All language subtitles for Greek Island Odyssey with Bettany Hughes Series 1 Part 6 1080p

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