The ENTIRE Story of The Odyssey Explained — Transcript

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1. 0:00The Odyssey is one of the oldest stories
2. 0:02ever told, nearly 3,000 years old. But
3. 0:05the entire 10-year nightmare happened
4. 0:07because one man couldn't keep his mouth
5. 0:09shut after winning a fight. Yeah,
6. 0:11seriously. Odysseus had already escaped.
7. 0:14He was safely sailing away when he
8. 0:16turned around and shouted his real name
9. 0:18at the monster he'd just blinded. That
10. 0:20single moment of ego turned what should
11. 0:23have been a 2-week voyage into 10 years
12. 0:26of monsters, shipwrecks, angry gods, and
13. 0:29disaster. He left Troy with 12 ships and
14. 0:32more than 600 men. Not one of them made
15. 0:34it home. A witch turned his crew into
16. 0:37pigs, a six-headed monster devoured his
17. 0:39sailors, and even the gods themselves
18. 0:41wanted him dead. So, how did the
19. 0:43smartest man in ancient Greece outsmart
20. 0:46himself for an entire decade? Let's
21. 0:49start at the end of the Trojan War. For
22. 0:5110 years, the Greeks had camped outside
23. 0:53the walls of Troy, right here on the
24. 0:55coast of modern-day Turkey. The Trojans
25. 0:57wouldn't come out, and the Greeks
26. 0:59couldn't get in. Odysseus had an idea.
27. 1:01Build a giant wooden horse, hide
28. 1:03soldiers inside, and leave it at the
29. 1:05gates as a gift. Are we sure this is
30. 1:06going to work? Trust me. Everyone loves
31. 1:09a gift horse. What if they look inside?
32. 1:11Who looks inside a horse? The Trojans
33. 1:14dragged it through the gates. That
34. 1:15night, the Greeks climbed out, opened
35. 1:17the gates, and burned Troy to the
36. 1:19ground. War over, Odysseus was a hero.
37. 1:23Now all he had to do was sail home to
38. 1:24his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus
39. 1:27on the island of Ithaca, right here.
40. 1:29Should have taken about 2 weeks. It took
41. 1:3110 years. The first stop was Ismarus,
42. 1:35right here, home of Cicones. Odysseus
43. 1:37and his men raided the city, grabbed
44. 1:39treasure and wine, and Odysseus told his
45. 1:42men to get back on the ships. Did they
46. 1:44listen? Of course not. They stayed on
47. 1:46the beach and partied all night. The
48. 1:48next morning, the Cicones came back with
49. 1:51reinforcements and killed 72 of
50. 1:53Odysseus's men, six from each of his 12
51. 1:56ships. Day one of the trip home and he's
52. 1:59already burying soldiers. After that, a
53. 2:02storm blew them off course for nine
54. 2:04days. Banded up at the island of Lotus
55. 2:06Eaters. Anyone who ate the lotus forgot
56. 2:09everything. Their home, their family,
57. 2:11their entire life. Just gone. Three of
58. 2:14Odysseus' scouts ate it and had to be
59. 2:16dragged back to the ships crying. Not
60. 2:18the worst stop on the trip. That honor
61. 2:20goes to the next one. So, how did one
62. 2:23cave on one island turn into the biggest
63. 2:26mistake of Odysseus' life? They landed
64. 2:28on the island of Cyclopes. Odysseus took
65. 2:3112 of his best men and explored a cave
66. 2:34filled with cheese and lambs. His men
67. 2:36wanted to grab the food and leave.
68. 2:38Odysseus said no. He wanted to meet the
69. 2:41owner. The owner turned out to be
70. 2:43Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant and son of
71. 2:46Poseidon, the god of the sea. Polyphemus
72. 2:48rolled a boulder over the cave entrance
73. 2:50that was so heavy that 22 wagons
74. 2:53couldn't move it. They were trapped. The
75. 2:55Cyclops grabbed two of Odysseus' men,
76. 2:57smashed their heads on the ground, and
77. 2:59ate them raw. He did the same thing the
78. 3:01next morning. Two more men for
79. 3:02breakfast. Odysseus couldn't kill the
80. 3:05Cyclops because then nobody could move
81. 3:07the boulder. So, he offered the giant
82. 3:09wine. Lots of it. Cyclops, what's your
83. 3:12name? Polyphemus. What's yours? My name
84. 3:15is Nobody. Nobody? Well, Nobody, I like
85. 3:18you. I'll eat you last. That's my gift.
86. 3:20Thanks. Very generous. After the Cyclops
87. 3:23passed out drunk, Odysseus sharpened a
88. 3:26massive olive stake, heated it in the
89. 3:28fire, and drove it straight into the
90. 3:30giant's eye. Polyphemus screamed for
91. 3:32help. The other Cyclopes came running.
92. 3:35Polyphemus, what's wrong? Who's hurting
93. 3:37you? Nobody, he said. Nobody is hurting
94. 3:40me. Well, nobody's hurting you. Go back
95. 3:42to sleep. Brilliant, right? And in the
96. 3:44morning, blind Polyphemus rolled back
97. 3:46the boulders to let his sheep out and
98. 3:48felt each one's back to make sure no men
99. 3:50were riding them. Odysseus and his
100. 3:52surviving men strapped themselves to the
101. 3:55bellies of the sheep and escaped right
102. 3:57under the Cyclops' hands. If Odysseus
103. 4:00had just sailed away, that would have
104. 4:02been the end of it. Poseidon would never
105. 4:04have known. But Odysseus was too proud
106. 4:06for that. As his ship pulled away, he
107. 4:09stood up and shouted back at the blinded
108. 4:11giant, "Cyclops, if anyone asks who
109. 4:13blinded you, tell them it was Odysseus,
110. 4:16son of Laertes, king of Ithaca." His men
111. 4:19begged him to stop. He didn't care. He
112. 4:21wanted credit, and now Polyphemus had a
113. 4:24name. He prayed to his father, Poseidon,
114. 4:26god of the sea, to curse Odysseus.
115. 4:28"Father Poseidon, make sure Odysseus
116. 4:31never gets home. And if he does, let him
117. 4:33arrive late, broken, alone, and to a
118. 4:36house full of trouble." Poseidon heard
119. 4:38every word, and he granted every part of
120. 4:41that prayer. From this point on, the sea
121. 4:43itself was Odysseus' enemy. The next
122. 4:46stop was the island of Aeolus, king of
123. 4:48the winds. Aeolus actually liked
124. 4:51Odysseus. He put all the dangerous winds
125. 4:53inside a leather bag and gave Odysseus a
126. 4:56gentle west wind to carry him straight
127. 4:58home. For 9 days, they sailed perfectly.
128. 5:01On the 10th day, Ithaca appeared on the
129. 5:03horizon. Odysseus could see the smoke
130. 5:06rising from the chimneys of his own
131. 5:08island. And then, he fell asleep. His
132. 5:10crew had been staring at that bag for 9
133. 5:13days, wondering what treasure was
134. 5:15inside. The moment Odysseus closed his
135. 5:17eyes, they opened it.
136. 5:19>> What do you think is in there?
137. 5:20>> Probably gold. He's been guarding it the
138. 5:22whole trip.
139. 5:23>> Let's just take a peek. Every trapped
140. 5:25wind exploded out at once and blew all
141. 5:2812 ships all the way back across the
142. 5:30sea. Within sight of home and now
143. 5:33further away than ever, Odysseus begged
144. 5:36Aeolus for help again. Aeolus refused.
145. 5:39"The gods clearly hate you. Get off my
146. 5:41island." But the worst was still coming.
147. 5:44The Laestrygonians were giants, all of
148. 5:46them. And when the fleet sailed into
149. 5:48their harbor, they attacked from the
150. 5:49cliffs. They hurled boulders down onto
151. 5:52the ships and speared the crews like
152. 5:54fish. 11 of 12 ships destroyed. Hundreds
153. 5:58of men killed. Only Odysseus's ship
154. 6:00escaped because he'd parked outside the
155. 6:02harbor. 12 ships became one. Over 500
156. 6:06men became a few dozen. And they hadn't
157. 6:08even reached the halfway point. They
158. 6:10washed up on the island of Aeaea, home
159. 6:13of the witch goddess Circe. Odysseus
160. 6:16sent a scouting party led by his officer
161. 6:18Eurylochus. Circe invited them in for a
162. 6:20feast. They ate. She touched them with
163. 6:23her wand and every single one of them
164. 6:25turned into pigs. Eurylochus hadn't gone
165. 6:28inside. He ran back to the ship in a
166. 6:30panic. "She turned them into pigs!" "All
167. 6:32of them?" "Every single one! They've got
168. 6:34snouts and hooves and everything!"
169. 6:36Odysseus went to rescue his men alone.
170. 6:38The god Hermes gave him a plant called
171. 6:41moly that blocked Circe's magic. When
172. 6:44her spell failed, she turned the men
173. 6:46back and invited everyone to stay. They
174. 6:48stayed for a year on the magical island
175. 6:50while Penelope waited at home wondering
176. 6:53if her husband was dead. Eventually, his
177. 6:55men had to remind him. "Sir, are we ever
178. 6:57going home?" "Right! Home! Yes. Let's do
179. 7:01that." Circe told him he couldn't go
180. 7:03home yet. First, he had to sail to the
181. 7:05land of the dead and speak with the
182. 7:07prophet Tiresias. So, Odysseus sailed to
183. 7:10the edge of the world, dug a pit, filled
184. 7:12it with blood, and summoned the dead.
185. 7:14Tiresias gave him one warning. "Do not
186. 7:17touch the cattle of the sun god Helios
187. 7:20or you will lose everything." While he
188. 7:21was down there, Odysseus saw his own
189. 7:24mother. She had died of grief waiting
190. 7:26for him to come home. He tried to
191. 7:28embrace her three times. She slipped
192. 7:30through his arms like a shadow. That's
193. 7:32what his ego had cost him. Odysseus now
194. 7:35headed into the most dangerous stretch
195. 7:37of water in the ancient world. First,
196. 7:39the Sirens. Beautiful voices that lured
197. 7:42sailors to crash on the rocks. Odysseus
198. 7:44ordered his crew to plug their ears with
199. 7:46beeswax and tie him to the mast so he
200. 7:49could hear the song without steering
201. 7:51toward it. "Tie me tighter." "Sir, you
202. 7:53told us not to untie you no matter
203. 7:55what." "I changed my mind. Untie me
204. 7:57now." "Uh you also told us to ignore
205. 7:59that." Next came Scylla and Charybdis.
206. 8:02Scylla was a six-headed monster on one
207. 8:04side. Charybdis was a massive whirlpool
208. 8:07on the other. No safe path. Odysseus
209. 8:10chose Scylla, knowing he would lose six
210. 8:12men instead of the entire ship. Scylla
211. 8:14snatched six sailors and ate them alive
212. 8:17while they screamed his name. Now came
213. 8:19the island Tiresias had warned him
214. 8:21about, Thrinacia, home of the sacred
215. 8:24cattle of Helios. Odysseus told his men
216. 8:26not to touch them, but bad winds trapped
217. 8:29them for a month and the food ran out.
218. 8:31While Odysseus slept, his crew
219. 8:34slaughtered the cattle. "The gods can
220. 8:35punish us later. We're starving now."
221. 8:38"Odysseus said not to touch them."
222. 8:40"Odysseus is asleep and I'd rather die
223. 8:42by the sea than starve on this beach."
224. 8:44When Odysseus woke up and smelled
225. 8:46roasting beef, he knew they were
226. 8:48finished. The hides of the dead cattle
227. 8:50crawled on the ground. The meat on the
228. 8:52spits mooed. Yeah, the meat mooed. The
229. 8:55moment they sailed, Zeus split the ship
230. 8:58in half with a thunderbolt. Every man
231. 9:00drowned. Every single one. Only Odysseus
232. 9:03survived by clinging to the wreckage.
233. 9:05The sea washed him up on the island of
234. 9:07Ogygia, right here, home of the goddess
235. 9:10Calypso. She fell in love with him and
236. 9:12offered him immortality if he would stay
237. 9:14forever. Odysseus said no. He sat on the
238. 9:17beach every day staring at the horizon
239. 9:20and crying for seven years. Finally,
240. 9:23Athena convinced Zeus to intervene. He
241. 9:26sent Hermes to tell Calypso to let
242. 9:28Odysseus go. "Zeus says to release him."
243. 9:30"Of course. When a goddess loves a
244. 9:32mortal, the gods always interfere." "Are
245. 9:35Are going to let him go or not?" "Fine,
246. 9:37but I'm not giving him a ship. Odysseus
247. 9:38built a raft and sailed for 17 days.
248. 9:42Poseidon spotted him and smashed it into
249. 9:44pieces because Poseidon wasn't done.
250. 9:47Odysseus washed up on the island of
251. 9:48Phaeacia where King Alcinous heard his
252. 9:51story and gave him a ship home. He woke
253. 9:53up on the beach of Ithaca 20 years after
254. 9:57he had left. So, what had been happening
255. 9:59at home for 20 years? A disaster. 108
256. 10:03men from the surrounding islands had
257. 10:05moved into Odysseus's palace eating his
258. 10:07food, drinking his wine, and trying to
259. 10:10force Penelope to marry one of them.
260. 10:12They assumed Odysseus was dead. Penelope
261. 10:14had been holding them off with one of
262. 10:16the greatest stalling tactics in
263. 10:18history. She told the suitors she would
264. 10:20choose a husband after she finished
265. 10:22weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's
266. 10:24father. Every day she wove, every night
267. 10:27she unraveled her work. Three years
268. 10:30before a servant gave her away. The
269. 10:31goddess Athena disguised Odysseus as an
270. 10:34old beggar so he could enter his own
271. 10:36home without being recognized. As he
272. 10:38walked through the gates, an ancient dog
273. 10:40lying on a pile of manure lifted its
274. 10:42head. It was Argos, the hunting dog
275. 10:45Odysseus had raised as a puppy 20 years
276. 10:48ago. The dog wagged its tail, laid its
277. 10:50ears flat, and died. It had waited 20
278. 10:53years just to see its master one last
279. 10:56time. "Who's that old beggar?" "Ah,
280. 10:58nobody important." "Then why is that
281. 11:00dying dog wagging his tail at him?"
282. 11:02Inside the palace, the suitors mocked
283. 11:04him, threw food at him, and treated him
284. 11:06like garbage. One of them threw a stool
285. 11:08at his head. Odysseus took it all
286. 11:10watching, counting, and planning.
287. 11:13Penelope announced a contest. Whoever
288. 11:15could string Odysseus's great bow and
289. 11:17shoot an arrow through 12 ax heads in a
290. 11:20row would win her hand. One by one, the
291. 11:22suitors tried. Not a single one could
292. 11:25even bend the bow, let alone string it.
293. 11:27The old beggar asked for a turn. The
294. 11:29suitors laughed. Odysseus took the bow,
295. 11:32strung it like it was nothing, and fired
296. 11:34an arrow clean through all 12 axes. And
297. 11:37then, he turned the bow on the suiters.
298. 11:40"You thought your king was dead? You
299. 11:41devoured his home, you harassed his
300. 11:44wife, you plotted to kill his son, and
301. 11:46now pay for all of it." He and
302. 11:49Telemachus killed all 108 suiters in the
303. 11:52great hall. It was a bloodbath, but
304. 11:54Penelope still wasn't convinced. 20
305. 11:57years is a long time. She had one final
306. 12:00test. "Servants, move the king's bed out
307. 12:02of the bedroom for our guest." "Move the
308. 12:05bed? That bed can't be moved. I built it
309. 12:07myself around a living olive tree. One
310. 12:09of the bed posts is the tree itself,
311. 12:11still rooted in the ground. Nobody knows
312. 12:13that except me and you." That was the
313. 12:15answer only the real Odysseus could
314. 12:17give. Penelope broke down. They were
315. 12:19finally reunited. 20 years, two wars, a
316. 12:23curse from a god, six-headed monsters,
317. 12:26witches, and a decade of suiters, and it
318. 12:28all ended with a man remembering how he
319. 12:31built his own bed. The Odyssey is nearly
320. 12:343,000 years old, and the whole thing
321. 12:36comes down to the same lesson it's been
322. 12:38teaching since the 8th century BC. The
323. 12:40smartest person in the room can still be
324. 12:43the dumbest person in the room if they
325. 12:45can't control their ego. Odysseus
326. 12:48outsmarted Cyclops, resisted the sirens,
327. 12:51and navigated the land of the dead, but
328. 12:52it took him 10 years to learn the one
329. 12:55thing he should have known all along.
330. 12:57Sometimes, the smartest move is keeping
331. 12:59your mouth shut. If you'd rather listen
332. 13:02than watch, whether you're cooking,
333. 13:03driving, working, gaming, or falling
334. 13:05asleep, we're on Spotify, too. Links in
335. 13:07the description.