3. Odyssey (Greek Mythology)

Send us a text

Support the show

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome my spooky friends.
Tends to mythos, according toyours, truly.
I'm your host, Wendy.
Tomorrow.
Today.
Our guest is back.
Sally.
I guess.
Again, So today we are talkingabout.
The Odyssey.

(00:21):
This is a Greek mythology.
I'm very excited to share itwith you.
Today, I'm also your.
Your hosts, I'm reading thestory.
And I'm going.
Gonna share any facts about it?
Any questions you have, Sally?
Just let.
We know.
Hey.
Yeah.
Good.
On my podcast, we dive intomyths.

(00:41):
And folklore from all over theworld.
If you're.
You hear the stories have shapedour cultures.
Stirred imaginations and kept uscaptivated for centuries.
Together, we'll explore theorigins, meanings and mysteries
behind these.
These tills.
With a fresh perspective and alittle bit of fun.

(01:02):
So grab your favorite drink andgather.
Around our campfire for a tellyou won't forget.
After the bloody siege of Troyhad finally come to an end, the
Greek hero, Odysseus, king ofIthaca, yearned to return to his
beloved homeland and reunitewith his wife, Penelope, and his
young son.

(01:23):
Telemachus.
Telemachus.
Something like that.
I think I'm just going to callhim Telly from here on out.
But fate, it seemed, had otherplans.
The Gods had more trials andtribulations in store for him,
and what should have been quickvoyage from home turned into an
epic journey, one full ofdanger, temptation, and

(01:44):
unforgettable encounters.
As diocese and its men sailedacross the vast and charted
waters.
One trial after another, eachmore perilous than the last.
The Island of the Lotus Eaters.
The first encounter was with theIsland of the Lotus Eaters, a

(02:04):
beautiful lush land where a,Where time seemed to stand still
and all worries faded away.
Upon landing, a few of Odax'smen ate the lotus flowers
offered by the island'sinhabitants.
Immediately, they fell into aspell, forgetting their desire
to return home, and enchanted bythe carefree life of the lotus

(02:26):
eaters.
Doesn't this sound so familiar?
Like, again, Percy Jackson?
Yeah, yeah it does.
The lotus flowers?
Yeah.
Seeing his men longing andblessed full of love.
Lipsing his men longing inblissful oblivion, Odysseus eyes
narrowed with determination.

(02:47):
He stood up to them, pullingthem away from the flowers.
Have you forgotten Ithaca?
Have you forgotten Penelope andTelly?
We must leave this place.
With great effort, he draggedhis dazed men back to the ship,
ordering the crew to set sailbefore the allure of the lotus
could claim them all.
The Cyclops, Polly, orPollyphemus.

(03:10):
Soon, the crew found themselveson the shores of another island.
Here they discovered a massivecave filled with food, wine, and
livestock.
The men feasted unaware that thecaves belonged to a monstrous
cyclops named Polly, a son ofPoseidon, as they enjoyed the
bounty the cyclops returnedblocking the cave's entrance
with a huge boulder.

(03:31):
Who dares feast on my food,roared Polly, his single eye
glaring down at the intruders.
Odysseus, ever quick, waited tostep forward.
My name is nobody, he said witha sly smile.
We are weary travelers seekingour hospitality.
Pollyphemus scoffed and withoutwarning grabbed two of Odysseus
men, devouring them whole.

(03:54):
The men gasped in horror, butOdysseus, resolve motioned for
them to stay calm.
He cast a plan and offered theCyclops a jug of wine, unaware
it was laced with a potentsedative.
As the Cyclops grew drowsy, hemumbled, Tell me your name,

(04:15):
stranger, so I may thank youproperly.
Odysseus replied, I already toldyou, my name is Nobody.
Once the Cyclops fell asleep,Odysseus and his men took a
sharp stake they had prepared,He did it in the fire and
plunged it into Polly's singleeye.
The cyclops roared in pain,thrashing about, when the other

(04:38):
cyclops on the island heard hiscries and came to help.
Polly could only scream,nobody's attacking me, believing
it to be a false alarm the othercyclops left him in agony.
The next morning, Odysseus andhis men escaped by clinging to
the underside of Polly's sheeps.
As they left the cave,outsmarting the blinded Cyclops

(05:01):
and making their way to theship.
But, as they sailed away,Odysseus's pride got the better
of him.
I'm Odysseus, the one whoblinded you, he called out,
taunting the enraged Polly.
I was gonna say his whole name,and then I was like, no, Polly
is better.
In his fury, Polly called uponhis father, Poseidon, to curse

(05:24):
Odysseus.
May he never reach home.
And with that, the god of thesea vowed to make Odysseus
journey as difficult aspossible.
The Enchantment of Cirque TheEnchantment of Cirque further
along their journey, the crewencountered the mysterious
island, Aiea, Aiea, home to thebeautiful but dangerous

(05:46):
sorceress, Cirque.
She welcomed Odysseus men withopened arms and invited them to
feast, offering them food andwine, laced with a powerful
potion.
As they ate, they began totransform, growing snouts,
tails, and hooves.
They were turning into swine.
Only one man, who had stayedbehind, escaped and ran to tell

(06:08):
Odysseus.
Determined to save his men,Odysseus ventured to Circe's
place, Along the way, he was metwith Hermes, the messenger god,
who handed him a magical herbcalled Molly.
Called Molly?
Called Molly! A magical herbcalled Molly! What?

(06:29):
Interesting.
Isn't it?
That's what I was thinking.
Okay.
Yeah.
I don't know what Hermes isdoing with Molly handing it out
so freely like that.
Hmm.
Interesting.
Right.
Interesting.
I know.
Well eat this.
Herb ois Hermes advised it'llprotect you from Ci Circ Magic.

(06:54):
I guess we just have to eatMolly out.
I know.
Because it's going to protect usfrom Circus magic.
Yeah.
Isn't that wild?
Yeah, that is wild.
Whoa.
Literally.
Literally.
What?
Okay, let's do it.
What happens next though?
The herbs protection approachedCirc who offered him the
enchanted wine when the spellfailed to work on him.

(07:15):
Circ was both furious andamazed.
How can you resist my magic?
She demanded Odessa stared ather with an unwavering gaze,
released my men from your spellor Suffer the wrath.
Ofa King.
Impressed by his bravery, Sirksagreed to return the men back
into their human form, and evenoffered to help Odysseus for a

(07:39):
year.
Odysseus and his men rested, andaye aye, learning from Sirk, and
regaining their strength, buteventually, he reminded his crew
of their true purpose, to returnhome to Ithaca.
The deadly siren and theskylight and charidis.
Following Cirque's advice,Odysseus next had to sail past

(08:01):
the sirens.
These Creatures with enchantingvoices that lured sailors to
their deaths to prevent his menfrom succumbing to the siren's
call, Odysseus filled their earswith beeswax.
He, however, wished to hear thesong, so he ordered his men to
tie him to the mast of the ship,to ignore his commands until

(08:23):
they had passed.
As they sailed close, the sirenbegan their song, a haunting,
irresistible melody.
Odysseus, come to us, they sang,their voices sweet and alluring.
The hero strained against hisbonds, begging his men to
release him.
But they rode on, determined tosee him safely past.

(08:44):
When the last notes of thesiren's song faded away,
Odysseus slumped against themast, his heart heavy with
relief and awe.
not long after they faced thedeadly passage of Scylla and
Charidas, A six headed monsteron one side and a whirlpool on
the other, with no safe waythrough, Odysseus made the
difficult decision to steerclose to Scylla, sacrificing a

(09:07):
few of his men rather thanrisking the entire ship to
Sheredith's Pained him deeply,he watched as Silas snatched a
sixth of his best men, theirscreams echoing across the
waters as the ship finallysailed through, The Island of
the Sun God.
After many more trials, Odysseusand his men landed on the island
of Helios, the sun god.

(09:29):
Here, they were warned not totouch the sacred cattle.
But while Odysseus slept, hisstarving men, led by his second
in command, slaughtered and atesome of the cattle.
When Helios discovered thetransgression, he demanded
justice from Zeus.
The god of the skies strucktheir ship with a bolt of

(09:50):
lightning as they departed,killing all of Odysseus's men.
Only Odysseus survived, clingingto the piece of draughtwood as
the storm carried him away, thereturn to Ithaca.
After ten long years at sea,Odysseus finally washed ashore
in Ithaca.
He made his way to his palace,where he found Penelope still

(10:13):
waiting.
Warding off a crowd of suitorswho sought her hand.
With the help of his son, Telli,Odysseus devised a plan to
reveal himself.
As he revealed his trueidentity, Penelope, her heart
filled with both disbelief andjoy embraced him.
It is true.
It is truly you.

(10:34):
Is it truly you.
Ois, she whispered.
It is my love.
I have come home.
Finally, after years ofstruggle, ODACS journey was
over.
He had proven that his strengthand courage could withstand any
hardship and his wisdom hadgrown along the way.
That's the end of that story.

(10:54):
That was a longer story, but itwas good.
No, I was super good.
Yeah.
I liked it.
I like the thing is, the Odysseyis a whole book and you can find
all of it and with every detail.
So that's awesome.
I know.
This was just like.

(11:14):
The summarized version of it.
And to note So today's scriptureis James 1 12.
It says blessed is the man thatendures temptation For when he
is tried, he shall receive thecrown of life, which the Lord
hath promised to them that lovehim Me too, right?
That's that's a pretty goodscripture.

(11:35):
I think The thing is withOdysseus I feel like Sometimes
he just makes like the dumbestChoices like deciding to be tied
up on the stretch instead ofPlugging his ears with the
beeswax I think that was a verypersonal decision and also

(11:58):
Because that like could havekilled him if his mind didn't
listen, you know and then likeat the end well at the beginning
with polly where he Yelled hisname and was like, oh my name's
odysseus blah blah blah.
That was also like you waited solong to not Share your name, but
then you gave it away.
You did at the last minute andthat ruined everything.
Yeah, because of, like, pride,right?

(12:20):
Yeah.
So, I To me, like, temptation ispride.
Right.
You know, like, when we get intotemptation Do you have any
experiences in your life whereyou feel like you've been tried
with temptation and been able toovercome that?
Yeah, there's been a lot oftimes in my life where I've been

(12:42):
tempted.
There's been a lot of times inmy life where I've been tempted
and I caved or I gave in totemptation.
I've realized that no matter howhard you're tried, it's really
important that you just, youkeep strong, and there's always
that light at the end of thetunnel.
Like you're gonna be okay, juststay strong as long as you can,

(13:06):
and just like how it says in thescripture, when we're tried,
we'll receive the crown of life,so we'll be rewarded when we're
tried, and we stay strong, andwe To the end, right?
Like if, if Odysseus stayedstrong like throughout that
whole time and didn't share hisname just right at the end when

(13:29):
they were just leaving theisland if he would've just not
shared his name, they would'vebeen fine.
They spent like ten years.
Ten years.
Traveling back.
That's crazy to me.
At least he made it back.
Cause I think that's like,what's admirable about that is
that obviously he had nothingelse to do.

(13:52):
If he wanted to find meaning inlife, it would be going back
home.
And that's where, you know,meaning was home.
And he like almost forfeitedthat when he like gave out his
name.
Um, And then also because ofpride and because of that
temptation to like, do what hewanted when he wanted, how he

(14:17):
wanted.
Cause I think sometimes thatperspective, um, I have that
perspective sometimes.
And I think that like, I canjust do what I want when I want,
how I want.
But then if I do that, then likeI won't accomplish the goals.
I have and I won't find home ifthat makes sense.

(14:40):
I think that's what's like coolabout it is that like he had
value in his, his family and hehad value in the connections he
had and that was his home, whichI'm like thinking about like,
what is my home?
Like, what is our home?
What do you choose to make home?
And like, Are you focusing yourefforts on that, or are you just

(15:04):
doing whatever you want, how youwant, right now?
It reminds me of, um Sorry.
Are you a little sick?
Just had a little tickle in mythroat.
Dang, from all the laughingwe've been doing.
Yeah.
But, it reminds me of the, uh,parts in the Bible and the
scriptures where it talks about,um, Who said this?

(15:28):
Um, live now, live and be merry,for tomorrow we die, or
whatever.
Who said that in the bible?
Do you remember?
I don't remember, but thatactually might be like in the
Sermon on the Mount, I think.
But, I do know what you'retalking about, eat, drink.
Eat, drink and be merry.

(15:48):
Oh yeah, I think you're right.
For tomorrow we die.
For tomorrow we die.
And that mentality is what,like.
It holds us back and home mightnot, home might look different
for everybody, but I think whenwe take the value out of, like,
ourselves, the selfishness outof ourselves and think about

(16:10):
other people and have their joyand happiness drive our
decisions, not like peoplepleasing, definitely different
than that, but more like.
Wanting to be happy with thefamily you have, like wanting
that connection is so important.
And like, he loved his wife andhis wife was loyal.

(16:32):
So, that was truth, like, homewas truth to him.
Live now, for tomorrow we die isnot true.
That is deception.
Yeah, it's so true.
Another thing that I noticedwith this story is, if he
wouldn't have given intotemptation, he would have had a
journey that would have been alot less difficult.

(16:56):
Yeah.
And a lot less long as well.
So it makes me think in our ownlives, like if we don't cave
into temptation, it's going tobe a lot more easier for us to
make it home.
But also gives you hope too.
Cause even if you do cave intotemptation, just like Audius,

(17:17):
Odysseus.
Wow.
I love that.
You don't, I literally cannotsay.
No, but he.
He still made it home, eventhough he did cave into
temptation.
He still made it home.
So those of us who do cave intotemptation, we still have the
hope of making it home.
Yeah.
No matter how long the journeyis.
I love that.

(17:37):
All right guys, thank you somuch for joining in on today's
mythos.
See you next time.
My spooky friends.