Predictive History - The Story of "Civilization", "Secret History", "Game Theory" and more - Great Books #5: The Odyssey

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Great Books #5: The Odyssey

Today we start the Odyssey. The Odyssey is a sequel to the Iliad and it's a family story. It's a story about a homecoming. There are three main characters, right? There's Odysseus, who is the main character and it's what's called the Odyssey. Then there is Tanalpi, who is his wife and there's Tanakas. who is their son. And as we discussed when we read the Iliad,

Homer is first and foremost concerned about the human condition. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to live in a world of war, of trauma, of tragedy, and how can we overcome this adversity? So the Odyssey, it's about three individuals and a family, and they are all traumatized, and they're all heartbroken.

So Odysseus is trying to return home from the war. And his problem is that he has PTSD, which is post-traumatic stress order. And this is very common for soldiers who return from war. They've seen so much violence, they've seen so much tragedy, they've seen so much sense of death, that their souls are shattered, and that is a disson problem. Then you got Penelope, who's suffering from depression. And why is she depressed? Because her husband has been away for 20 years.

And she doesn't know if he's alive or he's dead. He's probably dead, right? It's been 20 years. There's been no sign of him for the past 20 years, but she cannot bring herself to admitting that he's dead. So she's put herself in a very precarious situation. There's dozens of suitors who want her hand in marriage. And she wants to say no, but she's afraid that if she does that, then she'll be alone for the rest of her life. but she doesn't want to say yes because she refuses to admit that her husband, the love of her life,

Odysseus, is dead. In our heart, she feels that he's still alive, but in her head, she cannot justify it. She cannot explain it. It's just a feeling in her. Okay? And so her response, and this is what we call cognitive dissonance, her response is just to shut down. Okay? She just spends all our time alone in her room.

At first she's weaving stuff, but then she just sits in her room. And then there's Tamakis. Tamakus, his problem is that he doesn't know if his father is dead or alive, but the man is a legend. This is a man who won the Trojan war by coming up with a stratagem of the Trojan horse. So he is a legend in this world and everyone sings his praises. And he's his son, so he's living in his shadow, okay? And he wants to prove he's better than his father.

He wants to become a hero himself, but he's being burdened by the legacy of his father. The other issue is that unless his father is dead, he cannot inherit his father's legacy. right? His property, the reputation, cannot be transferred to him. Then there's his mother who's just sitting around the house every single day. If she were to get married, she would leave and then he could be master of his own house, right? But she's still around, so he's kind of stuck. At the same time, the suitors are waiting for Penelope's answer, which is never going to come. So they're just in the house and they're eating up all his wealth.

So he is just seeing his life wither away and there's something he can do about it. All right? So he is just depressed as well and he's angry. But, you know, all these things are the same thing. It's really one of cognitive dissonance. It's really one of depression. It's really one of trauma. All right, so there's another way we can analyze what's going on and to think about the soul

And the soul is something that the ancients were really concerned about because it was really the most fundamental issue of what it means to be a human being It's something that we don't talk about today Something that we don't think about today because we live in a world of material science We can't see it it doesn't exist but for most of humanity, sorry, for most of human history, humanity has understood the soul as very present and as very real, and the most significant thing in our lives. So the soul that they understood, let's talk about their understanding of the soul.

And this is true for a lot, actually a lot of cultures. First of the soul is a very complex thing. It is almost infinite dimensions. The different layers to the soul. And there's really a part of the soul that is you, okay? That's just you, the person. But who you are as a person is ultimately influenced by other influences as well, by other factors as well, okay?

So these influences include your family, okay? your culture the history and maybe the gods okay so again they're infinite dimensions and these dimensions have an impact on you and maybe when you die maybe there's a part of you that lives on okay but there's also parts of you that flows back into these different streams of the universe okay so it's a very complex thing Now, the soul, another name for the soul that we use today, if you go to psychology class,

their name for the soul is the worldview. Okay? So we have a much more simplistic understanding of our psychology than the ancients. The idea of the worldview is just our understanding of who we are, where we came from, and our place in the universe. Okay, and we believe it comes from our memories,

from our memories and our experiences. And the worldview is important because it allows us as our ourselves, this is important for things such as planning, right? Only do you know who you are can you actually plan ahead because then you know what you wanna do, what you wanna accomplish, okay? It allows for empathy, building relationships with other,

and it allows for judgment. Basically, what's good, what's bad. What do you like? What don't you like, okay? So the worldview and the soul are fundamental to who we are. Now, in psychology, what they will teach you is that trauma splinters the worldview.

There's something about your experience that is fundamental to your identity but because it is so painful, you forget about it, or you refuse to see it. And this causes a rupture in your identity, in your coherent sense of the world, which destroys your worldview, okay? And this leads to depression.

What is depression? Depression is the inability to act and to think, okay? You don't know what's to do. you want to accomplish. You don't trust yourself. You don't know what you'd like. And so what are symptoms of depression? You sleep a lot or you find no pleasure or anything. You feel no emotion. You feel sort of numbness, okay? And that's why people, they tend to take drugs or they just sleep all the time or whatever, okay? All right, because you're unable to act. And that's exactly what's happening to Odysseus, Penelope, and Tanakis.

There's a trauma in their lives, okay? And they just believe this as well, okay? There could be a trauma that splits the soul, okay? And it could be a demon, it could be a really painful incident, it could be anything, okay? But it splits your soul. And if you are to recover, then you have to repair your soul. And that's a fundamental conflict and the dilemma within the Odyssey. You have three individuals, Odysseus, Penelope, Tamalcas,

their soul has been splintered. And so they're on a journey, their own odyssey, to repair their soul. And the answer, of course, is each other, okay? Their love for each other. That's what's gonna save the world, okay? The love of family. And that is the fundamental message of the Odyssey.

All right? And that's why it's such a powerful weed. Okay, so let me give you some background as to the plot. So as you know, the Odyssey begins in immediate rest, okay, in the middle of things, which is to say that a lot of things that are taking place and happens just in the middle of the plot. Okay, and in the beginning, Odysseus has been away for 20 years. and he's stuck on an island with Calypso.

Penelope is depressed and sitting by herself in the room. Tamakis is angry, okay? And Athena comes and tells Tamachus, come with me, I will help you find your father. Okay? So, the story starts with the Trojan War, of course. Okay, so remember, Helen has been taking the Troy. She falls in love of Paris,

because that's what Aphrodite promise Paris as a prize. And now her husband, the King of Sparta, Manilaus and his brother, Eghamana, the King of Kings, are like, we're going to raise an army and we're going to get back Helen, okay? And this is prophesized. This is to be the greatest war in human history. It will make, it will make mortals into gods, right? That's why Achilles enters this war.

this is the opportunity for him to prove that he is the greatest warrior in all of human history and that's why he goes to Troy. Odysseus is also supposed to go to this war. But Odysseus, he's different from Achilles because Odysseus loves his wife Penelope. And he has a new son, six months old Tanakas. So he's conflicted. And he really doesn't want to go to war. But the Greeks need him because the gods have told the Greeks that it is really Odysseus who will win the war.

Because he's the one who will come up with the chosen horse, the stratagem that will win this war. So you need this guy. Okay? So Odysseus doesn't want to go, but the Greeks insist. So the Greeks sent two messengers to Ithaca where Odysseus lives. Now, what he does is he pretends to be mad. So he joins up with a beggar, okay? He's a king, but he dresses up really badly,

and he's going around the farmland and throwing salt everywhere he goes. He looks crazy, okay? And you throw salt in the land to kill crops. So he looks kind of crazy. But the Greeks understand that this is a man of disguise. He's a man of stratagems. He's very clever.

So it's probably a trick. So what they do is they take his six-month-year-old son Tamakis. Okay, and put it in front of Odysseus. Now this is plon the field and salting the fields, okay? And basically the test is this. If you're really mad, you're gonna run over your son, Tamacchus, and kill him. If you're not mad, if you're not really crazy,

then you're gonna stop and go somewhere else and save your son. So let's see if you're really crazy. And so this is, of course, turns away and saves the son. And the Greeks says like, ha, you see? You're tricking us all along. come of us to Troy. And so this has no choice but to go.

Okay? So this is why Odysseus goes. He's forced to go. But you think about it, the story doesn't really make any sense. Right? And that's the greatness of Homer because he's telling us the complexity of human psychology. But this is really, really smart.

He thinks ahead, right? He should know that if he were to have this strategy, the Greeks would see it see it through it really quickly, right? So what he should be doing is hiding from the Greeks, right? Or maybe just moving away. If you really, really don't want to go to this war, you can just run away and take your family with you. Okay?

Or you know what? Just kill these guys because you're crazy, right? All right? So what this tells us is that, yes, Odysseus really loves his family. and he wants to be with his family because he knows that if he goes to Troy, he'll be gone for 20 years.

That's 20 years that he won't be able to see his son Tamakis grow up, okay? But at the same time, this is the greatest war in human history. Achilles is going, Aikmanna is going. Does this just want to be really want to be left out? Does he really want to be the one guy who's like a coward, who is like, you know what,

I'm just to stay home? The Greeks will just laugh at him for the rest of his life saying you're just a pussy. Right? You've been pussy whipped by your wife. He doesn't want to do that. So it's a conflict. All right. So what he does is he comes up with a stratagem that allows the Greeks to see food really quickly

and force him to go so he doesn't have to bear any responsibility for what he does. All right? And that is a complexity of the human soul. That is a complexity of our worldview. All right? So he goes to Troy and he has to explain himself why he's there. And he knows he's going to be away from home for 20 years, 10 years in Troy, 10 years being lost at sea.

Right? So his worldview is this. Why am I here in Troy? Well, the first reason is just justice. This is a just war because the Trojan stole. Helen, and therefore the Greeks must avenge the honor of menolans. Second is family. Helen should be with her children.

Helen should be with her family in Sparta. We have to return her to Sparta. How would I feel if Penelope were stolen from me? I would want everyone to go fight with me to get her back as well, right? family okay now third reason is legacy yes he will not see his son Tamakis for 20 years therefore he has to build him a legacy that will carry him for the rest of his life if he is in Troy and he wins this great war it becomes this great hero then Tamakis himself will be famous as a son of

of Odysseus. People will respect Hamachus. He wants to build a legacy for his son. He wants to tell his son, this is how you should live your life. You should live a life of honor, of justice, of truth. So these are the three reasons why he goes to Troy. And we have to remember that this is all

to justify his conflict. There's a conflict, there's a rupture in his soul, He needs to mend it by explaining why he's doing what he's doing. Because again, he's abandoning Hispanic for 20 years. Okay, so what's going to happen is this. This is the worldview that Odysseus has when he enters Troy. The problem starts when they win the war. Because when they win the war, then Odysseus is for,

to see that all of these three things were wrong. Okay? He will discover that this war was not about justice. It was just about revenge and murder. It is about family, it's about destroying families because when you win this war, you enslave the woman and kill the husbands, right? That's destroying families.

And it's not about legacy because you destroyed the Trojan civilization. for no particular reason. Because Helen doesn't even want to go back to your Sparta. Okay, and this causes cognitive dissonance. And this is what causes his PTSD, okay, or trauma. And so for, so the Odyssey is his journey to repair his soul so that he can go home. Okay, doesn't make sense, guys. That's what the Odyssey is about.

Okay, so what we're gonna do now is we are gonna read certain sections. Okay, so this is from the Iliad actually. Okay, this is from the Iliad. And so remember, in book one of the Iliad, Achilles Angermanon had this nasty fight where Achilles is like, screw you, you're a dog, I'm not gonna fight for you ever again. Aga Manon's like, screw you, I don't need you, okay?

But in book two, Aymand recognizes that, oh, this is actually a problem, because Achilles is the greatest war that we have. And if Achilles doesn't want to fight, then that's bad for morale. Okay, we might actually lose this war. So Eggmanon being stupid, he has this stupid idea. And this stupid idea is this.

How can I rally my soldiers? How can I galvanize them into action now that Achilles has abandoned battlefield? I know what I'll do. I'll tell them they can go home. Ha. Reverse psychology, guys, right? Reverse psychology.

Because when I say, you guys can go home, every Greek would be like, No! We came all the way to Troy to win glory for you, Agamannot. We're going to fight to the death to ensure that you get your glory, Agamon. We don't want to go home. Don't make us go home.

We're not fight, okay? So that's a plan. And of course, it backfires. And when people hear, oh, we go home, home they all run away and Agamon is like he now is kind of dissonance he's like what oh what he doesn't understand what's going on okay and at this point in a story the war should be over because all the Greeks just got went home and again what happens is a dish will come and save everyone because he will recognize that

Eganman just being stupid and he will force all the Greeks to return back to their posts. Okay? All right, so I agree, can you read please? Testing his men. Testing his men, but he only made the spirit raised inside their chests, all the rank and file who'd never heard his plan. And the whole assembly surged like big waves at sea, the Akarian Sea when east and south winds drive it on, blasting down in force from the clouds of Father Zeus, or when the west wind

shakes the deep standing grain with hurricane gusts that flattened down the stalks. So the mass assembly of troops was shaken now. They cried an alarm and charged towards the ships, and the dust went whirling up from under rushing feet, as the men jostled back and forth, shouting orders. Grapple the ships, drag them down to the bright seat, clean out the launching channels. Shrill shouts hitting the heavens, fighters racing for home, knocking the blacks out underneath the holes. Okay, so this just shows you how stupid Egamanan is, because Agamundon thinks that his soldiers actually

want to fight this war. But all the soldiers are homesick. They're sick of this stupid war. They don't know why they're in this war, okay? So the moment that Egman says, you can get you go home, they're all like, we're gonna get home as soon as possible, okay? They miss your wives, they miss your children.

All right? So Aphrodite and Hera are up in the sky, Mount Olympians, and they watch us and like, oh my God, Megan Manon is gonna lose us this war. What a moron. And Hera says to Athena, oh sorry, sorry, it's not actually Hera and Aphrodite, it's Hera and Athena, because they're the ones

who lost the contest to Aphrodite, okay? But Hera says to Athena, you get down there, man, and you stop this, okay? So Athena rushes down and he talks to Odysseus. When Westchap first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, Inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel.

While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to Westjetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. All right. Can you read? And now they might have won their journey home, the men of Argos fighting the will of fate. Yes, if Herra had not alerted Athena. Inconceivable, Child of Zeus whose battle shield is thunder, tireless one, Athena. What, is this the way?

All the Argyves flying home to their fatherland, sailing over to seas brought back, leaving Prime and all the men of Troy a trophy to glory over, Helen Argos, Helen for whom so many Argyves lost their lives in Troy, far from native land. Go, range the ranks of Aekean's arms and bronze. With your winning words, hold back. each man you find. Don't let them haul their rolling ships to sea. Okay, come up reading. The bright-eyed goddess palace lost no time. Down she flashed from the peaks of Mont Olympus, quickly reached the ships and found Odysseus first,

a mastermind like Zeus, still standing fast. He had not laid a hand in his back, black benched hole, such anguish wracked from his heart and fighting spirit. Now close beside him, the bright-eyed goddess stood in urgent. him on royal son of Liarthes, Adisius, great Tastasian. What is this the way? Okay, so everyone's trying to go home and you would think that Odysseus would be the first person to get on a ship to go back to see his son and his wife, okay? But he's sitting there, he's kind of confused, all right?

So he's like, this doesn't make any sense to me. Why would Agamana do this? But at the same time, he sort of shows you that he actually doesn't really We didn't want to go home, right? Because if we want to go home, he'd be home by now. Do I'm going? All your archives flying home to your fatherland, tumbling into your oarswept ships, Living Priam and old men of Troy a trophy to glory over.

Helen of Argos. Helen of Argos, Helen for whom so many Argyves lost their lives in Troy, far from native land. No, don't give up now. Range the Aiken ranks, with your winning words, hold back each man you find. let them haul the rolling ship to see. He knew the goddess's voice. He went on a run, flinging off his cape as Uribez picked it up. The herald of Ithaca always at his side.

Coming face to face with Atreides' Agamemnon, he relieved him of his father's royal scepter. Its power can never die, and grasping it tightly off, he strode to the ships of archives, armed and bronze. Okay, so he is now going to sing it handily save the Greeks from the Greeks from. losing this war, okay? So, Athena, right? Athena is always part of Odysseus. It's part of his soul, right?

The intuition. And his intuition tells him, something's something wrong here. I need to stop this, okay? Also, look at Agamagnon. Agon is frozen. He is so distraught. He's shut down, okay?

His brain has stopped working. It's frozen because this is not supposed to happen, right? When he says that you guys can go home, he wanted everyone to say, no, we're going to stay and fight for you, Eggamon. All right, so it's kind of dissonance. It's so much condescence that when Odysseus takes the Royal Scepter. Egadon doesn't mean notice.

The real Scepter is part of his soul, right? It's his legacy. It's what gives him authority. He's the king of kings. And Odysseus just takes the crown from instance. It's like, no, I'm a king for now to save this war. Okay? And it just shows you how committed Audits is

to winning this war. He really believes that this war is about justice, about family, about building a legacy for his son. So he refuses to lose this war. Right? Keep on going? I thought I... Oh, sorry.

Yeah. All right. All right. So, um, But that's the Iliad, okay? And again, what will happen is that Odysseus will win this war and he will win eternal glory for himself with the stratum of the Trojan horse. Now we go to the Odyssey.

And in the Odyssey, we don't actually meet Odysseus for many, many books, okay? It's only towards the middle that we meet Odysseus. In the first few books, it's a story of Tamachus and his journey. to find his father, okay? And when we meet Odysseus, he's a very different person from the Iliad. Remember in the Iliad, he is trying to win this war. He's very energetic.

He's galvanized. He's very heroic. But when we see him in the Odyssey, he's a changed person. In fact, he's a broken person. So what's happening is that Odysse is in his crew try to go home and they get lost at sea, they have many adventures, and they get lost at sea. and they get shipwrecked on an island,

and he becomes the sex toy, literally a sex toy, of a god's name Calypso. So basically he's getting raped every day at night, and then he goes to the beach and he cries. Okay? So he's a prisoner of Calypso for many years, and the gods, Zeus, Athena,

they get together and say, you know what, But we can't have this happen anymore, okay? Odysseus needs to go home. So they send Hermes to tell Clipsso, you have to send Adidas home. The gods will it. And the Calypso, sure, why not? Okay?

So can you read? With that, the powerful giant killer sped away. So it's Hermes. So Hermes has told Clipsso, you have to let this guy go. The queenly nymph sought out the great Odysseus. The commands of Zeus still ringing in her ears, and found him there on the headland, sitting still, weeping, His eyes never dry, his sweet life flowing away with the tears he wept for his foiled journey home,

since and then no longer pleased. So he's sitting, he's still, he's weeping, his eyes never dry. And all he's thinking about is the past, okay? This is clear signs of depression, PDST. Okay, give one away? In the night true, he'd sleep with her in the arching cave. He had no choice. Unwilling lover, alongside lover all too willing.

But all his days he sit on rocks and beaches, wrenching his heart with sobs and groans and anguish, gazing out over the barren sea through blinding tears. Okay, so he's a broken man. He's a very different person from the Iliad. Okay, so another question then is why? What happened to him? All right? So, Calypso says to Odysseus, you know what?

It's been great having a sex toy. but the gods insist that you have to go home. But you know what? You can choose to be my sex toy for all of eternity. I can make you immortal, right? You can go home, but I can make you immortal and you'll be my sex toy for all of eternity. Now this is like, that's a really nice offer.

I really want to do this, but I need to go home, okay? So he leaves and he gets on the island. And on this island, he's given a ship to go home. Okay, but before he goes, home as the custom they host a banquet for him okay and they really don't know who he is he did they don't really know he's Odysseus all right so during the banquet what's the tradition is of a bar seeing a great story okay to sing a story of great deeds and of course he sings about the Trojan War okay so

so can you read Yeah. The stride between Odysseus and Achilles, Pileas' son. Okay. So the Bart is seeing about the sword in war, okay? How once at the gods' following feast, the captains clash in the savage war of wards, while Agamemnon, Lord of armies, rejoiced at heart that Achaeus' bravest men were battling so.

For this was the victory sign that Apollo of prophecies at a shrine in Pytho when Agamemnon strode across the rocky threshold, asking the oracle for advice. start of the tidal waves of ruin tumbling down on Troy's and Achaeus's forces, both at once, thanks the will of Zeus who rules the world. That was the song the famous Harper sang but Odysseus, clutching his flaring sea-blue cape in both powerful hands, drew it over his head, and buried his handsome face. Ashamed, his host might see him shedding tears. Whenever the raft bard would pause in the song, he'd lift the cape from his head, wipe off his tears, and hoist his double-handed cup, pour it out to the gods.

But as soon as the bard would start again, impel to sing by Phyosius' lords, who reveled in his tail, again Odysseus hid his face and wet. Okay, so this is a great banquet, and the barred singing about the Trojan War. And at this point, you would think that Odysseus would be like, hey, that's me, man, he'd be very proud. But instead he cries and he cries.

This again is trauma, where The memories are storing pain in him. So clearly something happened during the children's war that made him watch forget about it, that made him resent himself, like cause his soul to be ruptured. All right. All right.

So, um, keep on going. Odysseus, master of many exploits, praised the singer. I respect you, Demosthicus, more than any man alive. Surely the muse has taught you, Zeus's daughter, or God Apollo himself. How true to life, all too true. You sing the Akeans' fate, all they did and suffered, all they soldiered through,

as if you were there yourself or heard from one who was. But come now, shift your ground. Sing of the wooden horse, Epius is built with Athena's help, the cunning trap that good Odysseus brought one day to the heights of Troy. filled with fighting men who laid the city waste. Sing that for me. True to life as it deserves. And I will tell the world at once

how freely the muse gave you the gods' own gift of song. Okay. So he's feeling all this pain because of memories of the children war. But he recognizes that if he's really to go home, because remember he's on his journey home, he needs to confront his pain. He needs to omit his pain.

Okay? So now he's going to ask the bar to sing the memory that he's most trying to repress. He wants to now focus on the chosen war and really come to terms with his own trauma. Okay? All right. So let's see what happens.

Sorry. Stirred now by the muse, the bard launched out in the fine blaze of song, starting at just a point where the main Aiken force, setting their camps of fire, had boarded the ore-swept ships and sailed for home. But famed Odysseus' men already crowded,

in hiding, in the heart of Troy's assembly, darkened that horse the Trojans dragged themselves to the city heights. Now it stood there, looming, and round its bulk the Trojan sat debating, clashing, days on end. Three plans split ranks, either to hack open the hollow vault with ruthless bronze, or hauled up to the highest ridge and pitch it down the cliffs, or lit it sand, a glorious offering made to pacify the gods, and that final plan was bound to wind its' day for Troy was faded to perish once the city lodged inside her walls the monstrous wooden horse where the prime of our guy power lay in wait with death and slaughter bearing down on Troy okay troops of Akeans broke from cover streaming out of the horse's hollow flanks to plunder Troy he's saying how left and right they

ravaged the seep city saying how Odysseus marched right up to de Phoebus' house, like the god of war on attack with diehard men of laws. But Daphibis isn't an end for prydum, okay? They want to go kill the king? Do you want going? There he sang, Odysseus fought the grimace fight he had ever braved, but he won through at last, thanks to Athenus' superhuman power. That was the song the famous Harper sang, but great Odysseus melted into tears, running down

from his eyes with his cheeks. As a woman weeps, her arms flung around her daughter. husband, a man who fell in battle, fighting for town and townsmen, trying to beat the day of doom from home and children. Seeing the man go down, dying, gasping for breath, she clings for dear life, screams and shrills, but the victors, just behind her, digging spear butts into her back and shoulders, drag her off in bondage, yoke to hard labor, pain, and the most heartbreaking torment weighs her cheeks. So from Odysseus' eyes ran tears of heartbreak now. So now we know what happened, okay?

All right, so what happened was this. For 10 years, Odysseus and the Greeks were trying to defeat the Trojans, and they could not do it because the Trojans were behind a walled city. So Odysseus prayed and prayed to Athena for inspiration, and then one day he had it, the Trojan horse, okay? So he sneaks in, so he gets into the underbelly of the Trojan horse, along with other soldiers, and then they get into the city and like, you know, they're really scared, they're really excited. Then they're able at night to leave the Trojan horse and then open the gates of Troy

and the Greeks stream in and they start to conquer the city. And then Odysse is, you know, he is killing, okay? Because it's war and he's full of adrenaline. But then something catches his eye, all right? He strikes down a soldier and then a woman comes crying. And she's traumatized at the sight of the death of her husband. And this is traumatized by this woman being traumatized. Because he came to Troy to save the woman, right?

He sees Penelope in this woman. He says, I came all this way to make sure that Helen could be safe of her husband. And now he just recognized that. I just killed someone's husband. But not only that, but the Greeks come and they take her off to be enslaved. So he, by witness war, has destroyed every single family in Troy. He's caused the suffering of thousands and thousands of women and children.

And that is what he sees for the first time, okay? For the longest time, he believed that he was here to fight for justice, to save families, to leave his legacy for his son, Tamakis. And now he recognizes no. This is not of just war. I'm destroying a civilization. This is not a war about family.

This is a war about destroying families. And what legacy am I leaving my son? How my son feel if he knows how I destroyed families like ours? And this causes trauma in him. It splits his soul. And it drives him crazy, basically. And that's a conflict, the central conflict in the Odyssey. Having done so much evil, how can you go home?

How can you repair yourself? repair yourself. How can you man your soul and repair your worldview so that you can live for your family? Okay?