Hello friends,
Episode 19 of the podcast is now live!
Jeremy is joined by Alex Petkas, classicist and host of the Cost of Glory podcast, for a deep discussion on Homer’s Odyssey.
Starting from the beginning, Alex explains why the nearly 3,000-year-old epic has endured so long and how it shaped the Western imagination. From its roots in the oral bardic tradition to the universal themes that still resonate now: homecoming, family, the proper place of war and peace, cunning intelligence (polytropos), and the struggle to restore order against entropy and temptation.
Alex compares Odysseus with Achilles, and examines what the poem has to say about fatherhood and strong households. They also discuss what Christopher Nolan’s adaptation got right, and what it got wrong…
Watch the episode for free on Substack, or on YouTube if you prefer.
Enjoy!
Don’t forget to join our book club!
We just started reading Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov! The next discussion is on Tuesday, August 18, at noon ET.
Watch the recording of the first session (covering Books 1–4) here.
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