Original subtitles

[logo chimes]

Downloaded from YTS.BZ

[logo fizzes]

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.BZ

[singer vocalising]

[gentle music]

[Narrator] For centuries, the story of the Trojan War

lived in the realm of myth.

A tale of gods and heroes sung by poets, told beside fires

etched into the imagination of the Greek world.

[gentle music continues]

Yet beneath the poetry lies history.

Overlooking the Dardanelles in northwestern Turkey

lies the site known as Hisarlik.

[singer vocalising]

Here, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a city

that was destroyed and rebuilt over centuries.

Among its layers lies a settlement

dating to the Late Bronze Age.

Scarred by fire, its walls toppled in violence.

[music intensifies]

[music fades]

It is here, in the aftermath of war

that the journey of Odysseus begins.

His kingdom was Ithaca and other islands in the Ionian Sea,

including Cephalonia and Zakynthos.

But his was not a swift return home.

Instead, the voyage stretched across ten long years,

filled with trials, temptations and terrors.

A voyage that, whether taken as myth or distant memory,

maps itself onto the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean.

[waves crashing]

[gentle music]

For centuries, scholars have attempted to identify

the places where Odysseus and his men landed.

Some locations are easily identified, others less so.

Indeed, some scholars question

whether such a voyage ever took place,

or was Homer simply using locations

that were well known at the time.

Long before Homer composed his epic,

the Aegean Sea was a major highway that joined islands

and even continents.

Greece as a single nation

did not exist at the time of Odysseus.

Instead, the region we know as Greece today

was divided up into island and city states.

Seamanship came naturally to the Greeks.

This had to do with the landscape of their surroundings,

the geographical position of Greece,

its climate and its endless coastline.

The landscape is mountainous,

and the farming area only comprises

one fifth of the entire nation.

Hence, it can only offer a poor harvest.

Thus, the sea was a way out.

The endless coastline, which covers 92% of Greece's borders,

forms closed inlets, natural harbours, deep bays,

golden beaches and hundreds of picturesque islands.

It was natural that such beautiful surroundings

would inspire the Greeks,

and would also instil in them a love for the sea.

The geographical position of Greece was an advantage

because it was approximately in the middle

of the ancient Mediterranean, between Asia and Italy,

near Egypt and Libya to the south

and next to the other Balkan countries to the north,

it was at the crossroads of the most ancient shipping lanes.

The distances were not great,

and for thousands of years

sailors navigated under clear skies,

almost always in sight of land.

It was the beginning of a maritime tradition

that has lasted thousands of years.

[tense music]

Homer tells us that the Greeks sent a fleet of over 1000 ships

to attack Troy,

which illustrates the might of Greek sea power at that time.

We don't have a single perfect blueprint

of a Bronze Age Greek ship.

Instead, we can assemble the picture from fragments art,

archaeology and the logic of seamanship.

[dramatic music]

Most Aegean ships were long and narrow, built for a mixed life.

Oars for control and speed.

A sail for longer passages.

At sea level, they sat low in the water

with high ends like horns lifting above the waves.

[dramatic music continues]

[singer vocalising]

In the Aegean, wind can be generous until it isn't.

Within minutes a calm, smooth sea state

can turn into a raging storm of fierce winds and big waves.

Bronze Age crews relied on both sail and oars.

Oars gave precision, entering harbours,

dodging reefs and fleeing danger.

The sail gave endurance,

turning a coastal hop into a true crossing,

as well as allowing the oarsmen an opportunity to rest.

Most likely, they used a square sail on a single mast,

simple, robust and effective with the right winds.

[suspenseful music]

But it demanded skill to refit quickly,

to ride gusts and to avoid being driven onto shore.

Later, Greeks would call a long 50-oared galley a penteconter,

which translates as 50-oared.

The name belongs to a later age, but the idea is older.

A long war capable boat, powered by muscle,

guided by skill and shaped by the sea itself.

The bulk of the crew consisted of oarsmen

who were free men recruited from the general populace

and compensated with pay or sometimes land allotments.

These men were not simply rowers,

they were also the primary infantry force

who would fight from the ship or on land

equipped with shields, spears and swords

stored under their benches.

Responsibility for the actual navigation

and steering of the ship

was in the hands of a professional helmsman

using a large steering wheel.

[music continues]

A ship like this was built around one obsession,

speed and control.

Long and narrow meant it sliced through choppy seas.

The low freeboard kept it light,

but those raised ends helped it ride over waves

and keep the sea from swamping the boat.

This was the technology that would carry Odysseus back

to his beloved Penelope on Ithaca.

[gentle music]

Homer's poem drew on centuries of Greek seafaring experience,

trade, raiding, seasonal navigation, island hopping

and the dangers of storms and straits.

These traditions were woven

into the odysseys mythic journey.

The poem blends wonder and supernatural imagery

with very real sailors lore.

This is the story of Odysseus' Odyssey,

told not only through Homer's poetry,

but through the landscapes of our modern world.

[dramatic music]

[tense music]

The war was over.

The Greek ships beached on the sands below

Troy's ruined walls prepared to sail.

Among them was the vessel of Odysseus.

[singer vocalising]

His home lay far to the west, across the Aegean Sea,

among the Ionian islands of modern-day Greece.

[dramatic music continues]

But the gods, angered by the Greek's cruelty

during the destruction of Troy,

were going to make sure that his journey home

would be anything but safe.

Among the fleet of Greek ships,

there were 12 sailing with Odysseus back to Ithaca.

Their journey would follow long-established routes

that had been known to mariners for thousands of years.

[singer vocalising]

[dramatic music]

The first stage of their journey

carried them along the Aegean coast towards Thrace.

We are told that a violent storm scattered the fleet.

[wind raging]

Odysseus and his men found themselves

off the rugged coastline of Thrace,

part of which today is the most eastern part of Greece,

sharing a border with Bulgaria to the north

and Turkey to the east.

Here, Homer tells us,

the Ithacans first set foot upon foreign soil.

Scholars point to the site of Izmir,

near the modern town of Maronia in Greece,

as the likely place of Odysseus's landing.

The land here is marked by wooded hills, fertile plains

and a broad view over the Aegean Sea.

In the Late Bronze Age,

this land was occupied by the Ciconians.

Raiding of coastal towns and villages by pirates and traders

was commonplace during this era.

After years of war, followed by weeks at sea,

the need for fresh supplies led Odysseus and his men

to attack the Cicones.

[fire rages]

In Homer's account,

they plundered its stores, seized livestock

and, true to the brutal customs of the age,

took lives and captives.

But although Odysseus urged his men to be cautious

and show restraint, his words were ignored.

As a result, the Ithacans were caught on the beach

by Ciconian reinforcements,

who had been summoned from the hills and mountains

that lie behind the coast.

In the battle that followed,

the Greeks were driven back to their ships.

Six men from each vessel killed, a heavy toll

and only the beginning of greater losses to come.

The episode illustrates a pattern

that recurs throughout Odysseus's journey,

the tension between prudence and recklessness,

between leadership and disobedience.

In Homer's telling, the Cicones serve as a grim warning.

[gentle music]

In historical terms,

they anchor the Odyssey in a real landscape.

Thrace was well known to the ancient Greeks,

a frontier land home to tribes both feared and respected.

The ruins of Maronia still stand today,

with remnants of city walls and a well-preserved theatre

overlooking the sea.

To walk here is to imagine Odysseus's ships offshore,

the cries of battle echoing across the hills.

The Odyssey's geography may not be strictly literal,

but many episodes mirror real sailing passages.

Narrow straits, treacherous coastlines

and island hopping routes that traders and raiders used.

As we follow Odysseus,

we step into both a mythological Mediterranean

and the real one.

Each island, each promontory

is both a stage for gods and monsters,

and a place still visible on modern maps.

[gentle music continues]

Driven from the shores of Thrace,

Odysseus ships turn south,

skirting the length of the Aegean

and slipping past the familiar coasts of Greece.

The town of Monemvasia

is at the northern end of Cape Maleas,

the southeastern tip of the Peloponnese.

Parts of the town date back to the Byzantine era,

but its towering sea walls

were familiar to sailors in the Bronze Age.

Odysseus was now near home.

All he had to do was round the Cape

and sail past Kythera Island,

and he would be in the Ionian Sea.

But Cape Marlis can be treacherous.

A violent storm blew Odysseus off course,

carrying him south beyond the islands of the Aegean

and into the wider Mediterranean.

Ten years of adventure were to follow

before he would finally set foot on Ithaca.

[gentle music]

[singer vocalising]

Days of uncertain sailing brought him to a distant shore.

Here, Homer tells us, dwelt the lotus eaters.

[waves lapping]

The lotus was no ordinary plant.

Its blossoms, sweet and intoxicating,

robbed men of their will to return home.

Those who tasted it longed only to remain.

Forgetting family duty and the world beyond.

Where in our world was this land of the lotus?

Ancient and modern scholars alike

have suggested the coast of North Africa.

Many point to the island of Djerba,

off the coast of Tunisia,

known today for its whitewashed villages and date palms,

Djerba sits like a stepping stone

in the southern Mediterranean.

It is fertile, rich in vegetation

and long associated with myths of enchantment.

Standing on its shores,

one can almost imagine Odysseus's weary crew

finding respite under its trees,

and although the lotus is not known

for its narcotic qualities,

its cousin, the Blue Lotus, is.

[gentle music]

The symbolism is timeless,

the danger, not of armed enemies,

but of pleasures that dissolve ambition,

sapping the strength to carry on.

Odysseus acted decisively.

He dragged dazed men back to the ships,

tied them fast beneath the benches,

and ordered the fleet onward.

For him, the memory of Ithaca,

his wife Penelope, his son Telemachus,

was too strong to be forgotten.

From the soft coasts of North Africa

the ships pressed on.

[tense music]

Soon the horizon revealed another land,

green, rugged, with mountains rising above the sea.

This was the land of the Cyclops.

In Homer's tale, the Cyclops were no ordinary men,

they were one-eyed giants who lived in caves.

Among them was Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, the sea god.

Most scholars place the encounter in Sicily,

near Mount Etna.

The volcano dominates the landscape.

Its slopes rich in pasture,

its caverns carved by fire and water.

The ancient Greeks imagined the Cyclopes

as the smiths of the gods,

labouring beneath Etna smoking peak.

Even today, the caves that dot the Sicilian coast

fuel the imagination,

as if waiting for the return of Odysseus ship.

[tense music continues]

It was here that Odysseus blinded the Cyclops

so that he and his men could escape

after they had taken some of his food.

As they slipped away,

Polyphemus called upon his father Poseidon,

god of the sea, to avenge him.

From that moment on, Odysseus' fate was sealed.

The sea itself became his enemy.

The legend lives on to this day.

Mount Etna still smoulders.

[tense music continues]

Along the coast near Catania,

stand great black boulders

jagged and towering above the waves.

They are known as the Cyclopean Isles,

said to be the stones hurled by Polyphemus in his rage.

Myth and landscape are intertwined.

The geology of Sicily provides a stage

for one of the Odyssey's most enduring legends.

When Odysseus and his men

escape from the clutches of the Cyclops,

their ships are battered by storms stirred up by Poseidon.

The Mediterranean is renowned for short, violent storms

that seem to spring up from nowhere,

catching out the unwary seafarer.

[wind howling]

[singer vocalising]

Odysseus battered fleet

found refuge among the Aeolian islands

off the northern coast of Sicily.

[gentle, dramatic music]

These islands Lipari, Vulcano, Stromboli and others

are volcanic.

Their jagged peaks rising sharply from the sea.

The Greeks believed that they were the domain of Aeolus,

keeper of the winds.

Homer tells us Aeolus welcomed Odysseus warmly,

entertained him for a month and then sought to aid his journey.

He presented the hero with a gift,

a great leather sack bound with silver cord

containing all the winds of the world, save one.

The west wind was left free to carry Odysseus home.

For nine days the ships sped eastwards across the sea.

Ithaca itself came into view.

Its familiar shores, so near,

the men could see smoke rising from their hearths.

But curiosity and suspicion proved their undoing.

While Odysseus slept, his crew opened the sack,

imagining it filled with treasure.

[wind howling]

The winds burst forth in a fury,

driving the fleet back across the sea

all the way to the Aeolian Islands.

[wind raging]

This time, Aeolus would not help them.

"The gods are against you," he declared,

and cast Odysseus away.

[gentle music]

The Aeolian Islands still bear the marks of their myth.

On Stromboli, the volcano erupts with fiery bursts

visible for miles,

like the breath of Aeolus himself.

On Lipari, ancient quarries reveal obsidian once traded

across the Mediterranean.

The winds here are real too.

Powerful, changeable, capable of turning a voyage into disaster.

For sailors, then and now,

this was a story based on the ever-changing natural world.

Odysseus's journey

has been grounded in the known world of the time,

but other parts of the story remain harder to place.

The line between myth and geography

becomes ever more blurred.

From the Aeolian Islands,

Odysseus and his fleet

were once again at the mercy of the sea.

The winds drove them toward a distant and unfamiliar harbour,

a place unlike any they had seen before.

[tense music]

Homer describes a narrow entrance

flanked by towering cliffs,

leading into a base so enclosed

that it seemed more like a lake than the open sea.

Here they encountered the Laestrygonians,

giants, fierce and merciless.

They attack the ships,

destroying all of them and killing their crews,

all but one.

For a cautious Odysseus

had moored his ship just outside the harbour.

With desperate speed, he cut his moorings and fled.

The sole survivor with his single vessel.

Where was this dreadful harbour?

Scholars have suggested various sites.

Some point to the rocky northern coast of Sicily.

Another suggested location

is the modern Bay of Bonifacio in Corsica.

It certainly fits Homer's description

of a narrow entrance, with high cliffs on either side,

leading to a safe harbour.

Or could the legend of the Laestrygonians

be the result of ancient Greek mariners

who had seen the giant sculptures

of the Nuragic civilisation on Sardinia's west coast.

Following their narrow escape,

Odysseus and his surviving companions

sailed onward until they reached an island

that was both beautiful and perilous.

[gentle music]

This was Aeaea the home of the enchantress Circe.

Where in our geography do we find Circe's Aeaea?

One possibility is the island of Ponza,

off the western coast of Italy.

There, the Monte Circeo is to be found.

A promontory that juts into the Tyrrhenian Sea

between Rome and Naples.

The headland rises dramatically from the surrounding plain,

its cliffs crowned with forest, its shoreline rich in caves.

To ancient sailors,

it would have seemed an island isolated and forbidding.

Even today, it bears the name Circeo,

preserving the memory of the enchantress.

For a full year, Odysseus remained on her island.

But at last, stirred by the call of home,

Odysseus demanded to depart.

As he leaves Circe,

she tells him he must visit the underworld

if he is to find out if he will ever return to Ithaca.

[menacing music]

His destination is the land of the Cimmerians,

a place shrouded in mist

where the living might speak with the dead.

The Greeks imagined the entrance to the underworld

as lying at the farthest western reaches of the earth,

where the sun sinks into ocean.

Yet, Homer's description is more specific.

Odysseus sails northward across the sea

until he reaches a dark shore

where the river Acheron meets the Styx.

[menacing music]

Where might this underworld be placed in our geography?

Two sites in particular

have long been linked to Homer's tale.

One is Cape Tainaron,

at the southern tip of the Peloponnese in Greece.

Here, a cave near the sea was revered in antiquity

as an entrance to Hades.

Travellers and worshippers alike came to make offerings,

believing the boundary between worlds was thin.

[menacing music continues]

The other site lies near Naples, at Lake Avernus.

This lake sits in a volcanic crater ringed by dark forest.

Avernus means without birds,

and in Ancient Greece it was believed

that rising, noxious, sulphuric fumes

meant that birds could not fly over it.

This was taken as a sign

that this was a place unfit for living things,

and so connected to the underworld.

To stand at its shore today,

with the sulphurous scent of nearby vents,

is to sense why the ancients saw it as a gateway to death.

Armed with prophecy and knowledge of what lies ahead,

Odysseus returns from the underworld

to Aeaea, Cersei's island.

There, the sorceress offers further counsel.

Ahead lie the sirens,

whose song lures sailors to their doom,

the Strait of Scylla and Charybdis,

where death waits on either side,

and the island of the sun god Helios,

where the cattle must not be harmed.

His journey home is shorter and the dangers more dire.

but Odysseus now knows what he must face.

Circe had warned him of the sirens,

whose sweet songs were said to lure sailors to their deaths

on jagged rocks.

But Homer's story may have some foundation in the real world.

The Sirenese rocks, today called Li Galli,

are a small group of islands off the Amalfi Coast

and would have been known to mariners at the time.

There is also a group of rocks off the island of Capri

called the Faraglioni Rocks.

These stacks are also believed

to have been the home of the siren.

Odysseus, on Circe's advice, makes wax earplugs for his men,

but orders them to tie him to the mast

so that he can hear the sirens song

with strict orders not to release him,

no matter how he begs.

[menacing music continues]

[wind howling]

Could the magical sounds be the unfamiliar noises of landfall

after a long, arduous voyage at sea?

[gentle music]

To sail these waters

with cliffs rising sharply from the sea,

and the surf breaking on hidden reefs,

is to understand why such a myth arose.

Even now, the coast of Amalfi seems touched by enchantment,

its beauty tinged with peril.

Beyond the sirens lay an even more treacherous passage.

[tense music]

On one side lurked Scylla, a monster with six heads,

each snatching sailors from the decks.

On the other was Charybdis,

a monstrous whirlpool that seemed to swallow the sea itself

before spewing it forth again.

No ship could hope to pass unscathed.

Odysseus faced a terrible choice.

To steer closer to Scylla meant the loss of some of his men,

plucked screaming from the decks

to steer nearer Charybdis meant risking his entire vessel

swallowed whole.

Guided by Circe's warning, he chose the lesser evil.

He steered towards Scylla.

[tense music continues]

Scholars place Scylla and Charybdis

at the Strait of Messina,

between Sicily and the toe of Italy's boot.

Here the waters are narrow, funnelled between steep coasts.

Powerful currents swirl, forming eddies,

whirlpools sometimes churn.

Although the changing seabed

means they are not as dangerous as they once were,

sailors today know the challenge of this crossing,

where tides and winds conspire to trap the unwary.

singer vocalising]

To the ancient Greeks,

such natural hazards became living monsters,

embodiments of the sea's merciless power.

Having passed the strait, Odysseus and his weary crew

reached an island bathed in sunlight.

This was Thrinacia,

the pastureland of Helios, the sun god.

Here, sacred cattle grazed.

Immortal creatures watched over by the daughters of Helios.

Circe had warned them,

as had Tiresias in the underworld,

to harm these cattle was to court disaster.

Odysseus swore his men to restraint,

but storms trapped them on the island for a month,

supplies dwindled and hunger gnawed at their strength.

While Odysseus prayed in solitude,

his men, driven by desperation,

slaughtered the sacred herd.

They roasted the flesh, defying the will of the gods.

When Odysseus returned, it was too late.

The scent of cooking meat filled the air,

and the wrath of Helios was kindled.

The sun god appealed to Zeus, demanding punishment

and punishment came swiftly.

[dramatic music]

When the crew once more went to sea,

a storm descended.

Thunder split the sky.

Lightning shattered the mast and the ship was torn apart.

Every man was drowned, save Odysseus alone.

Clinging to the wreckage,

he was borne across the waves, helpless toward his next trial.

[sombre music]

Where might Thrinacia be found?

Many traditions place it in Sicily,

whose fertile plains and sunny pastures

suit the image of Helios cattle.

Others suggest Malta,

or one of the smaller islands of the central Mediterranean.

The story carries a clear moral.

Disobedience to divine warning brings ruin,

and hunger, whether for food, for wealth or for power

can drive men to their doom.

Themes of the Sirens, Scylla and Helios, together,

these episodes mark the climax of Odysseus's trials.

The Sirens embody temptation.

Knowledge without wisdom, desire without restraint.

Scylla and Charybdis embody inevitability,

the reality that some choices in life have no good outcome,

only the lesser of evils.

The cattle of Helios embody disobedience,

the fatal flaw of Odysseus crew,

whose recklessness leads to their destruction.

[sombre music continues]

Odysseus himself survives, but at a terrible cost,

the loss of all his companions.

From this point onward, he sails alone.

The journey through southern Italy and Sicily

reveals how Homer wove real geography into myth.

The Siren islands off Capri.

The whirlpools of Messina, the pastures of Sicily.

Each corresponds to features sailors would have known.

Yet, Homer transformed them into something more.

He took the natural dangers and wonders of the sea

and gave them faces, voices and divine meaning.

For the ancient Greeks,

the Mediterranean was not merely water and land,

it was alive, shaped by gods and monsters.

To sail, it was to enter a world where every current,

every storm was the will of a higher power.

In this sense, the Odyssey is not only a tale of adventure,

but a reflection of how the Greeks understood their world.

[tense music]

Shipwrecked and alone,

Odysseus was carried by the waves to the shore of Ogygia.

There, exhausted, he collapsed beneath the trees

and was discovered by the nymph Calypso.

Calypso was a goddess of great beauty

who dwelled in solitude on her island.

She welcomed Odysseus,

tended his wounds and offered him shelter.

More than that, she offered him love.

For seven years, Odysseus remained with her.

Calypso promised him immortality if he would stay,

never again to endure hardship, never again to suffer loss.

But for all her beauty and all the comfort of her island,

Odysseus longed only for home.

His heart yearned for Penelope at home on Ithaca.

[waves crashing]

In the end, the gods themselves intervened.

Calypso was ordered to let Odysseus go.

With bitterness, yet with grace she obeyed.

She gave Odysseus tools to build a raft

and provisions for the voyage.

And so once more he set out to see.

Where was Calypso's Island?

Ancient commentators placed Ogygia far to the west,

at the very edge of the known world.

Many today associate it with the Maltese island of Gozo.

There, a cave known as Calypso's Cave

overlooks the Mediterranean,

linked by tradition to Homer's tale.

[dramatic music]

Odysseus raft did not carry him far before Poseidon,

still wrathful, struck again.

The sea God unleashed storms

that shattered the fragile vessel,

casting Odysseus once more into the deep.

Yet, fate was not finished with him.

[singer vocalising]

Clinging to broken timbers,

he was carried across the waves

until he reached the shore of Scheria,

the land of the Phaeacians.

Here at last his fortunes turned.

The Phaeacians were a seafaring people

famed for their fast ships.

On the beach, Odysseus collapsed,

weary beyond measure.

There he was discovered by the daughter of the local king.

Her name was Nausicaa.

Despite his terrible state,

she led him back to her father's palace.

Fed, clothed and honoured, he told the tale of his journey.

His odyssey was a tale of wonder, terror and loss.

[choir singing]

Moved by what he heard,

the king ordered that Odysseus be taken home

in one of his ships.

The Phaeacian ship bore him swiftly across the Ionian Sea,

faster than any known craft could sail.

In this final gift of hospitality,

Odysseus found deliverance.

The land of the Phaeacians

has been most often identified with Corfu or Kerkyra,

off the north-west coast of Greece.

[singer vocalising]

The island, lush and green,

lies on the very route by which Odysseus would return to Ithaca.

Its harbours and hills seem fitting

for a people who embodied seafaring skill and generosity.

Even today, Corfu embraces its link to the Odyssey,

claiming the legacy of that final, fateful stop before home.

[upbeat music]

[tense music]

Odysseus had been away from Ithaca for 20 years,

ten years at war, followed by another ten years

on his journey home.

The Phaeacian ship carrying Odysseus

arrived off Ithaca in the dead of night.

As Odysseus slept,

he was carried ashore and left on a sandy beach.

Legend has it that this was Dexa Beach,

but as the story goes, he was in danger.

As he had been away for so long,

others conspired to seize his kingdom and his wife.

To help him, the goddess Athena

disguises Odysseus as a beggar.

Dozens of men feasted on his wealth,

pressed his wife, Penelope, to remarry,

and plotted against his son Telemachus.

To reveal himself too soon would be to invite death,

but his faithful old dog, Argos recognised him before dying.

Disguised as a beggar, Odysseus entered his palace.

[tense music continues]

Penelope was under great pressure.

She decided that whoever could string

and accurately fire Odysseus's bow

would win her hand.

One by one, the rivals failed.

Then the beggar took up the bow.

With ease, he strung it and let fly the arrow.

[waves crashing]

[singer vocalising]

The Odyssey, which began with the fall of Troy

on the shores of northwestern Turkey,

ends here on Ithaca.

It is a quiet island, only accessible by sea.

Its hills rise above clear waters.

Its small harbours provide shelter from the wind.

To walk its paths is to step into myth.

To imagine Odysseus at last embracing Penelope,

the long ordeal ended.

The final chapters of The Odyssey

embody both endurance and restoration.

Calypso offered immortality,

yet Odysseus chose mortality and home.

The Phaeacians offered safe passage,

proving that hospitality,

the sacred bond between guest and host

was not lost in the world.

And in Ithaca, the trials of disguise, patience and justice

brought the story full circle.

Odysseus is no flawless hero.

He is cunning, proud, often reckless,

but he is also steadfast,

unwilling to abandon the longing for home.

It is that longing, Nostos, as the Greeks called it,

that lies at the heart of the Odyssey.

Odysseus was now home, his journey over.

[gentle music]

The story of Odysseus' journey

has travelled down through the millennia.

It has inspired poets and playwrights,

artists and adventurers.

It has shaped our language.

Words like Odyssey itself

now mean any long and eventful journey,

not just to distant shores,

but facing a series of life's challenges.

[engine roars]

Today, millions of people criss-cross the Mediterranean

in journeys that are measured in hours rather than years.

[gentle music continues]

For the many tourists who arrive in the Greek islands,

it is an opportunity to relax in beautiful surroundings.

It is easy to understand why Odysseus yearned so much

to return home.

For some visitors, there is the opportunity to explore

thousands of years of history.

Advances in archaeology have revealed locations

directly attributable to the time of Odysseus,

and even to the man himself.

But how much is there to see?

The location and even the very existence of the city

that inspired Homer's greatest works

have been the source of disputes throughout the ages.

But Hisarlik,

overlooking the mouth of the Dardanelles in northwest Turkey,

is now widely recognised

as the site of the ancient city of Troy.

[gentle music continues]

Ruins were first uncovered by German businessman

and enthusiastic archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1869.

In more recent times,

further excavations have revealed that the site

was a very important city,

perhaps because its location guarding the Dardanelles

meant it was effectively the gateway to the Black Sea

and thus an important trade route.

[dramatic music]

There is also evidence that at least part of the city

was destroyed by fire and violence

sometime during the Late Bronze Age,

the period in which Homer's Odyssey is set.

For anyone planning to follow in the footsteps of Odysseus,

this is where the journey begins.

Travelling north across the Aegean Sea

lies the ancient kingdom of Thrace.

Today it shares its borders

with Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece.

It is a mountainous region rich in forests and dramatic gorges.

It is also a region rich in archaeological sites.

Coastal paths cross the rocky cliffs and beaches

on the southern shores.

In Homer's poem, it is called Ismaros,

home of the Cicones,

attacked by Odysseus and his men.

The nearest major settlement is Maroneia,

famed for its strong wines,

which Odysseus uses to send the Cyclops to sleep

so that he and his men can escape.

Today, there are the remains of a theatre

and stone ruins that link the town to its ancient past.

Who knows what else lies just below the surface,

waiting to be discovered.

[waves lapping]

But it is back on Ithaca

that you will find the strongest evidence of Odysseus' existence.

[singer vocalising]

Across Ithaca,

local tradition has pinned Homeric names to springs,

ridges and ruins, abandoned hill villages

that look down over the same bays,

perhaps where Odysseus may have scanned the sea.

Some of these identifications are scholarly,

others are frankly romantic,

but together they form a kind of mythic overlay

on a very real island where every path

can become a line of the Odyssey.

In the park in Stavros, the main town of Ithaca,

there is a statue to Odysseus.

The inscription means prayer to Odysseus.

It comes from a dedicatory inscription found on fragments

during archaeological investigations.

The fragments dated from between

the second and first centuries BC,

and is considered one of the most important

findings in Ithaca,

as it demonstrates that Odysseus

was worshipped as a god for many years.

There are locations that have associations

with Homer's epic story.

For example, Phrixus on the northeast of the island

is thought by some scholars

to be the ancient port of Rheithron.

Meanwhile, Rhesus' Cave on the south of the island

is traditionally believed to be where Eumaeus kept his animals.

Eumaeus, being the first person

Odysseus meets on his return to Ithaca.

And then there is Mount Neritos, Ithaca's tallest mountain,

and the distinctive landmark that the goddess Athena uses

to convince Odysseus that he is back on Ithaca.

What we do have is a cluster of archaeological sites

and cult places that show how strongly later Greeks believed

that a king called Odysseus once ruled these hills.

Above the northern village of Exogi lies Agios Athanasios,

long known as the School of Homer.

In the 1990s,

archaeologists uncovered a substantial complex here.

Terraces, walls, floors and Mycenaean-period constructions

on a commanding ridge.

Some researchers now argue this was a Mycenaean citadel

that fits Homer's description of Odysseus Palace,

a fortified residence with nearby spring

and views over the northern bays.

Recent excavations have added a new twist.

At this same site,

scholars have identified a Hellenistic sanctuary.

The Odysseum, a hero shrine dedicated to Odysseus himself,

complete with ritual structures, inscriptions and offerings.

One fragment of a roof tile

even seems to preserve part of his name.

In other words, centuries after the poems were composed,

people came up here to worship Odysseus as a hero.

So whether or not this was his actual house,

the ruins you see are real,

and they belonged to people who believed

they were living in his shadow.

Further north on Pilikata Hill,

archaeologists from the British School at Athens

dug into another major settlement.

The hill shows continuous occupation from early prehistory

down into the Mycenaean age,

the era usually associated with the Trojan War.

Coins and cults don't prove a man existed,

but they do show something else.

Ithacans claimed him.

They minted his image, guarded his supposed palace

and turned their landscape into a living commentary on Homer.

[gentle music]

Today, life on Ithaca moves at a slightly slower pace

than its sisters, Cephalonia and Zakynthos.

Indeed, of the larger Ionian Islands,

Ithaca is the only one without an airport.

Instead, it maintains its connection

to the outside world via the sea.

A regular ferry service runs from Sami on Kefalonia to Vathi,

Ithaca's capital.

On arriving in Vathi,

you learn very quickly that this is Odysseus Island.

A large statue to him stands in a square facing the sea.

Nearby there is also a statue of Homer.

[gentle music continues]

The island is rich in small coves and bays

with crystal clear water.

Most can only be accessed by boat or on foot,

which just adds to the sense of ancient mystery.

Take Kioni on Ithaca's northeast coast as an example,

Kioni lies tucked into the shoreline

like a secret kept for sailors.

A harbour that doesn't announce itself only receives you

quietly, safely,

like the last pages of a long voyage.

Kioni is built around the simplest idea in island life,

shelter.

The bay curves like a cupped hand,

and the village wraps the shoreline in a neat ribbon.

In the Odyssey, the world is full of hazards,

weather, distance, strangers and pride,

but the longing that drives the journey is simple,

Landfall and home.

Kioni isn't home in the literal sense of the epic,

Homer doesn't mention it,

but it carries the same feeling.

From above Kioni looks like an anchorage shaped like a cradle,

and you can imagine the ancient logic of it

why a sailor would choose this curve of coast.

Why a crew would fall silent as the wind dies

and the sea smooths out.

For sailors, it's a perfect pause.

A place to anchor, refuel

and let the island's pace reset your own.

[gentle music continues]

Although Homer refers to Ithaca as Odysseus's kingdom,

many scholars believe that it included

the surrounding islands of Cephalonia and Zakynthos.

Indeed, there are theories that the kingdom

may have been centred more on Cephalonia.

Not far from the harbour at Sami,

you will find the Melissani Cave,

known locally as the cave of the nymph.

It looks quite modest from the outside,

but as you descend,

it reveals a part geological marvel,

part natural theatre.

The lake is freshwater

fed by subterranean flows

that pass through the island's limestone.

For thousands of years,

slightly acidic rainwater

percolated down through cracks in the rock,

widening them, hollowing chambers,

shaping this cave in slow motion.

At some point, the ceiling collapsed,

not enough to destroy the cave,

but just enough to invite the sun.

When sunlight hits the opening overhead,

especially around midday, the lake transforms.

a bright column of light slides across the water,

and the whole cave seems to illuminate from within.

In the ancient imagination,

caves like this weren't empty spaces.

They were thresholds to places where the ordinary human world

met with the world of gods.

Archaeological finds in and around the site

have included objects associated with ancient worship,

suggesting the cave may have been regarded

as sacred in antiquity.

It has been argued that this is where Odysseus

may have hidden his treasure on his return to Ithaca.

[gentle music continues]

In Homer's Odyssey,

Odysseus doesn't rule only one island,

he rules a network.

The poem names Same among the islands of his realm,

alongside Ithaca and Zakynthos.

However, the geography lines up in detail,

Kefalonia sits squarely inside that Odyssean seascape,

so when you stand above Assos, sea on every side,

it's easy to imagine the logic of an island kingdom.

Harbours like this are your gateways, your shelters,

your last refuge in bad weather and your first sight of home.

Assos feels like a harbour designed for an epic.

A narrow hook of land, a sheltered bowl of water,

and steep hills rising fast behind it.

Perfect for anchoring, hiding, watching.

The fortress above the village is Venetian,

built in the late 1500s,

but it amplifies a much older truth.

In the Ionian, whoever controls the high ground

controls the sea lanes,

and that's pure odyssey,

a world where coastlines are read like maps

and every headland might mean safety or danger.

[dramatic music]

The Ionian Islands sit close enough to feel like neighbours,

yet the sea between them can still decide your fate.

And that is exactly the geography of Homer's Odyssey.

Short crossings, sudden storms, hidden coves

and the constant question of where home waters end

and danger begins.

In the poem, Zakynthos isn't a random stop

on Odysseus's wanderings,

it belongs to the world he's trying to get back to.

Today, Zakynthos, or Zante, is a popular holiday destination,

famous for its turquoise waters,

dramatic cliffs and sandy beaches,

as well as a vibrant nightlife.

The Ionian islands may be tiny dots on the map,

but in the Odyssey they represent something much bigger.

Because these islands aren't just scenery,

they're home coordinates.

Ithaca and its neighbours, named in the poem

mark the world Odysseus belongs to.

The network of sea lanes, alliances and rivalries

that keeps turning even while he's gone.

And that's what makes them powerful for storytelling.

The Ionian is small enough to feel knowable.

Short crossings, familiar headlands,

harbours you can recognise.

It teaches you how the ancient sea works.

Where you can land, where you can hide a ship,

where you can watch the horizon before you commit.

But once the poem leaves these home waters,

the same logic scales up.

The map widens from local island politics

to the open-ended, half real, half mythic Mediterranean.

Foreign coasts, strange islands,

storms that reroute destiny,

and places that feel like the edge of the world.

Homer's Odyssey has been adapted for film and television

several times over the years,

Bringing the poem to life on the screen

presents several challenges,

not least how to visualise the mythical passages.

It's what makes directors go hunting for real coastlines

that feel ancient,

places with the right light, the right sea colour

and landscapes that can pass for a Bronze Age world.

[gentle music]

In the latest version of The Odyssey,

director Christopher Nolan brings Homer's tale to life

using real coastlines, real ruins, and real weather.

The production travelled across multiple countries

to make the journey feel physically hard,

geographically varied and crucially, believable.

The production began in Morocco,

using the fortified earth-toned architecture

around Ait Benhaddou to represent Troy.

Built as a fortified settlement on the caravan route

linking Saharan trade with Marrakech.

It is a location filmmakers often choose when they want

ancient scale without modern clutter.

The origins of the village date back to the 11th century,

although most of the earthen structures we see today

were either rebuilt or built during the 17th century.

So although it is almost 2000 years younger

than the city of Troy destroyed by the Greeks,

the dense, historic-looking structures

can be read as a Bronze Age cityscape on camera.

Moving on to Greece,

the production visited several locations

in the Messenia region of the Peloponnese,

in the south-western part of the mainland.

It is a captivating area of unspoilt landscapes

and rich history that dates back to the time of Odysseus.

Voidokilia beach was one of several pristine beaches

used as a location.

Voidokilia is extraordinary

in that it is an almost perfect shape of the symbol Omega,

the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

Above the beach is Nestor's cave.

This is one of several sites in the area

that have revealed Bronze Age archaeology.

The cave provides the location

for Odysseus' terrifying encounter with the Cyclops.

[gentle music continues]

While the production was in Messenia,

scenes were filmed at Methoni Castle.

It is a 13th century castle built by the Venetians

during their occupancy of the area.

The castle's most cinematic feature

is its relationship with the sea.

You approach across exposed stone with water on both sides,

and then out there sits the little offshore tower

like a punctuation mark.

It's an image that instantly communicates isolation,

vigilance and the feeling of standing

at the end of the known map.

[gentle music]

Another key location in the Peloponnese

was the ancient fortress at Acrocorinth.

From its commanding position

overlooking the Peloponnese peninsula,

it is the largest Acropolis in mainland Greece.

Its dramatic mountain top setting

providing a grand, authentic backdrop for the epic.

The Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily,

provided the locations for some of the island's scenes,

including Vulcano, which doubled up as Aeolia, home of the winds.

Other locations included the island of Favignana,

off Sicily's west coast.

Cala Rossa is renowned for its clear turquoise water

against the strange but beautiful backdrop

of standing stones,

the legacy of old quarry workings.

[bright music]

For the colder, harsher end of the Odyssey's emotional palette,

the production went to Scotland,

including Findlater Castle in Moray

and nearby coastal locations.

The ruined cliff top fortress

gives an instant sense of isolation, danger

and the feeling that you've sailed

beyond the edges of the map.

This sense is reinforced by the dense forest at Culbin,

which extends all the way down to the shoreline.

[waves lapping]

[gentle music]

[menacing music]

Odysseus voyage to Hades, the underworld

was made believable in Iceland's breathtaking landscape.

[dramatic music]

The contrast with warm, bright Greece could not be more stark.

The landscape gave the journey a harsher, more elemental edge

than the Mediterranean locations could provide.

There are the glacial and volcanic landscapes

where the world looks drained of warmth and time.

The vastness and drama of the landscape

provide a fitting backdrop

for a key turning point in Odysseus journey,

not just in his physical journey,

but in how he conducts himself as a man from now on.

[dramatic music continues]

To follow Odysseus is to follow both a story and a sea.

It is to glimpse how the ancients

made sense of their world,

and how we in turn still search for meaning in myth.

The Odyssey is not only a tale of gods and monsters,

it is a tale of longing, of resilience,

of the human spirit's refusal to surrender.

Across 3000 years, its song endures.

And whether we sail the Mediterranean

or simply trace its coasts on a map,

we are reminded that the journey of Odysseus,

like all great journeys, is, in the end, our own.

[dramatic music continues]