' cattle, the destruction of the crew.
• 49:15–50:27 — Calypso; the plight at home in Ithaca.
• 52:25–53:33 — Phaeacians help Odysseus return; Poseidon’s retribution.
• 59:11–61:14 — Cautious return, magical disguise, and reconnaissance on Ithaca.
• 63:20–64:08 — Penelope’s bow contest and the looming reckoning.
• 64:31–66:18 — Odysseus strings the bow; the great reveal.
• 66:23–69:09 — The slaughter and reclaiming of Ithaca.
• 71:15–72:08 — Penelope’s test and couple’s reunion.
• 72:53–73:30 — The Odyssey’s conclusion: lingering turmoil and unfinished journeys.

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Tone and Language

Dan Snow’s delivery is richly descriptive, by turns reflective, witty, and cinematic. He weaves in critical commentary with a healthy measure of speculation, always conscious of modern sensitivities versus ancient values. Humor, awe, and scholarly caution hallmark the narrative, making the myth present and thought-provoking.

• On Odysseus’ adventures: wry remarks about “Greek yachting holidays”; skepticism about rooting for such a ‘hero.’
• On mythic violence and ambiguity: notes on how little sympathy modern listeners might find in Odysseus’ actions.
• Frequent asides on the pleasure and “intoxication” of contemplating myth on the very landscapes that inspired it.

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Closing

Dan concludes with acknowledgments and a note on upcoming episodes, previewing deeper literary and historical analysis with special guests (Professors Edith Hall and Mary Beard). He underscores how The Odyssey’s complications persist—there is no simple rest for Odysseus, or for those who recount, reinterpret, and retell his story.

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For listeners new to The Odyssey, this episode is an entertaining, thoughtful, and thorough guide—a seafaring adventure, a meditation on storytelling, and a bridge from Bronze Age mythology to today.

Transcript

[Dan Snow]

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[Dan Snow (on location)]

It is the original story. It's foundational. It is essential.

[Dan Snow]

A man goes on an adventure.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

He goes on a voyage. Many different things happen to him. Terrible things. Deadly things. Romantic. Beautiful. Fantastic.

[Dan Snow]

Lucky.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

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, family and home. It is every story that has come before and every story that has come since.

[Dan Snow]

And that is the story I'm going

[Dan Snow (on location)]

to be telling today, folks.

[Dan Snow]

As I look to the east, Rosy Fingered dawn has done her work.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

The sky is the color of roses. It's early in the day. A full day at sea awaits.

[Dan Snow]

The rig is taut. My provisions are packed

[Dan Snow (on location)]

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 Odyssey season, we'll be exploring

[Dan Snow]

the actual history behind the myth and

[Dan Snow (on location)]

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 sunsail vessel, cleaving through the water, and I am going to tell the story of the Odyssey.

[Dan Snow]

So take your place on the benches, grip an oar, push off and smite the wine.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Dark waters. You listen to dad Snow's history, and

[Dan Snow]

together we are making for Ithaca.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The Odyssey is a sequel.

[Dan Snow]

It's an account of the 10 years

[Narrator/Storyteller]

that follow the conclusion of the Trojan

[Dan Snow]

War, the massive Greek expedition to Asia

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Minor to subdue the proud city of

[Dan Snow]

Troy and bring home Spartan queen Helen, who had eloped or been tricked into leaving her husband and moving to Troy with her boyfriend. It's a story divided up into 24 sections or books. And Homer starts the story not with Odysseus, but by talking about the chaos

[Narrator/Storyteller]

on the island of Ithaca, home of the hero Odysseus.

[Dan Snow]

We learn in this first section, Odysseus

[Narrator/Storyteller]

is missing in action, presumed lost at sea.

[Dan Snow]

He's been away, unaccounted for, for nearly 10 years. His wife, Queen Penelope, is holding out hope. His teenage son Telemachus is sad and

[Narrator/Storyteller]

angry in a very teenage way. He misses the father he never knew.

[Dan Snow]

And he's also being belittled.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

He's being threatened. He's being mocked by a 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.

[Dan Snow]

It's not until around 20% of the way into the story that we finally

[Narrator/Storyteller]

meet our hero, the sacker of cities, the wily Odysseus. When we first glimpse Odysseus, he's trapped on an island, specifically 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.

[Dan Snow]

He is forced to live on this tropical island, making love to a beautiful

[Narrator/Storyteller]

goddess that isn't his wife. It's a terrible ordeal.

[Dan Snow]

It's only from that point onwards that

[Narrator/Storyteller]

we really hear about the journey, the adventure that he's been on.

[Dan Snow]

Now, for the purposes of this telling, for this episode, I'm going to go

[Narrator/Storyteller]

straight to the start of Odysseus's journey.

[Dan Snow]

I'm going to tell that chronologically, from

[Narrator/Storyteller]

the beginning, without jumping around like Homer does.

[Dan Snow]

The focus in this episode is going

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to be on that epic voyage home and what happens when he gets home. There'll be other episodes in this series

[Dan Snow (on location)]

that can look at all the bigger

[Narrator/Storyteller]

themes of the Odyssey. Is there any basis in historical fact here?

[Dan Snow]

Might something like this have happened? But also what it tells us about

[Narrator/Storyteller]

ancient Greek fatherhood, kinship, all that sort of thing. But for now, let's just revel in the story. And that story starts in Troy at the end of the war.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

My journey starts here. It is a beautiful spring day. I'm on a raised hill, a raised piece of ground. There's lots of beautiful wildflowers 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 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 Dardanelles. 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 of 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 what Odysseus and the Greeks here thousands of years ago. I'm looking down at what according to Homer, would have been the field of battle for a decade, for 10 years, all the terrible sights and sounds of conflict. Men dropping their guts in rough trenches, corpses, filth carrying for birds of prey and breeding grounds for pestilence. In those fields down there, men watch their mates coughing blood. They cradle them, their dying moments, their intestines loosed by Trojan bronze. Down there, the Greeks would have wept beside funeral pyres, 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 1870s by by the eccentric and treasure seeking archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. He's the man who excavated here. He excavated Mycenaean 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 constant activity here for thousands of years. There was building work here 4,000 years ago, and it continued as an important settlement right the way through the Roman period. So archaeologists have 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 so you've got elements of all nine of those Troys spread 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 VI and 7. There's evidence of magnificent walls. In fact, I'm looking at some of these walls now. Huge, big blocks of stone. Even today, they stretch six or seven meters above the ground. But they would have reached more than that, 9, 10 metres. There are big square watchtowers you can see the foundations of. And there would have been palatial buildings on the top of this hill. Recent discoveries suggest there was a much wider settlement that flowed down the slopes of this hill and out into the plain below, of which perhaps only 2% has been excavated today. So you're talking about a very serious site, late Bronze Age, so 1700ish BC to 1200ish BCE. Now, archaeologists and historians are attached to that because that roughly corresponds to the flourishing of a place called Mycenae in the Greek world, which in the Trojan War myth is the king of Mycenae was Agamemnon, the overall commander of the Greek force. So we can say that 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 1200 BCE, this site was destroyed. There is destruction evidence, there is evidence for burning. So perhaps it was destroyed by a foreign enemy. Perhaps they were Mycenaeans, perhaps they were Greeks, and perhaps there were people called Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus in that Greek force. But now, sadly, we're entering the realms of the absolute speculation. But this is a podcast all about that myth, so let's just keep speculating. It was here that we are told that the Greeks and the Trojans were locked in stalemate for a decade. But 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 godlike in battle, he could take his place beside Ajax, even the demigod 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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The horse was his idea. You know the story. The Greeks built a massive horse made of wood.

[Dan Snow]

The Trojans were famous horsemen, so the Greeks left it outside their gates.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It was an offering. Was an apology, a reparation, a parting gift? Well, certainly.

[Dan Snow]

It looked as if the Greeks had left.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The lookouts on the battlements saw no ships.

[Dan Snow]

Their ore powered vessels had been hauled off the beach.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

They'd gone. Their camp, once a city of tents

[Dan Snow]

and people, was now just a sea

[Narrator/Storyteller]

of junk, detritus, abandonment.

[Dan Snow]

The Trojans had a debate. There was a prophetess, Cassandra.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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 and then partied. With 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.

[Dan Snow]

In the dead of night, a hatch

[Narrator/Storyteller]

opened in the horse's belly and out came climbed the elite of the Greek army. Godlike Odysseus, daring Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, with a point to prove, Thrasymedes, son of wise old King Nestor and others. They tipped over comatose revelers, overpowered the

[Dan Snow]

sleepy gate guard, lifted the mighty beam that held those towering gates in place and threw them open.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Those lofty gates, barred for a decade now, wide open and in like a torrent rushed the rest of the Greek army, which had hidden itself round the corner and had snuck back under cover of darkness. The ensuing slaughter can be imagined. Men butchered, blood ran in torrents, drenching the earth. Women and children, screaming, shackled, marched off to the boats. A lifetime of enslavement ahead. Troy.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Burn.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The Greeks bickered over the spoils of war. Of course, they sailed home in their contingents. There was no Greece after all.

[Dan Snow]

A quarrelsome galaxy of statelets with a shared language, religion and culture and interest

[Narrator/Storyteller]

in other people's treasure and women. There were Spartans, Myrmidons, Cretans, Ithacans.

[Dan Snow]

And now they all went on their

[Narrator/Storyteller]

way, their hulls groaning with booty. The voyage home had begun.

[Dan Snow]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

In your mind's eye, there are storms.

[Dan Snow]

And frankly, from the description of sailing and weather and shivering nights under woollen blankets, I would tell you, if I had to take a guess, that this story was actually set in the Isles of Scilly or Orkney.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It's a reminder, I suppose, the Mediterranean can be a lot more violent in its weather than us vacationers give it credit for.

[Dan Snow]

We get our first storm right off the bat. It's the first of many storms that Disus will experience. The gods were angry at the Greeks for their astonishing rapacious violence. Friends, it takes a lot for the

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Greek gods who love war, seemingly to

[Dan Snow]

say, no, that is too much.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Too much.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

You cross the line.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But the Greeks managed it.

[Dan Snow]

Trojan temples have been despoiled, priestesses are

[Narrator/Storyteller]

brutalized, and the gods were angry.

[Dan Snow]

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 off course, they went and settled in Libya or even the Balearics. Ibiza enters the chat.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

At this point.

[Dan Snow]

Others, like Ajax, the mighty Ajax, were killed.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Their corpses, food for fishes. Odysseus, for his part, is only blown

[Dan Snow]

to Thrace, not very far away.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It's in northern Greece.

[Dan Snow]

He takes the opportunity there to sack another city, as he put it, his own words. I sacked the town and killed the men. We took their wives and shared their

[Narrator/Storyteller]

riches equally among us.

[Dan Snow]

And this point probably worth mentioning, that

[Narrator/Storyteller]

a close reading of the Odyssey, I

[Dan Snow]

have to say, makes it a little

[Narrator/Storyteller]

tricky for a modern audience to really root for Odysseus. But, you know, different times, I guess.

[Dan Snow]

I had a fascinating chat on that subject with the classicist Emily Hauser, and she gave me a really valuable insight. The word hero in English is unambiguous.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It's a character we root for and that most time we admire, we approve of, we maybe want to be like.

[Dan Snow]

In Greek, it's something much more nuanced. Hero in one of these epic tales is someone who is so ambitious to be remembered, someone 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 honor 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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And there's definitely a whiff of Napoleon here.

[Dan Snow]

Millions might die as they try and

[Narrator/Storyteller]

sate their appetite for glory.

[Dan Snow]

It's not a great parallel, but I wonder if a useful modern approximation is Tony Soprano. We can't look away. We're almost impressed by so many elements

[Narrator/Storyteller]

of his character and his deeds, but

[Dan Snow]

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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

admiring, sympathizing or rooting for. And that's why Odysseus the hero is not always sympathetic.

[Dan Snow]

In the Odyssey, he often makes mistakes, and most of those mistakes come from his overweening 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. While the Ithacans were enjoying their stolen

[Narrator/Storyteller]

wine and other men's wives, the Thracians counterattacked.

[Dan Snow]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And those fallen soldiers would not be the last.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Well, the weather's nice and clear now, no storms about. In fact, it's so calm that we've had to turn the engine on. Unlike Odysseus, we're lucky enough to be able to push our boat through the water when there's no wind. With an engine, we don't have to row.

[Dan Snow]

I've got time to look around me now, and what you realise, first of

[Dan Snow (on location)]

all is there's just a multitude of islands here in the Ionian, but I think I can probably see about a dozen. I've got Lefkas, mighty Lefkas, 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 islands are 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, there's 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 had 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 have a Bronze Age without copper. But there are also a thousand places to hide your ship from gales, sudden squalls, or even enemy ships.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Ships.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

There's just so many little harbours 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

[Dan Snow]

not forget, all of that meant that

[Dan Snow (on location)]

a diverse collection of statelets popped up. They were sort of ever shifting. Sometimes one island would hold way over

[Dan Snow]

a neighbour, other times it might be

[Dan Snow (on location)]

the other way around. There were pirates, there were kings all over this scattered landscape. And often they were one and the same person.

[Dan Snow]

Each island that I'm looking at might

[Dan Snow (on location)]

have its own government, to a certain extent, its own rule, society, character, idiosyncrasies. In the Odyssey, our hero bounces from island to island.

[Dan Snow]

He never quite knows who he's going to find.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

And that idea brings us to his first unreal experience. Odysseus has been foolish, flung across the waves by a savage gale which ripped his sails, healed his ships right over. And he arrived at an island, a lush island where the population were 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 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, he'd 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 shore, so. So 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

[Dan Snow]

on the shore and left there.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

And the crews would typically camp on the beach beside the hulls. On this particular occasion, Odysseus sent men in shore to have a recce to 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 were addicted to a special sweet, delicious fruit. Odysseus tells us that once they ate

[Dan Snow]

it, they lost the will to come back.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

They had forgotten home.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

In the end Odysseus had to go and find them. And he dragged them back to the

[Dan Snow]

boats, he tied them up below the

[Dan Snow (on location)]

deck and he ordered his men to get back on their benches and smite the gray waters with their oars. This is an interesting story because this is the first brush with the supernatural. And in the Odyssey it would be

[Narrator/Storyteller]

the first of many.

[Dan Snow]

Next, Odysseus pulls up at another island, this one home to the cyclops, the one eyed giant.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Now we have obviously no idea where this is.

[Dan Snow]

Euripides, the ancient Greek playwright, he locates the land of the Cyclops on the isle of Sicily. He thinks it's near Mount Etna. Now Virgil, the Roman epic poet, he has the Cyclops also living on Sicily, also near Mount Etna.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Now who am I to disagree with Euripides and Virgil?

[Dan Snow]

Let's say that Odysseus next voyage is up here to north east Sicily.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

In the shadow of Etna are famous.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

There are caves all over this landscape. They've been sacred sites, they've been storehouses and now many of them tourist attractions. The hillside here is absolutely dotted with them.

[Dan Snow]

So it feels like the right place

[Dan Snow (on location)]

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 at his most foolish, but also his cleverest, his most wily. It's from this story I think we get that reputation that he was a trickster, cunning, brilliant man.

[Dan Snow]

A man capable of planning a subterfuge

[Dan Snow (on location)]

like the Trojan horse. But this particular episode is hugely important because it is one that determines his and his men's fate.

[Dan Snow]

He pulled his ships up onto the

[Dan Snow (on location)]

beach in a good natural harbor.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It was an island cloaked in fog. And after sleeping on that beach he explored inland. He was pleased to see there were lots of goats here for the cooking skewers. They ate well, the meat washed down with strong wine.

[Dan Snow]

And the next day he pushed further inland. Having good Explore, he and 12 his

[Narrator/Storyteller]

favorite men found a cave in which somebody lived.

[Dan Snow]

Was well appointed, but everything was on a massive scale. It was obviously a home, but it

[Narrator/Storyteller]

was a home to a giant. There were crates weighed down with cheese, there were pens full of lambs, there were well crafted bowls for milking.

[Dan Snow]

His men urged him to steal as much they could and then get out

[Narrator/Storyteller]

of there, hurry back. But Odysseus refused. He wanted to stay he wanted to meet the giant. Odysseus later admits in his words that

[Dan Snow]

leaving would have been the better choice.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

He brought no joy to my companions. And that, friends, is an understatement. At dinner time, the giant came back,

[Dan Snow]

brought in his flock of sheep and

[Narrator/Storyteller]

rolled a huge rock over the entrance of the cave. Then he built a fire and he did some chores.

[Dan Snow]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

This giant with one eye, this cyclops grabbed two men.

[Dan Snow]

And then Odysseus words knocked them hard against the ground like puppies, so that the floor was wet with brains.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Then he devoured them like a mountain lion. Odysseus wanted to kill the giant, but

[Dan Snow]

he realized that he wouldn't be able

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to shift the entrance stone. His surviving men would just eventually die beside the corpse of the cyclops which they'd killed.

[Dan Snow]

So he'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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

flocks for the day.

[Dan Snow]

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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

that he and his men were carrying with them. The cyclops loved it. He was unused to wine. He was more a goat's milk kind of guy.

[Dan Snow]

Odysseus tells the cyclops in a slightly

[Narrator/Storyteller]

friendly chat that his name was no Man. The cyclops then fell into a drunken stupor.

[Dan Snow]

We hear that he vomited out the

[Narrator/Storyteller]

wine with chunks of human flesh in it.

[Dan Snow]

At that point, Odysseus leaps into action. He'd spent the entire day whittling a

[Narrator/Storyteller]

huge log into a sharp pointed spear.

[Dan Snow]

His men now shouldered that weapon and heated the T in the fire. Then they rammed it with all their strength into the eye of the cyclops. They plunged it in and twisted as a man drills wood for shipbuilding, the cyclops blood poured out. The sound was like the shriek of a red hot axe head when a blacksmith drops it into ice cold water.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So did his eyeball crackle on the spear, Odysseus later says, horribly. Then he howled.

[Dan Snow]

Neighboring cyclopses came running and asked if he was okay. He roared that no man was killing him. So he told him to shut up

[Narrator/Storyteller]

and get a grip. In the morning, the wounded cyclops rolled

[Dan Snow]

back the rock to let his flocks out.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

They slept to go out and graze. He couldn't keep them locked in the cave for the rest of their lives.

[Dan Snow]

But to make sure Odysseus couldn't escape, he put his massive arm across the entrance and 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 curly fleeces. The cyclops checked each one of them, but only by brushing his hand over

[Narrator/Storyteller]

their backs and sides. He didn't think to check underneath. And Odysseus and his men escaped. They herded the beasts aboard their ship.

[Dan Snow]

They pulled their oars through whitening waters. They rowed for their lives.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And then Odysseus does something inexplicably stupid. Odysseus, giddy with the excitement of the escape, roared abuse at the cyclops.

[Dan Snow]

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, the crew were right. Instead, Odysseus decided to shout the that

[Narrator/Storyteller]

he was Odysseus of Ithaca.

[Dan Snow]

He wanted the cyclops to know who

[Narrator/Storyteller]

had done this to him.

[Dan Snow]

And the cyclops raised his arms into the heavens and bellowed, listen, earthshaker. Blue haired lord Poseidon, acknowledge me your son and be my father. Grant that Odysseus the city sacker, 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 honour, in pain and lacking ships, then having caused the death of all his men and let him find more trouble in

[Narrator/Storyteller]

his own house, well, that sent ice through the soul of every man aboard.

[Dan Snow]

The Cyclops turned out, unfortunately, to be the son of the sea God Poseidon.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Surely they were now cursed men. They sailed on, no doubt looking at the sea around them, uneasily mourning the ever mounting casualty list, terrified by the Cyclops incantations.

[Dan Snow]

You listen to Dan Snow's history. Don't go anywhere.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

There's more to come.

[Dan Snow]

Summer's 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. Tell my wife that 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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

is such a solid option.

[Dan Snow]

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 1,000 bonus points and a chance to win 250,000 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 [e-mail] no additional purchase necessary. For sweeps, See Bonus Point, TNCS and Sweeps Rules for details and visit bestwestern.com

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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[Dan Snow]

At first, it all went reasonably well. They arrive at another mythical island Called Aeolius, a floating island where the inhabitants feast and liberties. The king gave Odysseus a leather bag tied with silver, while in it was wind, gusty winds, because this king was

[Narrator/Storyteller]

steward of the winds, appointed by Zeus, king of the gods.

[Dan Snow]

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 and fell asleep. His men grumbled that Odysseus was hoarding

[Narrator/Storyteller]

all the precious, mysterious treasure that had been given to him by the king of Aulius.

[Dan Snow]

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 storm winds were push them all the way back to Aelius.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Odysseus walked up to the palace hoping

[Dan Snow]

for more feasting and perhaps another bag of wind.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But no.

[Dan Snow]

The king was sure now that Odysseus

[Narrator/Storyteller]

was hated by the gods.

[Dan Snow]

He sent him away.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odysseus says that they were dispirited and they grew worn out with the agony of rowing because their folly had deprived them of fair winds. They apparently rode for a week before coming to Lystragonia.

[Dan Snow]

Here they met more giants as a tall agenda.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

I have to say I resent the implications made in the Odyssey. That height is usually an indicator of extreme barbarity.

[Dan Snow]

But sure enough, these were pretty barbarous dudes. The people of Laestrygone ate his men. They rushed to clifftops and rained down rocks on his fleet. Ships splintered into flotsam. Men in the water were speared like fish. Odysseus cut through the cables of his ship with his sword and roared at

[Narrator/Storyteller]

his men to row.

[Dan Snow]

They pulled for their lives and just

[Narrator/Storyteller]

reached the open sea. Once out of range, they took stock. They were alone. They were the only crew to survive.

[Dan Snow]

Now I find it very strange that this is the moment when Odysseus loses his entire fleet. This is one of the greatest disasters

[Narrator/Storyteller]

of this disaster strewn story.

[Dan Snow]

And yet the Laestryconians, they don't really get their fair share when it comes

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to art and stories and culture. This is the forgotten catastrophe of the Odyssey. I have a little feeling that might be put right in the forthcoming movie. Let's see.

[Dan Snow]

After all their losses at Troy, the vast majority of the Ithacans are wiped out.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Here their Flesh devoured by these giants

[Dan Snow]

or by the fish in the abyss

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to which the ships were sent by the barrage of rocks. Off the survivors sailed.

[Dan Snow]

The lonely ship reached another island, this one, Aiea.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

They lay on the beach exhausted, their hearts consumed with grief.

[Dan Snow]

It was only on the third day

[Narrator/Storyteller]

that they went inland and explored. A recce 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 escaped from thus far.

[Dan Snow]

Instead, though, they found a beautiful house

[Narrator/Storyteller]

surrounded by drugged animals, wolves and lions just lolling about. And from inside this house, they heard singing. It was Circe, who we're told was a beautiful, dreadful goddess. The men approached. She welcomed them. She gave them food and wine. 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.

[Dan Snow]

Cersei tapped the men one by one

[Narrator/Storyteller]

with a wand as they gorged at this banquet and. And they were transformed into pigs. They squealed in terror as they were herded into a pen.

[Dan Snow]

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 inland

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to rescue his men, to cast off

[Dan Snow]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Instead, Odysseus determined to go back for his crewman. No man would be left behind. He strapped his silver studded sword across his back and went.

[Dan Snow]

Now, thankfully, he was stopped in his

[Narrator/Storyteller]

tracks by a God at this point,

[Dan Snow]

the boyish messenger God, Hermes, who tipped him off and gave him the antidote

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to Circe's magic, a white flower with a black root. Thank goodness for that. He arrived at Circe's house and he was invited in.

[Dan Snow]

She sat him down in a lovely chair, pushed a footstool beneath his feet, mixed him a drink in a gold

[Narrator/Storyteller]

cup into which she slipped her drug.

[Dan Snow]

After he took a deep draught of this drink, she tapped him with her wand and ordered him to the pigsty.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odysseus drew his sword and stood over her, ready to strike. How do you like that?

[Dan Snow]

She begged him to stay his hand. There's a great quote here. Now sheathe your sword and come to bed with me. Through making love, we may begin to trust each other.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

More words to live by.

[Dan Snow]

Odysseus shows more self control than most

[Narrator/Storyteller]

men, I suspect, would have done at this point.

[Dan Snow]

When confronted with such an invitation from a beautiful goddess with Braided hair. He made her promise first to 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 Circe.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And it must have been dazzling because

[Dan Snow]

they stayed in this enchanted place for a year. Every day they feasted on meat and sweet, strong wine.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Later, literary traditions tell us that Circe actually gave birth to children by Odysseus, but there's no mention of that in the Odyssey itself.

[Dan Snow]

Eventually, his men came to him and said, sir, it's time to go.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And Odysseus says, my warrior soul agreed.

[Dan Snow]

Circe 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, the place where the dead go to the house of the God Hades to ask the spirit of the prophet

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Tiresias for guidance on how to get home and how to lift Poseidon's curse.

[Dan Snow]

He did as instructed.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Blown by a convenient magical wind to the shores of the Underworld.

[Dan Snow]

He disembarked. He made his offerings. He called upon the dead.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It was an ordeal.

[Dan Snow]

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. Patroclus, Achilles, dearest friend. Ajax, second only in looks and strength to Achilles himself. He also saw Minos, Heracles, Sisyphus, Tantalus, Orion, the hunter.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It was a who's who of Greek mythology.

[Dan Snow]

He was heartbroken then to see his mother's spirit.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

She had died while he was away at the war.

[Dan Snow]

Three times he tried to hug her.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Three times her wraith vanished in his arms.

[Dan Snow]

He did get to talk to Teiresias, though. The prophet told him to steer clear of the island on which the sun

[Narrator/Storyteller]

God Helios grazed his precious cattle.

[Dan Snow]

Just 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 and his crew would be destroyed. Simple as that. If he was lucky enough to survive, he would still be much delayed in going home and face all kinds of

[Narrator/Storyteller]

challenges when he did, in fact, get there.

[Dan Snow]

His only way of living into a comfortable age, the only way of dealing

[Narrator/Storyteller]

with Poseidon's curse would be to go

[Dan Snow]

on another epic journey. He had to heft an oar on his shoulder and walk inland as far as he could go until he reached

[Narrator/Storyteller]

a place where the people knew nothing of the sea or ships.

[Dan Snow]

So once they said, what on earth is that on your shoulder?

[Narrator/Storyteller]

He would know he'd got far enough.

[Dan Snow]

And once there, he should plant the ore in the ground, sacrifice a bull

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to Poseidon, and then finally, a prosperous, a peaceful old age would be his. So essentially, Tires is saying, you've got to undertake some missionary work on behalf of Poseidon.

[Dan Snow]

And with that, quite the night for

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odysseus came to an end.

[Dan Snow]

On they sailed, Circe had warned him

[Narrator/Storyteller]

of perils that lay in his course.

[Dan Snow]

The first was the siren.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

With their shriveled skin, these were monsters that used their sweet voices to bewitch sailors.

[Dan Snow]

Entranced, they forgot all desire to reach wife, children, home. And instead they tried to go ashore,

[Narrator/Storyteller]

where the sirens would devour them.

[Dan Snow]

Warned by Circe, Odysseus used wax to

[Narrator/Storyteller]

block all his men's ears. But curious about their sweet songs, he

[Dan Snow]

had himself tied to the mask with the strictest of instructions to his men not to untie him, no matter how hard he begged, wriggled or pleaded. The men, their ears blocked up, rode past the island.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

No problem. The sirens broke into their honeyed song.

[Dan Snow]

They called out Odysseus by name. They tempted him ashore. Now, interestingly, they tempt him ashore, not with some of the later tellings, because

[Narrator/Storyteller]

they were all so beautiful and lovely,

[Dan Snow]

but because they sang a heroic song about Odysseus, that thing which all men desire more than anything to listen to their own praises. He bellowed to be let free. He wriggled, he struggled, he strained, but

[Narrator/Storyteller]

thankfully, his men ignored him. On they went, out of the range of the sirens, but not out of trouble. Ahead with an arrows, a tiny stretch of water, no wider than a bowshot, which contained nothing, one but two monsters. Odysseus marched the length of the deck, exhorting his men.

[Dan Snow]

They had to row hard to avoid being sucked down by Charybdis, a monster

[Narrator/Storyteller]

who sucked black sea water down and then belched it out three times daily.

[Dan Snow]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The men hauled on their oars in

[Dan Snow]

terror, keeping to the other side. When from above them another monster, Scylla, 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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

They screamed as the they were taken aloft, reaching out to Odysseus in their death throes. It was, he later said, the most heart rending sight I saw in all the time I suffered on the sea.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

The next island they came across was

[Dan Snow]

Surprise, Surprise, the island on which grazed

[Narrator/Storyteller]

the sun God's cattle. Odysseus begged his men to bypass it

[Dan Snow]

but his second in command said that you may be strong, you never seem to tire, you must be made of iron.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But we men have had no rest and no sleep. So Odysseus gave in.

[Dan Snow]

Ashore 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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

found on that island. And they happily swore the oath. That night the winds got up. They were trapped. They couldn't leave the island. A storm blew in and lasted for one month. They ate all of their supplies. They tried to catch fish and birds. Hunger gnawed at their bellies. It was desperate.

[Dan Snow]

On one particular day Odysseus left the

[Narrator/Storyteller]

group and went off to pray for guidance. And he fell asleep. He awoke with the smell of roasting flesh in his nostrils.

[Dan Snow]

The men had got together and decided that death at sea at the hands

[Narrator/Storyteller]

of the gods was preferable to a slow, miserable death from starvation. Odysseus ran back to the beach and watched as they ate the cattle of the sun 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.

[Dan Snow]

I'll quote the next bit of the

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odyssey at length because it's one of my favorite and most important bits. When they'd left the island we could see no other, only the sky and the sea.

[Dan Snow]

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, shrieking, noisily, rushing with torrential tempest. A mighty gust of wind broke off both forestays. 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, shaken it, filled with sulfur. All the men fell overboard and they were swept away like seagulls on the

[Narrator/Storyteller]

waves beside the ship.

[Nikayla Matthews Akome]

Ship.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The gods prevented them from reaching home. Only Odysseus lived to tell the tale. He managed to cling to some wreckage and drifted for 10 days until he was washed up ashore on another island. And on this new island was what he would later describe as the dreadful, beautiful, divine Calypso. To be fair to Odysseus, he didn't have much choice. He had no way of sailing across the ocean, leaving that island behind.

[Dan Snow]

And so there he stayed.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Calypso loved and cared for him.

[Dan Snow]

He was forced to have sex with her, living in this succulent island prison,

[Narrator/Storyteller]

wanting for nothing apart from his freedom and home.

[Dan Snow]

Now, some people criticize 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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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.

[Dan Snow]

At home in Ithaca, meanwhile, his wife

[Narrator/Storyteller]

assumes fears that he's been lost at sea.

[Dan Snow]

His son Telemachus grows into adolescence, not remembering the father who'd left reluctantly to

[Narrator/Storyteller]

go to Troy when he was but a baby.

[Dan Snow]

Bachelors from around Ithaca and nearby islands

[Narrator/Storyteller]

have gathered to press their case with the widowed queen.

[Dan Snow]

These suitors, dozens of them, arrived 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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

virtual prisoner in her own palace. And their presence was an obvious threat to her son Telemachus inheritance and his life.

[Dan Snow]

Odysseus had been told of this by

[Narrator/Storyteller]

various people in the underworld. So he knew what was going on.

[Dan Snow]

And he knew what his absence meant

[Narrator/Storyteller]

for his wife, his son, his possessions, his kingdom. He longed for home. And in the end, Odysseus caught some luck because he did still have allies in high places. The highest of places, Athena.

[Dan Snow]

She of the shining breastplate, horse hair, plumed helmet. She, with her bronze tipped spear, as happy skewering enemies on the battlefield as she was outwitting them.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

With her enormous wisdom, she, the goddess Athena, persuaded her father, Zeus, king of the gods, the thunderlord, to release Odysseus 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 Here that Zeus tends to take the pass of least resistance, agreeing with the last powerful woman in his life who's given him instructions.

[Dan Snow]

Hermes.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The messenger was sent to tell Calypso to release Odysseus. So down went the handsome, youthful God. Calypso was distraught, but she did not dare to defy Zeus. She brought Odysseus some tools. She led him 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, and after 17 days, he reached the island of the Phaeacians. But Poseidon, who'd been distracted doing something

[Dan Snow]

else, suddenly realized that Odysseus had got 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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Saved by divine intervention, you'll be surprised

[Dan Snow]

to learn he manages to get ashore.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

He's washed up naked, freezing.

[Dan Snow]

His entire expeditionary force is now dead. He's got no money, no booty, no clothes, no ship, nothing at all.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

He covers himself in lees 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. The daughter of the king of Fascia is throwing a ball with her entourage on the beach, possibly the first recorded ball game in history.

[Dan Snow]

Odysseus talks his way out of a pretty challenging situation and ends up in

[Narrator/Storyteller]

the palace being wined and dined by her father. Eventually, he tells everyone who he is and he tells his story. The court are spellbound.

[Dan Snow]

The king instantly orders that a ship be readied, heaped with treasure.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odysseus is sent aboard. 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,

[Dan Snow]

more wealth, in fact, than he'd accumulated

[Narrator/Storyteller]

from the sack of Troy. These generous Phaeacians then sail off home. But there's no happy ending for them. As 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 in punishment as they neared their home port. So, as usual, Odysseus is fine. The supporting cast gets absolutely rinsed.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Oh, I tell you what, I am absolutely freezing. I've just swum ashore on the coast of Ithaca.

[Dan Snow]

It seemed Like a sort of romantic

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Byronic idea when we were planning this podcast a few months ago, but 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.

[Dan Snow]

And I'm going to head inland to

[Dan Snow (on location)]

explore Ithaca and try and find a

[Narrator/Storyteller]

towel and warm up.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Well, the good thing about these islands is that if you are a bit chilly and you get out of the water, you, you warm up pretty quick because they rise so steeply out of the waters of the Ionian that you get a good, 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? Now, big health warning at this point, it hasn't been clear until now, or let me say categorically, this is a story in which a man consorts with gods, survives a run in with a one eyed giant, 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 inspired this epic. And it is possible the modern island of Ithaca 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 Ithaca had a nice ring into it. We do not know. It is also possible, everyone, now we're getting into it, that Ithaca is not actually Ithaca. Ithaca was another island. It's even possible that Ithaca was a peninsula of nearby Kefalonia that actually was formerly an island and is now not because of various seismic and other activities.

[Dan Snow]

But anyway, we don't have to get into that, folks.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

I'm on an island called Ithaca 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 Bronze Age Greek, we call it Mycenaean period, building activity here in Ithaca. And I'm heading up to a site. Now, there's a set of archaeological 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 Victorian. 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 with Odysseus, but so did the Romans, so did the Hellenistic Greeks. They came here to commune with the spirit of Odysseus, to connect with one of the great stories. So 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 to go to talk about where our complicated, our much turned hither and thither hero finally ends up.

[Dan Snow]

You listen to Dan Snow's history hit the best is yet to come Take with us.

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[Tristan Hughes]

Ever wondered what it feels like to be a gladiator facing a roaring crowd and potential death in the coliseum? Find out on the Ancients podcast from history hit twice a week. Join me, Tristan Hughes. 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.

[Dan Snow]

The strange thing about the Odyssey.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Well, actually one of the very many

[Dan Snow]

strange things is Odysseus behavior. When he reaches etiquette Ithaca, he doesn't just march straight into his palace and shout I'm home. First things first. He hides the treasure he was given

[Narrator/Storyteller]

by the unfortunate Phaeacians. All that bronze, all the precious stuff he and Athena who is on hand, they stash it in a cave.

[Dan Snow]

Then he knows he has to play it. Very cautious Now I think this gives

[Narrator/Storyteller]

us an insight into power and authority in Homer's Greece.

[Dan Snow]

He's been away for 20 years, so lots of his key allies and supporters, they're going to be dead or enfeebled. A young generation will have grown up

[Narrator/Storyteller]

owing him nothing but the most superficial loyalty.

[Dan Snow]

He has lost the entire expeditionary force

[Narrator/Storyteller]

with which he sent sail 20 years before. The firstborn sons of Ithaca, many of

[Dan Snow]

the elite, the pride of their parents, well they disappeared over the horizon with

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odysseus and not one of them had come back, not one. Their bones are whitening on the dusty plains of Anatolia or being nibbled by sea creatures or lining the edge of Scylla's cave or you know, you get the point.

[Dan Snow]

It is a military and demographic catastrophe of the highest order.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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.

[Dan Snow]

He cannot rely on a posse of old loyal comrades to re establish his rule. I think we can assume that power

[Narrator/Storyteller]

in Homer's Greece ebbed and flowed. Loyalty was transactional. Leadership was asserted, not gifted.

[Dan Snow]

So Odysseus and Athena decide that what they need to do first is conduct a thorough recce. She turned him into an old man and he went for a stroll. First he called in on an old

[Narrator/Storyteller]

slave, his pig man, his swineherd, who he thought he could rely on.

[Dan Snow]

And sure enough old Eumaeus as he

[Narrator/Storyteller]

was called, welcomed Odysseus in. The king was, remember disguised as an old man. He's an old beggar, he's got rags on his back.

[Dan Snow]

But Eumaeus fed him and sheltered him

[Narrator/Storyteller]

in his humble abode and told him of the goings on in palace.

[Dan Snow]

Odysseus wife was being pressured by suitors to pick one of them. She was resisting. And while that stalemate went on, the

[Narrator/Storyteller]

suitors were helping themselves to all Odysseus food and wine. Odysseus decided to take a closer look. He went to the palace itself. Outside it, on a dung heap, knackered, neglected, ancient was a flea bitten dog. As Odysseus approached, it roused itself.

[Dan Snow]

Its ears went back and with a yelp it recognized its old master who had cradled it as a puppy 20 years earlier and then disappeared.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It's a very touching moment.

[Dan Snow]

The old dog staggered to its feet

[Narrator/Storyteller]

and then dropped dead. Sorrowful, Odysseus goes inside now, old beggar

[Dan Snow]

man that he was, he's abused by

[Narrator/Storyteller]

the cocksure young suitors in Their fancy clothes. Food was thrown at him. Homer gives us a glimpse into what a palace feast was like. The house girls brought baskets of bread and heaped it up beside them. And houseboys filled their wine bowls up with drink.

[Dan Snow]

They reached to take the good things set before them. Once they were satisfied with food and

[Narrator/Storyteller]

drink, the suitors turned their minds to other things. Singing and dancing, glories of the feast.

[Dan Snow]

A slave brought out a well tuned

[Narrator/Storyteller]

lyre and gave it to Femius, the man the suitors forced to sing for them. Food, wine, song and dance.

[Dan Snow]

At the fringes of the room were beggars and Odysseus has to fight another

[Narrator/Storyteller]

beggar for table scraps. You'll be shocked to hear that the other guy took an absolute pasting.

[Dan Snow]

Odysseus had a look at things. He takes the lie of the land.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Then he returns to the swineherd's hovel where he reveals himself to his son Telemachus. Athena briefly, conveniently changes him back into his actual form.

[Dan Snow]

And he and father and son cling

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to each other, weeping. But they also plan. And he tells his son the key thing is to take all the ornamental weapons off the wall, ostensibly for cleaning. Athena does the rest.

[Dan Snow]

She places an idea inside Penelope's head.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Then she turns Odysseus back into an

[Dan Snow]

old beggar and he and his son

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Telemachus go to the palace.

[Dan Snow]

They witness the queen 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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

themselves inspired by Athena, she sets them a challenge.

[Dan Snow]

She wants them to match her former

[Narrator/Storyteller]

husband's skill and strength. His mighty massive bow was fetched from a storeroom, arrows brought and 12 battle axes placed one behind the other in a perfect line.

[Dan Snow]

In each there was a hole and

[Narrator/Storyteller]

she demanded that the suitors bend the

[Dan Snow]

bow, attach the bowstring, fit an arrow, draw it back and shoot that arrow

[Narrator/Storyteller]

through all of the axes. The suitors 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 bow.

[Dan Snow]

That is, they can't bend it enough

[Narrator/Storyteller]

for them to fix the bowstring into the notches at either end. None of them certainly can get an arrow off. They turn nasty. They accuse her of setting an impossible challenge. But then an old frail voice calls out from the back of the room. The beggar demanded his turn. It was laughter and scorn.

[Dan Snow]

That skinny old bag of bones Telemachus,

[Narrator/Storyteller]

though, called out that he should indeed be allowed. There was silence as Odysseus stepped forward. He caressed the bow with the grip of an expert, checking for weakness. Reconnecting with his precious weapon, in a

[Dan Snow]

liquid move, he wraps it round a leg and heaves back the other tip.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Slipping the bowstring over it, he plucked the string, which sang like swallow song. So far, so good. The suitors, horrified, grew pale. Zeus, from his lofty perch, unleashed a peal of thunder. Odysseus, emboldened by that sign from the son of Chronos, lord of the gods, picked an arrow. He notched it. The fletching next to the string, the wooden shaft resting on the bow. Left leg forward, right back. Shoulders square but relaxed, head turned, looking straight over his left shoulder. He breathed in and in one movement

[Dan Snow]

brought up the bow. Right arm back, bicep swollen, left arm thrusting the center of the bow forward, tricep like steel.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

With this push and pull, he now

[Dan Snow]

stood, bow bent into a shallow U. Bronze arrow tip resting on the fingers

[Narrator/Storyteller]

of his left hand, white with gripping the bow, one eye closed. A pause, a breath out. Steady as a statue, an old beggar with the strength and poise of a demigod. The room spellbound. And then the fingers on his right hand released the string. The arrow hurtled straight and true through the axe as it went, thudding into a solid beam.

[Dan Snow]

Shouts of protest, confusion, chaos.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odysseus had his moment.

[Dan Snow]

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. He bellowed, playtime is over. He whipped another arrow up to his cheek and trained the bow, this time on a mat. 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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

erupted from his neck.

[Dan Snow]

The gold cup clattered to the floor. His twitching feet lashed out and kicked the table over.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Bread and meat splashing into a pool of blood. It began. The suitors scrambled to defend themselves.

[Dan Snow]

They clawed at the walls for weapons,

[Narrator/Storyteller]

but found they'd been taken down.

[Dan Snow]

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,

[Narrator/Storyteller]

spear in his hand, bronze weapons flashing. The suitors still didn't understand.

[Dan Snow]

They thought perhaps this beggar accidentally killed Antinous 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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Now they knew. Now they understood. Their blood ran cold in their veins. They saw death in that naked bowman. Some desperately yelled that they were sorry.

[Dan Snow]

It was all Antinous, it was his fault. Have mercy. We'll pay you back for the food and wine. We didn't mean any disrespect.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odysseus laughed and told them to fight or die. Their knees buckled, their hearts stopped.

[Dan Snow]

The braver ones tried to make a fight of it. One of them tried to take the lead, upturn the tables, used them as shields. Use your knives, swords if you have them at your sides.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Odysseus shot until the arrows were spent.

[Dan Snow]

Then he put on the horsehair plumed helmet that his son fetched for him, gripped a bronze tipped spear in both hands and went to work. Odysseus the city sacker.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Odysseus the manslaughter. The suitors lay in piles like fish hauled up in a net from the deep, gasping in the hot sun as

[Dan Snow]

the air steals their lives. Odysseus was smeared in blood like a

[Narrator/Storyteller]

lion that's gorged on an ox. A dreadful sight, chest and jowls red, panting, he looked upon his work. The suitors were dead to a man.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

I'm just sitting on a boulder looking at these old time worn stones here 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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

that actually happening here. A version of it.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

Imagine if these, 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 to be cleared out. He sort of takes control very vigorously. The king is back in his palace. At this point he orders that the floors be scrubbed, the walls cleaned and the air fumigated. He also orders, and this is the bit that doesn't often appear in the retellings of the Odyssey. He's very clear. He orders the slave Girls, members of his household who had slept with the suitors, who seemed to have sided with the suitors. He ordered them to be taken outside and executed in cold blood. And after all that was done, he sent for Penelope. She was brought downstairs and she was disbelieving. She couldn't really understand where all those clamorous, insistent suitors had gone. The palace suddenly seemed very, very quiet. And she also couldn't believe that this beggar, who'd been knocking about the palace for the last few days now, had been transformed into a younger, more handsome, a God like man. Because I should say, Athena rather usefully transformed Odysseus, literally back into his old self. He was tall, strong. We hear that his hair was as

[Narrator/Storyteller]

thick and curly as hyacinth.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

So well done, Athena. Pete was a wise woman, and she was nervous at this point that it was in fact a God in disguise, which was a pickup trick they often used to try and convince mortal women to make love to them. And so she tested Theseus, and she ordered that her bed be brought down from her room and placed at this man's disposal. And this just exploded. He was furious. He said, you can't move our marriage bed. He had carved it out of a tree trunk and branches all those years before. It was locked into the fabric of the house. It was then that Penelope could relax. This was her husband. He was back. Only he could know that intimate detail of their life. And she threw herself into his arms. Odysseus was home.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

There's a more complicated ending than most retellings suggest. The families of the dead suitors are understandably outraged.

[Dan Snow]

Dozens of the foremost families on the

[Narrator/Storyteller]

island are now without sons and fathers.

[Dan Snow]

Odysseus final act in the Odyssey is to fight a little civil war against

[Narrator/Storyteller]

these furious, grieving people. Odysseus, his father and son line up,

[Dan Snow]

shield overlapping shield, and with Athena's help,

[Narrator/Storyteller]

fight a sharp skirmish against their own people.

[Dan Snow]

But an even greater elephant in the room is that Odysseus has to explain to Penelope that his journeying is not yet done.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

There is no rest and retirement for Odysseus. First, and I love this detail, he

[Dan Snow]

explains that he has to go raiding to replace all the livestock gobbled up

[Narrator/Storyteller]

by the suitors during the long courtship of Penelope.

[Dan Snow]

Secondly, don't forget he has to placate Poseidon on a strange mission.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

To make amends for blinding Poseidon's son, Odysseus must travel inland carrying that oar until he meets someone who knows nothing of the sea. And then plant the ore in the ground and make the sacrifice the bull to earn his peace. So the Odyssey ends with Odysseus not at rest. He cannot rest. For Odysseus and men like him, there is no end. There is, however, an end to this podcast and this is it right now.

[Dan Snow]

That has been my explainer of what happens the Odyssey. Thank you very much for listening.

[Dan Snow (on location)]

I want to say a huge thank

[Dan Snow]

you to the brilliant classicist Emily Wilson. She did the most recent translation of the Odyssey, and that is the Odyssey

[Narrator/Storyteller]

that I've been quoting a lot about throughout this podcast.

[Dan Snow]

In our next episode, we're gonna be delving deeper into the poem itself. What Homer was trying to tell us, what's it reveal about ancient Greek life and power and fantasy, myth, anxieties. And we're gonna try and unravel the mysteries around its author because, spoiler alert. Homer may not have been a real person. He or she may have been many people. I'll be joined by two of the greatest classists of our time, Professor Edith hall and the legendary professor Dame Mary Beard.

[Professor Edith Hall]

It is looking both at the central issues of how human beings think about themselves, but it's also this, I think, is just as important. It's looking at central issues about how you tell the story, about what it is to be a human being. And it's always complicated. The best stories are complicated.

[Dan Snow]

Make sure you hit follow in your podcast player so you won't miss miss those two national treasures talking about one of the great works of Western literature. What's not to like? It'll be out next Monday. And if you want to watch the documentary I made whilst on the track following the wake of Odysseus walking his footsteps, then you check out our TV documentary. Just click on the link in the show notes, sign up to our history hit TV channel. You don't want to miss that. Thank you as ever, for listening. See you next time.

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Healthcare can feel complicated. That's why Optum uses technology to connect the people and processes that make healthcare easier, more affordable and more effective. We're making it clearer for you to know exactly what your benefits cover and to help you better manage your health. We're coordinating care between your doctors and your technology. We believe better, simpler health care is always possible. That's healthy optimism. That's Optum. Visit optum.com to learn more.

[Dan Snow]

Have you been enjoying my podcast and now want even more history? Sign up to 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've 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 historyhit.com subscrib.