The Odyssey Odyssey

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: We make a detour on the journey to Ithaca and travel to T'ang Dynasty China for a "Tale of the Weird" (志怪小說) that echoes Circe's penchant for transformational malice...

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH Odysseus receives help from Hermes to overcome Circe's potent drugs, and we learn that sailors and witches make epic bedfellows.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: Our much-diminished band of heroes takes time to grieve their massive losses brought about by recent events.  Odysseus finds another intriguing wisp of smoke in the wilderness.  Maybe this time they'll find the warm welcome and the comforts of home they so desperately seek? FOOTNOTES: Learn more about this episode

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH our intrepid band, having escaped from one man-eating giant, retreat to a tranquil bay, only to find themselves surrounded by thousands of giants with similar appetites. Poseidon's curse moves ominously towards its fulfillment. EXPLORE THE FOOTNOTES FOR THIS EPISODE

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: We consider the implications of windbags, pompous and otherwise, as our hero begins to feel the full effects of the parting curse of the Cyclops. 

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: Our hero seeks hospitality in The Wrong Cave.  We meet everyone's favorite mythological monster: Polyphemus the Cyclops, whose appetites are as shocking as his social skills.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: We hear the complete poem "The Lotos-eaters" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: Odysseus himself takes over the narrative and decides to begin at the beginning.  He recounts the departure of his twelve ships with 600 men from the ruins of Troy to an audience that knows the ending: only one of them will survive. A raid on the Cicones goes horribly wrong, and our hero and his trusted companions are blown wildly off course - almost as if they had gone...

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH : we delve into the life and stories of Hephaestus, the god of fire, bearer  of culture, architect and blacksmith to the gods. The child of dysfunctional immortals, he struggles to find a home and a family. LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS EPISODE E-mail Tom Lee

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: Odysseus is entertained by the rhapsode Demodacus, who is inspired to  tell our hero his own story. An athletic competition  gives rise to tension, which another story dispels. The entertainment continues over roasted boar, where art and life collide in a third and final story. FOOTNOTES: More about this episode.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: Odysseus casts an epic gaze over the palace of King Alcinous and Queen Arete, who demonstrate their hospitality and provide our hero with hope. VISUAL FOOTNOTES FOR THIS EPISODE CAN BE SEEN HERE

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: We explore the lineage of King Alcinous, Odysseus's host, tracing his family line back to the notorious and ill-fated race of Giants.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: We return from an unexpected hiatus with a "party piece" - a performance of an excerpt from Alexander Pope's 1726 verse translation of The Odyssey , Book V.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH:  Odysseus is rescued by a young princess engaged in pursuits of domestic management. Athena returns him to a state of manly elegance, and the princess promises him a speedy return to his homeland on a magical ship.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: Odysseus uses guile and deceit to attain The Bow of Heracles from Philoctetes, the man he betrayed and abandoned ten years before. Watch a video of "The Speckled Bull" - an Irish folktale descended from the myth of Heracles and Achelous HERE. See artwork related to this episode HERE.    Email Tom Lee HERE

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: We recount the Roman story of the Achilleid , detailing how the immortal nymph Thetis tried to protect her all-too-mortal son Achilles from the perils of the Trojan War and how "wily Odysseus" contrived to foil her schemes. SEE ARTWORK RELATED TO THIS EPISODE HERE. E-MAIL TOM LEE HERE.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH  we explore the most repeated poetic line in all of the Odyssey and learn the tragic story of Eos, goddess of the dawn, who kindled the wrath of Aphrodite and was cursed ever after to a life of unrequited lust.  Ouch. Also, we delve into the misty past of the great citadel of Troy and learn how gods helped to create it, and to (almost) destroy it. Notes, images and music...

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH we encounter our hero, Odysseus, as the coddled prisoner of the sea  nymph Calypso in her  island hermitage.  Hermes, the reluctant ambassador of Zeus, liberates the captive, who flees directly into the path of a wrathful Poseidon. Images and music referenced in this episode can be explored HERE . E-mail Tom Lee HERE .

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: We delve into what may be the least understood episode of the Trojan War: that horse.  How could the Trojans be so foolish as to bring that horse into their city?  Homer doesn't have much to say about it, but Vergil tells you how.... Footnotes and images for this episode are available here. Email Tom Lee here.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH we considered what married life is like when a husband and wife are reunited after a ten-year long war waged over the wife's infidelity.  Menelaus and Helen both remember their encounters with Odysseus, and we learn how the sea god Proteus can be tricked into telling all he knows. See notes and images for this episode HERE

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: We delve into the birth of Helen of Sparta, I mean Troy, one of the countless children of Zeus whose lives intersect in The Iliad and The Odyssey. Footnotes to the show are available here. EMAIL TOM LEE

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH : Telemachus and Mentor/Athena visit Old King Nestor in search of news of Odysseus.  Nestor relates the chaotic departure of the Greeks from Troy after "Lesser" Ajax angered Athena. Program notes available here . Instagram page here

Send us Fan Mail Homer and a Pterodactyl walk into this bar...

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH : We observe life on a small island. Telemachus obeys Athena's command to call an assembly on Ithaca - the first since his father departed nineteen years ago. Athena intervenes in a series of disguises.

Send us Fan Mail IN WHICH: When plotting  revenge, they say you should dig two graves: one for your victim, and one for yourself.   In this episode, the curse of the House of Atreus is fulfilled in a rather horrifying "dinner for one."  We encounter a future king and his future murderer.