Gods and monsters: the hidden stories of the Odyssey

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. We're continuing our Sunday series on the Odyssey today, and in this second episode, Dr. Daisy Dunn tells Kev Lochan about what Odysseus's expedition tells us about ancient Greece. Around twenty eight hundred years ago, a poet, or perhaps many poets, set down a story that had been travelling by word of mouth for centuries. It told of a king trying to get home from a war.

It should have taken him weeks. Instead, it took ten years. The king was Odysseus, and the poem The Odyssey. You might know some of his stories of the one eyed Cyclops, the sweet song of the sirens, or the witch that turned his crew into pigs.

But beneath the gods and the monsters and the wine dark sea are there historical truths to be found. I'm Kev Lochan, and I'm joined by Doctor Daisy Dunn, award winning classicist, author, and all round expert on the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Her books include the Ladybird Expert book on Homer and The Missing Thread, a new history of the ancient world through the women who shaped it. In this episode, we're joining Odysseus on his grand adventures to find out what they say about Heric Greece. Daisy, welcome back.

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