From Sumeria, to Greece, to India, to the depths of the dark ages we explore the stories that have inspired everything that came later with a professor of mythology and medieval literature. This particular professor also happens to be Cody's mom, so this is also a great episode to explore Cody's psyche, for those brave enough to explore a dark and twisted place.

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Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video

If you want to do some reading, here are our suggestions on the best translations of these myths (and even a couple great graphic novels):

Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. Andrew George, Penguin Classics
The Odyssey, trans. Robert Fagles
The Odyssey, Gareth Hinds graphic novel
The Iliad, Penguin Classics
The Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles Penguin Classics
Age of Bronze Series, Eric Shanower (series of graphic novels on Trojan War)
Hercules, Fred Van Lente
Monkey, trans. Arthur Waley
Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney
The Popul Vuh, trans. Michael Bazzett, Milkweed Editions
The Nibelungenlied, trans. AT Hatto, Penguin
Chretien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, trans. William W. Kibler, Penguin
Le Morte D’Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory, Penguin Classics
Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, trans. N.J. Dawood, Penguin Classics
Sindbad and Other Stories from Arabian Nights, trans Husain Haddowy
Sinbad the Sailor, Penguin Classics
The Ramayana, Abridged and Translated by Arshia Sattar, Penguin Classics OR any children’s/YA book to get started. There are hundreds

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for all the books we talked about:

0:00 - Intro
1:45 - The Epic of Gilgamesh
6:35 - The Odyssey
10:12 - The Iliad
12:09 - The Aeneid
14:12 - Hercules
15:53 - Monkey (Excerpts from Journey to the West)
21:00 - Beowulf
25:25 - The Popul Vuh
28:23 - The Nibelungenlied
33:21 - King Arthur Myths (Malory, De Troyes)
36:56 - Tales From the Thousand and One Nights
41:40 - Sinbad the Sailor
45:10 - The Ramayana
49:55 - Our Top 3 favorite myths