Original subtitles

I'm Bettany Hughes and I want to take you on the ultimate adventure

across the Greek islands.

This has to be one of the most exciting places on Earth -

a place full of mystery and wonder

and tens of thousands of years of history and human experience.

A cradle of civilisation, the Greeks of the ancient world

hothoused everything from democracy to medicine.

They gave us the Olympics, engineering triumphs

and some of the most epic stories of all time -

stories that have been passed down for thousands of years

and that still influence us today.

One of the very greatest centres on the Greek hero Odysseus -

the legendary warrior whose cunning won the Trojan War.

After the victory, he begins a long journey home

to the far west of Greece across these seas.

His story, the Odyssey, is a brilliant tale

of triumph over adversity and danger,

inspiring books, movies and adventures.

And, on my personal odyssey, I'm following Odysseus's path

from east to west.

I want to try and experience what he experienced...

Whoa!

...make amazing new discoveries...

Still... It's just perfect!

...bright yellow, isn't it?

...enjoy the delights of ancient Greece today...

Mmm!

...and uncover the truths behind these fabulous myths and legends...

And this is almost certainly the killer blow.

...to see how they can help us understand the world and ourselves.

Join me on this epic voyage - my Greek odyssey.

Last time, I travelled across the Peloponnese

discovering gold that's over 3,000 years old.

Now I'm on the final leg of my journey,

and heading to Odysseus's home, Ithaca.

Our hero faced all kinds of challenges throughout his odyssey

and, even on the home straight, they just keep coming.

But before I leave the Peloponnese, there's somewhere I must check out.

Corinth - a recruiting ground

for Odysseus and the Greeks for the Trojan War.

Home to the Corinth Canal - running between the Peloponnesian peninsula

and mainland Greece.

This canal, completed in 1893, joined two seas -

the Aegean and the Ionian -

to save ships from a dangerous 250-mile journey

around the jagged Peloponnesian coastline.

You know, there were 12 million cubic metres of earth

that were removed to build this thing.

12,000 boats a year use it and next to Suez

it is the oldest canal in the world.

Controlling waterways brings power

and many wanted to connect the seas here.

Even a Roman emperor tried and failed.

So, just up there, carved in the rock

there's a little memorial to the fact that

the emperor Nero tried to build a canal here.

So, that little bit of antiquity is close on 2,000 years old.

Wonderful as it is here, I need to continue on Odysseus's trail

to his penultimate destination - an irresistible island,

as enticing today as it was for the ancients - Corfu.

Odysseus's arrival here is super-dramatic.

Odysseus has made an incredibly influential enemy, and an enemy,

that, frankly, you do not want to have when you're bobbing around

in a boat on the middle of the Mediterranean.

It's Poseidon - the god of the sea and storms and earthquakes.

And, ever since the hero blinded his son, the giant Cyclops,

he has made Odysseus's life completely miserable.

Odysseus is just 70 miles from his home island of Ithaca

when disaster strikes.

As Odysseus approaches Phaeacia or Scheria -

which was almost certainly the name for this island, Corfu -

Poseidon whips up the mother of all storms.

Odysseus's raft capsizes and the hero is hurled into the sea.

Time and time again he fights for his life

as the currents drag him under or pull him towards these jagged rocks.

It's a close call but, against the odds,

Odysseus manages to cheat death one more time.

Naked and dripping wet,

he clambers up onto the banks and then into a forest

where he takes shelter and hides from Poseidon.

Exhausted, Odysseus falls fast asleep.

But there's a rude awakening.

He hears girls laughing and quickly covers himself with an olive branch.

Luckily, it's Princess Nausicaa -

the daughter of the king of the island -

who takes him under her wing.

Now, I'm not dripping wet and I'm certainly not naked,

but I'm about to get my own royal welcome here on Corfu...

Hello! How lovely to see you!

...and see first-hand evidence of this island's turbulent past.

Kalimera! Kalimera!

I've just arrived at the irresistible island of Corfu,

a paradise that visitors in both myth and reality

have found hard to leave.

And I'm being greeted by a dear friend - Count Flamburiari.

Kalimera! Kalimera!

Welcome! Welcome to a land of beauty!

It is! And peace! A land of beauty and peace - I love it!

You've got an olive... The only one spoiling the peace is this cat here!

I love the cat!

So the count's greeting me with a cat and an olive branch.

Hello, beautiful puss! What's the name of this one? Tarzan.

Tarzan the cat. So is it OK if I come down?

Well, you can come down. I'm not coming up!

Ooh - it's slightly... It's slightly dodgy. Now...

THE CAPTAIN SPEAKS GREEK ..says the captain. OK.

Ooh! Now...

Oh! Excellent! Let me help you.

Ah! It's been... Ah!

I love the fact you've brought me an olive branch.

Absolutely. It's peace and love.

And if I was Odysseus it would be covering my modesty, as well.

THEY LAUGH

I met the count 15 years ago when I was researching one of my books.

He's from an old Venetian family who governed Corfu

when it was under Venetian rule between the 14th and 18th centuries.

I wouldn't mind jumping into there.

I wouldn't mind after our hike from the beach.

And there's Milly! Hello! How lovely to see you! How lovely to see you!

How are you? I'm very well. All the better for seeing you.

That's what I like. These are new.

This one is a lady. They're Venetian. Venetian?

Only 400 years old. And are they from your family? Yes. Yes.

They were in an estate

which is further away from where we are now. Yes.

And we've rescued it because it fell apart and one or the other,

so we thought of putting them in a prominent position. Beautiful!

They're lovely. They're very nice.

Bye!

Well, let's get in. Out of the heat of the sun. Yes. Get out of the sun.

I know.

So, Flamburiari - it's not a Greek name. No - by all means it isn't!

It has been a Venetian name for the last 400 years. Gosh!

For 400 years the Venetians have created the architecture,

the music, the poetry.

And even today, I mean, you can - if you know the Greek -

you will see that it's not one and the same Greek. No.

It's very influenced from the Venetian.

I hear... The dialect, it's slightly different.

Yes, it is. So it's got Venetian. Amazing!

During World War ll, the Nazis occupied Corfu,

destroying some of its Venetian heritage.

I remember this. Such a story, this.

This was the count's family home in Corfu Town,

this beautiful, huge mansion, and it was bombed in 1943,

during the Second World War,

and this little table and this mirror,

are the only things Venetian... Yes. The only things that survived.

It's a very touching story. It is. It is a very touching story.

And there we are. Yeah, they're beautiful.

At least they're safe now. Yeah, I hope so.

In the Odyssey, when Odysseus is rescued,

he's given a right royal welcome, too.

There's an ancient site here many claimed is that very spot.

Dating back to the 8th century BC, it's the city of Palaiopolis.

No-one's actually yet discovered the ancient palace of the King of Corfu

and his Odysseus-rescuing princess daughter,

but lots of people have wanted it to be this place.

And this is actually the ancient city of the island

and it did flourish around the time

that Homer was composing his beautiful epic poem, the Odyssey.

And there are similarities - so we hear in the Odyssey

that it was a city that had big masonry blocks rooted in the ground,

that it was protected by high walls

and that it overlooked two beautiful double harbours.

I think this place is just so romantic.

But it's also really genuinely exciting being here

because if this is the palace of the King of Corfu,

then we're told that this is where Odysseus first sat down

and told the tales of his adventures and travels

in a kind of rush of emotion.

So, this is the first place that the Odyssey was shared with the world.

Palaiopolis dates from a time

when the Greeks were expanding their territories to the east and west.

The sea-faring adventures in the Odyssey are a kind of storybook

version of this real history.

As one of the closest Greek islands to Italy and mainland Europe,

Corfu's always had a cosmopolitan vibe.

After 400 years of Venetian rule and nearly a decade under the French,

in 1815 Corfu became a British protectorate,

leaving monuments across the island

that pay homage to its classical heritage.

Off we go! Lovely. There we are.

And today the count is showing me a royal treasure

with a French name - Mon Repos - and a British story.

So do people come here all year round?

No. The season starts early May and it finishes mid-October.

We're 50 yards away from the entrance of Mon Repos. Perfect.

So, this is it, is it? This is the palace. The main entrance.

Quite well-maintained, anyway. Yes.

And this was a British palace?

The British built it and it was occupied by the High Commissioners

as their home. And when the British left, it was left to the Greek king.

And the last inhabitant was King Constantine.

The last king of Greece. Yeah.

When you drive in here there's this plaque here to Prince Philip.

So what's his connection to this place? Well, he was born here.

Philip was born here?! Yes, of course he was born here

because his father was a Greek prince - Prince Andreou,

the brother of the Greek king.

And he left at the age of almost two.

There was a lot of hostility going between his father, Prince Andreou,

and the Greek government. Right. OK.

And it was safer for him to leave.

Did he? Gosh, I didn't know that.

Actually, the thing is, was escape in a basket.

Aw! In a Moses basket!

Well, I had no idea there was that royal drama.

So after Philip left Corfu,

where did he spend the rest of his childhood?

He was brought up in Germany

and in Britain.

He was brought up, actually, by Lord Mountbatten. Yes.

Which is interesting because Lord Mountbatten

was very instrumental in him then ending up marrying the Queen. Yes.

It's interesting that I think people forget how actually interlinked

Greece and Britain are. Yes. There's a lot of very close connection.

And... And still today. It feels like there is

this kind of special relationship between Britain and Corfu.

They left a lot of things which Corfu is enjoying.

The lovely roads all over Corfu. Yes.

They managed to supply water to Corfu Town.

They introduced cricket. Yes.

They introduced the ginger beer. Mm.

So there are a lot of things which one refers to.

And not only that, the population of this island

feels always very warm towards Britain. Yes.

And that brings us to a very warm relationship.

There are all kinds of links between this paradise island and the UK.

The one I'm about to encounter is rather surprising.

I'm on my own odyssey around the Greek islands,

and, today, I'm visiting one with a surprisingly British flavour -

Corfu.

Islanders got a taste for cricket

when British troops were garrisoned here in the early 19th century.

So this is something you just could not make up here in Corfu.

So there's this very long, very passionate tradition of cricket

but playing, just by chance, this weekend - I got a tip-off -

is British literary royalty.

So, the Authors XI - a very serious cricket team -

are coming and playing here in Corfu.

Today, they're taking on a team of Corfiot cricketers.

Match organisers Annabelle and Nikos Louvros give me the lowdown.

So, who have we got? Who have we got playing? ls that Sebastian Faulks?

Yes.

And he's out!

Jon Hotten from the Nightwatchman. Right.

Tom Holland was here yesterday but had to leave this morning.

Of course! Famous historian.

Nicholas Hogg, Anthony McGowan.

So, who do you think's going to win today?

Is it going to be the Corfiots or...? I believe the Corfiots. Yes.

I think they will. Yes, I think so.

I'm just about to be incredibly rude about some of my friends,

but they're not entirely athletes.

Ah! No. Oh! Tom Holland would, would be devastated.

He's known as the elite sportsman of Corfu.

He is!

There's a bit of desk bod happening, but, you know, good for them.

It's the spirit that counts, of course.

PLAYERS CALL

The Brits have finished batting, setting a target of 158.

Your boys are really good.

There's a good Greek, ancient Greek word, isn't there, which is "agon"

which is the struggle. Yes, the struggle, exactly.

And it gives us our word "agony".

The ecstasy and the agony in a cricket game. It's fantastic.

PLAYERS CHEER

I'm actually getting quite tense watching it.

But I really, really love it

because in the Odyssey we hear these references

of at least three different kinds of ball games,

so ones that little kids play with the palms of their hands,

there was another thing called... Almost like the heaven ball

or the sky ball where they had to throw the ball up as high as possible

and people would jump up and try and get it first.

And then, of course, Princess Nausicaa

playing basically beach volleyball

with her princess-y friends and singing at the same time.

So, I do like the fact the only woman who is playing a ball game

is also multitasking.

PLAYERS GROAN

0h!

The agony is over.

The Corfu team have well and truly thrashed the writers.

Time to commiserate with Birdsong author Sebastian Faulks

who soldiered on despite injuring his thumb.

Sorry to kind of rub this in

but that is actually held together with Sellotape and cotton wool.

My thumb is held together by Sellotape.

It's going to be very difficult to type

because this is what you hit the space bar with.

So my new book's just going to be one long word.

A world scoop! You heard it here!

As long as I choose the right word.

That's very ancient Greek, actually, not to have any spaces in between

the sentences so you're obviously imbibing the spirit. Yes.

Yes. Good, good!

OK. There we go.

The Brits have taken it on the chin,

including an old pal,

bestselling author of The Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan.

I mean, this is just the most brilliant thing

and I can't believe I've stumbled on it, and how cool.

Actually, it is interesting, isn't it, that people still want

to get together from different cultures, from different countries

and exchange not just sporting prowess, but ideas and words? Yes.

And that's something that we know has been going on

for thousands of years.

There's something very exciting about how stories travel.

There's never one person who brings them thousands of miles.

It's like, it's like what we used to call Chinese whispers -

you know, stories that grow and they get added to

and yet they have universal kind of truths.

It's a kind of big, shared, global memory, isn't it?

It's always about travel.

The more that people exchange ideas, the more open-minded they have to be

because you're challenged all the time.

So... Yes. ..we're doing our little bit for humanity. How about that?

That's the silver lining, having been thumped in the cricket match!

Exactly. So true. Bye! Lovely to see you.

Odysseus described this island as paradise on Earth,

with lush gardens and sumptuous palaces.

And there's one still here I want to show you,

built in honour of one of Odysseus's comrades in arms.

Up here there's something a little bit unexpected.

It's a monument to the hero Achilles.

In fact, it's a whole palace dedicated to Achilles.

But it doesn't date from the ancient world,

but from just over 100 years ago.

The Achilleion.

Built in the late 19th century for Empress Elisabeth of Austria,

or Sisi, as a refuge after the tragic death of her only son,

the 30-year-old Crown Prince Rudolf.

Sisi was so taken with the myths, the Achilleion copied

the ancient villas of Pompeii and was named after Achilles -

a hero cut down in his prime, just like her own son.

She even installed this massive statue of the dying Achilles.

Here, it's not just the ultimate warrior Achilles

who's being celebrated, it's the vulnerable, tragic hero.

And that is why the Greek myths matter -

because they can mean different things to different people.

They can provide both comfort and inspiration

thousands of years after they were first dreamt up.

Achilles often bears his trademark shield.

In myth, this was the shield

of a superhero forged by a god.

HAMMER CLI NKS

Achilles was made a magnificent new shield

by the lame blacksmith god Hephaestus.

THEY SPEAK GREEK

But this isn't any old shield.

It's decorated with the story of civilisation

so there are terrible scenes of brutality and battle and discord

but also of the beauty of peace.

So there are cities thronging with people and weddings

and vine harvests

and the sun and the moon are shining at the same time,

and over all of this is watching Oceanus,

the incarnation of the oceans.

Um, you get the sense that the shield of Achilles,

it's a kind of code, it's a code for everything

that mattered to the Greeks.

In fact, everything that mattered to the world at the time.

Like many of Homer's stories,

Achilles' shield wasn't just a weapon

but a guide to how humans should live.

And the story also gives us a fabulous clue

to the reality of life in ancient Greece.

We know that ancient blacksmiths

often used to use arsenic to add to copper to get rid of the impurities

so, as you can imagine, that meant that they were

just poisoning themselves.

And one of the side effects of that is that often they would go lame.

So, surely, that is the reason that Hephaestus, blacksmith god,

was also said to be a lame god.

Despite Achilles' wondrous shield being made by a god,

it can't save him.

He's mortally wounded in his secret weak spot,

literally his Achilles' heel

by the Trojan prince, Paris.

And when Achilles is finally killed in battle,

guess who inherits his shield?

It's Odysseus.

It's Homer telling us that Odysseus's story

is the story of everything that matters in all our lives.

Hi! Hi! Kalimera!

Morning! Morning! Yes. ls it OK to come on? Yes, come on. Great.

He's used wisdom and cunning to get this far.

Corfu is a sanctuary for the castaway - a paradise hard to leave.

In the story, although Odysseus is really attracted

to the beautiful Princess Nausicaa,

his heart longs for his wife Penelope back at home on Ithaca.

So, in an act of incredible generosity, really,

Nausicaa's father offers Odysseus

a flotilla of his special, magical ships

and tells him to leave the island and head for home.

But his old enemy, Poseidon, hasn't finished yet.

On the warpath, he turns one of Odysseus's squadron

into a giant stone.

And islanders here today still argue

as to which of these islands is that boat in rock form.

Odysseus escapes Poseidon's clutches

by sailing through a dark, misty sea.

Will he finally make it home?

At last I've arrived.

This is Ithaca.

I've travelled nearly 2,000 miles

from east to west in all kinds of boats.

I've almost been shipwrecked myself.

But now I've made it.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Efcharisto. Efcharisto. Bye! Bye!

What a totally stunning island!

I've never been here before.

Now I can absolutely understand

why Odysseus was determined to make it home.

Ithaca was described in the Odyssey as "goat, not stallion, land."

"A modest place." But for our hero there's no place like home.

So, at last Odysseus is back and he falls to the ground

and kisses the earth because he is home.

And home is where love is.

But his adventures aren't over.

Remember, he's been gone a whopping 20 years.

With no idea what he'll find at home

or if his wife, Penelope, is still waiting for him,

Odysseus goes undercover.

Only the dog, Argos, his faithful pet, recognises him.

Hello! Hello, you!

And Odysseus was right to be wary.

At home, all is not well.

This should've been a perfect, dreamy return for Odysseus

but, instead, it was chaos.

There was a nightmare scenario.

In Odysseus's palace there were over 100 young men,

locals from Ithaca and from other islands,

eating his food, drinking his wine,

sleeping with his servants and closing in on his wife, Penelope...

...fighting over her, and for Odysseus's kingdom.

It's a terrible abuse of the Greek code of hospitality - xenia.

But wily Odysseus sneaks into his own palace disguised as a beggar,

waiting to claim revenge -

some said right here.

For years this place was described as Odysseus's palace

but there isn't any real, hard evidence that he lived here.

But what we know for certain is that,

as well as telling stories about him here on Ithaca,

they also worshipped Odysseus as a hero.

I want to show you a 2,000-year-old clue

that reveals Odysseus's celebrity status.

There's a real little treasure from the island in here

and I'm very, very lucky to have been allowed to hold it.

So, what you have in this case are all gifts

that have been left to the gods, basically asking for good luck.

And this little thing is very special.

So, it's a fragment of a terracotta mask that was used in theatres

and on it is written, "My prayer to Odysseus".

So, this tells us that 1,000 years or so

after the most-likely time of the Trojan War,

somebody here so believed in the power of Odysseus -

they thought of him as a kind of superhero -

that they thought, even then, he would bring them good luck.

So, I wonder what they wanted him to bring them luck with.

It's incredible, isn't it?

But soon I'll need my own good-luck charm.

Like Odysseus, an unexpected danger is about to be thrown in my path.

I can't quite believe that just happened.

I've had a long, eventful voyage on the trail of Odysseus.

At last, I've made it to his gorgeous home island, Ithaca.

And the adventures keep coming.

CAT MEOWS

DOG BARKS

It's 4.30 in the morning.

Er...

And we've just had an earthquake.

So...l woke up and my bed moved.

And...er...all the fittings in the room were creaking.

And you could actually feel the walls shake.

Actually, my heart was beating a bit fast...

Because it ties in completely to the Odysseus story!

So he gets back to Ithaca and, erm,

in the story he actually arrives at night

so that he escapes the wrath of Poseidon -

and Poseidon was the god of earthquakes!

Because he still thinks he's going to be chasing him down even here

in his home town.

My God! I hope that's not a bad omen!

Anyway, I'm sure it's not.

Erm... So there we are!

So Poseidon's still doing his work here.

Waiting for the earth to move again, it's a sleepless night.

Next morning, the islanders warn me to watch out for aftershocks.

It turns out that earthquake was 4.9 on the Richter scale

which isn't huge but it's not insignificant, either.

I tell you, my God, you could feel

the power of the Earth when it happened.

It was this absolute punch!

Luckily, there were no deaths...

...this time.

Ithaca's always been rocked by earthquakes

and you can see the impact right across the island.

In August 1953, a monstrous earthquake devastated this region,

reaching 7.2 on the Richter scale,

destroying most of the buildings and killing nearly 500 people.

Odysseus also faced mortal danger.

He's finally returned home to find rivals are circling his palace...

...and his wife.

Things have reached a crisis point.

After close on 20 years, Penelope is just worn down

and she announces that she is going to launch a contest -

whichever of the suitors can string Odysseus's bow

and shoot it through a target, she will marry.

Odysseus is renowned for his skill with a bow and arrow.

This is his moment.

It's a test of strength and nerve.

Two of Greece's finest archers have agreed to show me what it takes

to master a lethal weapon -

ancient

and modern.

Hi, I'm Bettany. Welcome! Nice to meet you. Welcome!

Theodore? Theodore, yes. Hi! Nice to meet you. Christos. Bettany.

So, Theodore works with weapons and archery

from previous times, from centuries ago.

And Christos has got the absolute hyper-modern bow.

So, now, I'm really delighted to see that you've got this composite bow

because we hear in the Odyssey

that Odysseus has a bow made with horn and sinew and...

Yes, this bow is made exactly the way 2,000 years ago would be made.

It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

What advantages has Christos got over you, though,

with his modern...?

Cos you've got a sight. I have a sight. I have a scope, scope lens,

which has zoom.

This is a stabiliser for the stabilisation of the bow. Uh-huh.

And I have definitely more speed.

Let's see! So, this is obviously, you know,

they're serious bits of kit, this,

so do you know how fast the arrows go?

Er, I think it goes, er, as fast as a bullet.

About the same, yes.

WQW!

This is much slower. Yes. But still a war bow. Yeah. Yeah.

And that's, you know, at the time of Odysseus

you hear of 6,000 arrowheads at a time being shipped out

so they are a... They're being used as killing machines.

Yes. Lethal. Lethal. Yeah.

Are you up for this, guys, to see who can hit

the target fastest? Definitely, I'm faster! Are you?! Game on!

I'll stand a bit back, shall I? OK. Thank you. Better for you.

Better. I think it's better, as well.

The target this time is a terracotta pot.

Whoever smashes through wins.

Will the speed and firepower of

the ancient bow beat the killer precision of the modern one?

That one's gone straight in, like a bullet.

Wow! Look at that! So this is where Theodore's have been hitting

pretty much dead on centre, I have to say,

but they haven't smashed the pot.

But come and look at this.

Christos's...

Two of his arrows have gone right the way through

and into the trunk of the olive tree there.

That is serious firepower.

So...that's amazing!

Christos, you were definitely... The arrow went straight in

so the sight, the kind of line is better.

Theodore is 100% faster so, you know... Thank you. Pleasure!

That's a fact. It is a fact. A lot of time.

Yeah, so, the guys got away by the time you've done that. Yes.

In a battle situation. But I can hit him from far away.

THEY LAUGH

When you do things like this, do you relate to the heroes of the past?

I mean, do you ever think about Odysseus and Achilles and Agamemnon?

This is tradition, meaning that we have it in us.

Your genes, you know, take you back there. Yes.

For me, it's like travel to the past.

Really? Yes. Yes. Definitely.

It's 100% instinctive.

For me, it's coming in contact with my inner self

so with each arrow I shoot

I come closer to my deeper soul.

What a beautiful thing to say!

That's how it works for me.

You're both heroic. Oh, thank you! Thank you!

But in slightly different ways. Yes!

You need many kinds of heroes.

We're both winners. Congratulations. Thank you.

Very cool!

In Penelope's contest in the Odyssey, the suitors line up

to shoot an arrow from Odysseus's bow.

One by one, they fail.

In secret, Odysseus strings his own bow,

he takes aim and shoots the arrow through the target.

And now...

"revenge!

Then Odysseus reveals his true identity

and what follows is a bloodbath.

It's like the scene from any modern-day action movie.

The hero and his son slaughter the suitors one by one.

It is a frenzy of killing.

By the end, Odysseus is red up to his shoulders with their blood

and his unwanted guests are gasping their last breath

like fish plucked from the sea.

But Penelope needs convincing this really is her husband.

He's been gone for 20 years, after all.

So she sets one final challenge.

To test Odysseus, Penelope, his wife,

tells him that's she's moved their marriage bed,

knowing that this should enrage him

because Odysseus actually made their bed out of a beautiful olive tree

that was still growing and grew up inside their palace.

It's a really beautiful story because it talks about

the permanence of their enduring relationship.

But it also reminds us of something else,

because olive trees here in Greece can be thousands of years old,

so it's telling us that all of our lives are rooted

in the deep history of the past.

Odysseus, outwitted by his wife,

is furious she's moved their beloved marital bed,

much to Penelope's relief and delight

because it is only then that she knows her prayers have been answered

and her husband really is home.

After close on 20 years, the two are reunited

and it is THE most timelessly touching scene.

Penelope's heart melts.

She bursts into tears, rushes to her husband,

flings her arms round his neck and kisses his head,

like a shipwrecked sailor who at last reaches dry land.

And Odysseus weeps and embraces his true dear wife.

The wonderful thing about myths is

they're not just rip-roaring stories.

Erm, they talk about the trials and tribulations and traumas

and temptations that we have to deal with in life.

Basically, they help us work out

how to deal with everything that the world has to throw at us.

And that's why characters like Odysseus really matter -

because he proves that you don't have to be a superhero

to win out in the world.

So, they're fabulous stories to think about

and also to use, to think with.

But there's another version of the story.

After a little bit of time at home,

Odysseus gets itchy feet again

and decides he has to head back out on the seas.

More adventures.

Kalimera! Kalimera!

Life is a never-ending odyssey -

a search for adventure,

for new experiences and for meaning.

I knew this was going to be an incredible journey

but I had no idea I was going to have such epic adventures.

I've walked inside volcanoes,

I've been caught in storms,

I've seen gold from the age of heroes come out of the earth

and I couldn't have done any of this

without the help of people around me.

ALL CHATTER

I think this odyssey has taught me all kinds of things

but, in particular, it's taught me about the power of friendship

and the power of stories,

and also that when you travel through life

you are bound to meet challenges and dangers.

But to live is to take that journey.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media