Cost of Glory

A goddess offers Odysseus immortality. He says no.

Eight years on Calypso's island. Paradise, more or less. And he spends his days sitting on the beach, weeping for a rocky little kingdom he may never see again.

Welcome to Part 2 (of 6!) of our series on Homer's great epic.

Part 2 covers Books 5 to 8. We finally meet the man himself, and he arrives naked, half drowned, and buried under a pile of leaves. Why would anyone choose death over eternal life? And why does the greatest hero of the age get home on charm rather than force?

Follow Odysseus as he builds his own raft, survives Poseidon's wrath, and talks his way into the most powerful household on the island of the Phaeacians. Meet the women who hold the real power: Calypso, the princess Nausicaa, and Queen Arete, honored like no woman of Homer's own day. Plus King Alcinous, and the blind bard Demodocus, whose song brings Odysseus to tears.

Christopher Nolan cut three of these four books from his film. They may be the ones that tell you most about who Odysseus really is.

Timestamps:

00:57 Women, Power and Odysseus

03:19 Hermes Visits Calypso

05:25 Odysseus Trapped and Weeping

06:14 Zeus Orders Release

11:03 Calypso's Final Offer

14:07 Why Mortality Matters

17:45 Raft Building and Agency

20:32 Poseidon's Storm and Shipwreck

23:29 Phaeacia's Backstory

24:10 Nausicaa's Dream

28:10 Nausicaa Meets Odysseus

30:54 Winning Nausicaa's Trust

39:47 Athena Guides Odysseus

40:53 Bronze Age Heroic Lens

43:48 Arete and Royal Honor

46:32 Palace Splendor and Supplication

49:19 Clothes Test and Charm

52:53 Cleos and the Bard

56:12 Feast and Demodocus Song

01:02:04 Games and Odysseus Flexes

01:06:46 Aphrodite and Ares Trap

01:13:03 Gifts and Nausicaa's Farewell

01:14:56 Trojan Horse Song and Tears

01:22:43 Closing Thoughts

Callouts:

• Special thanks to Dr. Richard Johnson for his longtime support of the show. You are Caesar and Odysseus's Top Guy!
• Special thanks also to the team at ZCash, who are building a digital network to transfer money with complete privacy. I've used their wallet Zodl, and it's worth checking out.
• In tribute to the life and aspirations of Savitha Shanmugasundaram, a University of Texas at Austin honors student who died tragically in the March 1 mass shooting, her parents have established the Savitha Shan Endowed Scholarship at UT Austin. The fund is intended to extend Savitha’s legacy by supporting the educational journeys of future UT Austin students. Please consider donating if you can. 

Something is very wrong in the opening scenes of the Odyssey. 

The master of the house is gone. His wife is besieged. His son is powerless. And the men eating him out of house and home are waiting for the right moment to strike. 

Welcome to Part 1 (of 6!) of our new series, where we cover Homer's great epic. 

Part 1 covers Books 1 to 4, the monsters haven't arrived yet — but the groundwork for everything is laid here. What does it take to reestablish order once it has fallen? What kind of man can do it? 

Follow Telemachus as he learns to speak, to threaten, and to travel among serious men, and meet the figures who shape his fate: Athena, Penelope, Nestor, Menelaus, Helen, and the doomed suitors led by Antinous. 

As Christopher Nolan's film approaches, it's a perfect time to dust off a copy of Homer's Odyssey, and follow along this epic story in our 6-part retelling.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why the Odyssey begins with Odysseus's absence
1:08 Introducing the show
1:25 Book One: Athena visits Ithaca
4:05 Telemachus welcomes the stranger
7:33 The poem's opening lines and Odysseus's epithets
10:06 Odysseus and the wrath of Poseidon
11:43 The Council of the Gods
13:58 Athena's plan to help Telemachus
17:20 Athena's instructions: call an assembly
19:08 The story of Orestes and Telemachus's zeal
22:08 Penelope's first appearance
27:00 Telemachus finds his courage
29:25 Book Two: The Assembly begins
31:56 Antinous defends the suitors
35:59 The omen of the eagles
37:55 Telemachus's plan revealed
40:16 Athena returns as Mentor
45:15 Telemachus sets sail for Pylos
46:48 Book Three: Arrival at Pylos
52:41 The story of Agamemnon and Aegisthus
1:02:17 Book Four: Arrival in Sparta
1:05:28 Helen's grand entrance
1:11:41 Helen's magic drug
1:19:50 Menelaus and Proteus, the shapeshifting sea god
1:27:08 Menelaus's fate: the Elysian Fields
1:32:09 The suitors plot to kill Telemachus
1:33:23 Closing thoughts

Callouts:

• Special thanks to Dr. Richard Johnson for his longtime support of the show. You are Caesar and Odysseus's Top Guy!
• In tribute to the life and aspirations of Savitha Shanmugasundaram, a University of Texas at Austin honors student who died tragically in the March 1 mass shooting, her parents have established the Savitha Shan Endowed Scholarship at UT Austin. The fund is intended to extend Savitha’s legacy by supporting the educational journeys of future UT Austin students. Please consider donating if you can. 

A conversation with Morgan Watkins of TheBaseCreates and George Carter from Old Sovereign Publishing about the importance of re-enchanting the world through theatre and the tradition of the classics, specifically focusing on a new drama competition called "The Great Panathenaea". 

Links: 

• TheBaseCreates YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBaseCreates 
• TheBaseCreates X: https://x.com/thebasecreates

Subscribe to the Cost of Glory newsletter for detailed maps, images, and analysis of this pivotal moment in ancient history

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My conversation with author, soldier, and scholar, Nicholas Tobias.

This is the first public interview with Nicholas, and he agreed to speak on condition that we'd preserve his alias and therefore his anonymity. 

Hence there is no video of him, and the sound quality from his undisclosed location was not perfect. 

But this was a fascinating conversation that I'm going to be thinking about for a long time.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Subscribe to the Cost of Glory newsletter for detailed maps, images, and analysis of this pivotal moment in ancient history: https://costofglory.substack.com/

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On how the Spartans achieved emotional mastery, long before Stoicism was invented.

-Lessons both personal and political from the life of Caesar.  
-The Net Worth of Caesar's Estate
-Also, could he be in heaven? What should a Christian's, or any modern man's attitude be toward Caesar?

-Thanks to sponsors Shokworks and Dr. Richard Johnson!
-Shout out to Ward Farnsworth, author of The Practical Stoic, Classical English Rhetoric, and more!

Find out more about The Classical Society: https://theclassicalsociety.com

A conversation with American classicist, military historian, and conservative political commentator Victor Davis Hanson.

We discuss:

• Why Epaminondas remains one of the most underrated commanders in Greek history, and how the loss of Plutarch's Life of Epaminondas has obscured his legacy
• The pivotal liberation of Thebes in 378 BC: how a small band of conspirators overthrew the Spartan-backed oligarchy and sparked a democratic revolution
• Epaminondas's strategic masterstroke at Leuctra — the deep oblique phalanx on the left — and how it shattered 200 years of Spartan military supremacy
• How freeing the Messenian Helots and building Megalopolis, Mantinea, and Messene permanently encircled and emasculated Sparta as a great power
• The fatal miscalculation of 335 BC: why Thebes revolted against Alexander on the basis of a false rumor, and how every potential ally abandoned them
• The recurring pattern of doomed civilizations — from Thebes to Carthage to Constantinople — that share delusions about allies, enemies, and their own decline
• What ancient history reveals about America's current strengths and vulnerabilities, from demographic pressures to the China threat

Subscribe to the Cost of Glory newsletter for detailed maps, images, and analysis of this pivotal moment in ancient history: https://costofglory.substack.com/

Get in touch at:
Website: https://costofglory.com
X: https://x.com/costofglory

Part 3 of 3 of the Life of Julius Caesar. 

Did Caesar want to be a King? A god? What was his vision for Rome? Was there a way he could have prevented his assassination? 

In this episode:

• Caesar returns to Rome 
• His Triumphs
• His Reforms 
• His Clemency 
• His Final War in Spain; the Batle of Munda
• The Octavius Question
• The Plots, Dreams, Portents, 
• The men he trusted; the men who betrayed him

Thanks to our sponsor, Ai Labs. Visit austinlab.ai to chat with a team member about custom Agentic AI power solutions for your SMB to Enterprise level business.  Powered by Shokworks.

Also Thanks Dr. Richard Johnson, the Crassus to this Caesar series.

And check out Warlords of History podcast here!

In this episode:

• Michael Gibson's origin story
• Meeting Peter Thiel and launching the Thiel Fellowship
• The importance of Aristotle
• Aristotle on "The Gigachad"
• Is intelligence enough?
• Failure of philosophy is present in Plato's work...not Aristotle's
• Alexander the Great's major influence
• Inspiration from the immortals
• Why victory is better than happiness
• Friends as a second self 

A conversation with the bestselling author, classicist and the military and naval historian Barry Strauss about his latest book Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire.

We explore:

• Why Julius Caesar became a key patron of the Jews and how his support shaped Jewish life in the Roman Empire
• The pivotal moment when Antipater (Herod's father) saved Caesar in Egypt, and how it changed Jewish-Roman relations
• Caesar's assassination: the personal ambitions and fears that drove the conspirators beyond Republican ideology
• Herod the Great's extraordinary political survival skills: switching allegiances from Antony to Octavian and always landing on his feet
• The ruthless pragmatism of Herod's reign, including the execution of his own talented sons
• The historical plausibility of the "slaughter of the innocents" story and what it reveals about Herod's character

For Barry's previous appearance, check out episode 81.

Subscribe to the Cost of Glory newsletter for detailed maps, images, and analysis of this pivotal moment in ancient history: https://costofglory.substack.com/

Get in touch at:
Website: https://costofglory.com
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