---
title: "Great Books #5:  The Odyssey transcript"
description: "Source-synced transcript archive for Great Books #5: The Odyssey."
source_title: "Great Books #5:  The Odyssey"
published_at: "2026-03-04"
source_class: "episode"
public_url: "https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/"
markdown_url: "https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript.md"
text_url: "https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript.txt"
source_url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA"
data_url: "https://jianglens.com/data/lens/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda.json"
---

# Great Books #5:  The Odyssey transcript

- Source: [Great Books #5:  The Odyssey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA)
- Published: 2026-03-04, day precision
- Human transcript page: [/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/)
- Episode page: [/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/)
- Transcript Markdown: [/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript.md](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript.md)
- Transcript text: [/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript.txt](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript.txt)
- Episode JSON: [/data/lens/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda.json](https://jianglens.com/data/lens/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda.json)

## Transcript

### 0:00 seg-0001

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0001`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0001](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0001)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=0s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=0s)

Today, we start the Odyssey, and the Odyssey is a sequel to the Iliad, and it's a family story. It's a story about a homecoming, and there are three main characters, right? There's Odysseus, sorry, Odysseus, who is the main character, and it's called the Odyssey. Then there is Penelope, who is his wife, and there's Tanakas, who is their son. And as we discussed when we read the Iliad, Homer is first and foremost concerned about the human condition. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to live in a world of war? Of war? Of trauma? Of tragedy? And how can we overcome this adversity? So the Odyssey, it's about three individuals and a family, and they're all traumatized, and they're all heartbroken, okay? So Odysseus is trying to return home from the war, and his problem is that he has PTSD. Which is post -traumatic stress disorder, and this is very common for soldiers who return from war.

### 1:35 seg-0002

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0002`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0002](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0002)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=95s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=95s)

They've seen so much violence, they've seen so much tragedy, they've seen so much senseless death, that their souls are shattered, and that is Odysseus' problem. Then you have Penelope, who is suffering from depression, and why is she depressed? Because her husband has been away for 20 years. And she doesn't know if he's alive, and she doesn't know if he's dead, and she doesn't know if he's alive, or he's dead. He's probably dead, right? It's been 20 years. There's been no sign of him for the past 20 years. But she cannot bring herself to admitting that he's dead, so she's put herself in a very precarious situation. There's dozens of suitors who want her hand in marriage, and she wants to say no, but she's afraid that... If she does that, then she'll be alone for the rest of her life. But she doesn't want to say yes, because she refuses to admit that her husband, the love of her life, Odysseus, is dead.

### 2:43 seg-0003

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0003`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0003](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0003)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=163s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=163s)

In her heart, she feels that he's still alive, but in her head, she cannot justify it. She cannot explain it. It's just a feeling in her. Okay? And so her response, and this is what we call cognitive dissonance. Her response is just to shut down. Okay? She just spends all her time alone in her room. At first, she's weaving stuff, but then she just sits in her room, right? And then there's Tammacus. Tammacus, his problem is that he doesn't know if his father is dead or alive. But the man is a legend. This is a man who won the Trojan War by coming out... Coming out with a stratagem of a Trojan horse, okay? So he is a legend in this world, and everyone sings his praises. And he's his son, so he's living in his shadow, okay?

### 3:42 seg-0004

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0004`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0004](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0004)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=222s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=222s)

And he wants to prove he's better than his father. He wants to become a hero himself, but he's being burdened by the legacy of his father. The other issue is that unless his father is dead... He cannot inherit his father's legacy, right? The property, the reputation cannot be transferred to him. Then there's his mother, who's just sitting around the house every single day. If she were to get married, she would leave, and then he could be master of his own house, right? But she's still around, so he's kind of stuck. At the same time, the suitors are waiting for Penelope's answer, which is never going to come. So they're just in the house, and they're eating up all his wealth. So he is just seeing his life wither away, and there's nothing he can do about it, alright? So he is just depressed as well, and he's angry. But all these things are the same thing. It's really one of cognitive dissonance.

### 4:55 seg-0005

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0005`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0005](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0005)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=295s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=295s)

It's really one of depression. It's really one of trauma, alright? So... There's another way we can analyze what's going on, and to think about the soul. And the soul is something that the ancients were really concerned about, because it was really the most fundamental issue of what it means to be a human being. It's something that we don't talk about today, something that we don't think about today, because we live in a world of material science. If we can't see it, it doesn't exist. But for most of humanity... Sorry. For most of human history, humanity has understood the soul as very present, and as very real, and the most significant thing in our lives, okay? So the soul that they understood... Let's talk about their understanding of the soul, and this is true for actually a lot of cultures. First of all, the soul is a very complex thing, okay?

### 5:54 seg-0006

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0006`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0006](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0006)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=354s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=354s)

It has almost infinite dimensions. There are different layers to the soul. And there's really... Okay. There's really a part of the soul that is you, okay? That is you, the person. But who you are as a person is ultimately influenced by other influences as well, by other factors as well, okay? So these influences include your family, okay? Your culture, the history, and maybe the gods, okay? So... And again, there are infinite dimensions, and these dimensions have an impact on you. And maybe when you die, maybe there's a part of you that lives on, okay? But there's also parts of you that flows back into these different streams of the universe, okay? So it's a very complex thing. Now, the soul, another name for the soul that we use today, if you go to a psychology class, their name for the soul is the soul. The soul is the world view, okay? So we have a much more simplistic understanding of our psychology than the ancients.

### 7:15 seg-0007

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0007`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0007](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0007)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=435s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=435s)

The idea of the world view is just our understanding of who we are, where we came from, and our place in the universe, okay? And we believe it comes from our memories and our experiences, okay? And the world view is important because it allows us and ourselves... Okay. This is important for things such as planning, right? Only if you know who you are can you actually plan ahead, because then you know what you want to do, what you want to accomplish, okay? It allows for empathy, building relationships with others, okay? And it allows for judgment, basically, what's good, what's bad, what do you like, what don't you like, okay? So the world view and the soul are fundamental. Okay? They're fundamental to who we are. Now, in psychology, what they will teach you is that trauma splinters the world view, okay? There's something about your experience that

### 8:31 seg-0008

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0008`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0008](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0008)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=511s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=511s)

is fundamental to your identity, but because it is so painful, you forget about it, or you refuse to see it, and this causes a rupture in your identity. In your coherent sense of the world, which destroys your world view, okay? And this leads to depression. What is depression? Depression is the inability to act and to think, okay? You don't know what you want to accomplish. You don't trust yourself. You don't know what you like. And so what are the symptoms of depression? You sleep a lot, or you find no pleasure in anything. You feel no emotion. You feel nothing. You feel sort of numbness, okay? And that's why people, they tend to take drugs, or they just sleep all the time, or whatever, okay? All right? Because you're unable to act. And that's exactly what's happening to Odysseus, Penelope, and Timarchus, all right? There's a trauma in their lives, okay? And they just believe this as well, okay?

### 9:38 seg-0009

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0009`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0009](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0009)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=578s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=578s)

There could be a trauma that splits the soul, okay? And it could be a demon. It could be a really painful incident. It could be anything, okay? But it splits your soul. And if you are to recover, then you have to repair your soul. And that's a fundamental conflict and a dilemma within the Odyssey. You have three individuals, Odysseus, Penelope, Timarchus, their soul has been splintered. And so they're on a journey, their own Odyssey, to repair their soul. And the answer, of course, is each other, okay? Their love for each other. That's what's going to save the world, okay? The love of family. And that is the fundamental message of the Odyssey, all right? And that's why it's such a powerful read. Okay, so let me give you some background as to the plot. So as you know, the Odyssey begins in immediate rest, okay? In the middle of things, which is to say that a lot of things have already taken place.

### 10:51 seg-0010

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0010`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0010](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0010)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=651s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=651s)

And it happens just in the middle of the plot, okay? In the beginning, Odysseus has been away for 20 years, and he's stuck on an island with Calypso. All right, Penelope is depressed and sitting by herself in the room. Timarchus is angry, okay? And Athena comes and tells Timarchus, come with me, I will help you find your father, okay? So the story starts with the Trojan War, of course. Okay, so remember, Helen has been taken to Troy. She falls in love with Paris, because that's what Aphrodite promised Paris as a prize. And now her husband, the king of Sparta, Menelaus, and his brother, Agamemnon, the king of kings, are like, we're going to raise an army, and we're going to get back Helen, okay? And this is prophesied. This is to be the greatest war in human history. It will make mortals into gods, right?

### 11:57 seg-0011

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0011`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0011](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0011)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=717s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=717s)

That's why Achilles enters this war, because this is the opportunity for him to prove that he is the greatest warrior in all of human history, and that's why he goes to Troy. Odysseus is also supposed to go to this war, but Odysseus, he's different from Achilles, because Odysseus loves his wife, Penelope. Okay? And then he has a new son, six months old, Tarnakes. So he's conflicted, and he really doesn't want to go to war, but the Greeks need him, because the gods have told the Greeks that it is really Odysseus who will win the war, because he's the one who will come up with the Trojan horse, the stratagem that will win this war. So you need this guy, okay? So Odysseus doesn't want to go, but the Greeks insist, so the Greeks send two messengers to Ithaca, where Odysseus lives. Okay? Now this is, what he does is he pretends to be mad, so he dresses up like a beggar, okay?

### 13:00 seg-0012

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0012`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0012](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0012)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=780s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=780s)

He's a king, but he dresses up really badly, and he's going around the farmland and throwing salt everywhere he goes. He looks crazy, okay? And you throw salt in the land to kill crops. So he looks kind of crazy, but the Greeks understand that this is a man of disguise. He's a man of stratagems. He's very clever, so it's probably a trick. So what they do is they take his six -month -old son, Tammacus, okay, and put it in front of Odysseus. Now Odysseus is plowing the field and salting the fields, okay? And basically the test is this. If you're really mad, you're going to run over your son, Tammacus, and kill him. If you're not mad, if you're not really crazy, then you're going to stop and go somewhere else and save your son. So let's see if you're really crazy. And so Odysseus, of course, turns away and saves his son, and the Greeks are like, ha, you see?

### 13:59 seg-0013

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0013`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0013](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0013)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=839s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=839s)

You're tricking us all along. Come with us to Troy. And so Odysseus has no choice but to go, okay? So this is why Odysseus goes. He's forced to go. When you think about it, this story doesn't really make any sense, right? And that's the greatness of Homer because he's telling us the complexity of human psychology. Odysseus is really, really smart. He thinks ahead, right? He should know that if he were to have this stratagem, the Greeks would see it through it really quickly, right? So what he should be doing is hiding from the Greeks, right, or maybe just moving away. If you really, really don't want to go to this war, you can just run away and take your family with you, okay? Or you know what? Just kill these guys because you're crazy, right? All right? So what this tells

### 14:53 seg-0014

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0014`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0014](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0014)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=893s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=893s)

us is that, yes, Odysseus really loves his family and he wants to be with his family because he knows that if he goes to Troy, he'll be gone for 20 years. That's 20 years that he won't be able to see his son, Tammacus, grow up, okay? But at the same time, this is the greatest war in human history. Achilles is going. Achaemenon is going. Does Odysseus really want to be left out? No. Does he really want to be the one guy who's like a coward, who's like, you know what? I'm just going to stay home, right? The Greeks will just laugh at him for the rest of his life saying, you're just a pussy, right? You've been pussy whipped by your wife. He doesn't want to do that. So it's a conflict, right? So what he does is he comes up with a stratagem that allows the Greeks to see through it really quickly and force him to go so he doesn't have to bear any responsibility for what he does.

### 15:51 seg-0015

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0015`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0015](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0015)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=951s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=951s)

All right? And that is a complexity of the human soul. That is a complexity of our worldview, right? So he goes to Troy and he has to explain to himself why he's there. And he knows he's going to be away from home for 20 years, 10 years in Troy, 10 years being lost at sea, right? So his worldview is this. Why am I here in Troy? Well, the first reason is just justice. Justice. This is a just war because the Trojans stole Helen and therefore the Greeks must avenge the honor of Menelaus, okay? Second is family. Helen should be with her children. Helen should be with her family in Sparta. We have to return her to Sparta. How would I feel if Penelope were stolen from me? I would want everyone to go far away. I would want everyone to fight with me to get her back as well, right?

### 17:04 seg-0016

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0016`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0016](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0016)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1024s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1024s)

But family. Okay? Now, third reason is legacy. Yes, he will not see his son, Timarchus, for 20 years. Therefore, he has to build him a legacy that will carry him for the rest of his life. If he is in Troy and he wins this great war and he becomes this great hero, then Timarchus himself will be famous as a son of Odysseus. People will respect Timarchus. He wants to build a legacy for his son. He wants to tell his son, this is how you should live your life. You should live a life of honor, of justice, of truth, okay? So these are the three reasons why he goes to Troy and we have to remember that this is all to justify his conflict, okay? There's a conflict. There's a rupture in his soul and he needs to mend it by explaining why he's doing what he's doing, okay?

### 18:10 seg-0017

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0017`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0017](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0017)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1090s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1090s)

Because again, he's abandoning his family for 20 years, okay? So what's going to happen is this. This is the worldview that Odysseus has when he enters Troy. The problem starts when they win the war, okay? Because when they win the war, then Odysseus is forced to see. He's forced to see that all of these three things were wrong, okay? He will discover that this war was not about justice, it was just about revenge and murder. It is about family, it's about destroying families because when you win this war, you enslave the woman and kill the husbands, right? That's destroying families and it's not about legacy because you destroyed the Trojan civilization for no particular reason. Because Helen doesn't even want to go back to Sparta, okay? And this causes cognitive dissonance and this is what causes his PTSD, okay, or trauma. And so the Odyssey is his journey to repair his soul so that he can go home.

### 19:35 seg-0018

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0018`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0018](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0018)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1175s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1175s)

Okay? Does that make sense, guys? That's what the Odyssey is about. Okay. So what we're going to do now is we are going to read certain sections, okay? So this is from the Iliad actually, okay? This is from the Iliad. And so remember in book one of the Iliad, Achilles and Agamemnon have this nasty fight where Achilles is like, screw you, you're a dog, I'm not going to fight for you ever again. Agamemnon's like, screw you, I don't need you, okay? But in book two, Agamemnon recognizes that, oh, this is actually a problem because Achilles is the greatest warrior that we have. And if Achilles doesn't want to fight, then that's bad for morale, okay? We might actually lose this war. So Agamemnon, being stupid, he has this stupid idea and his stupid idea is this. How can I rally my soldiers? How can I galvanize them into action now that Achilles has abandoned battlefield?

### 20:30 seg-0019

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0019`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0019](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0019)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1230s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1230s)

I know what I'll do. I'll tell them they can go home. Ha. Reverse psychology, guys, right? Reverse psychology. Because when I say, you guys can go home, every Greek will be like, no. We came all the way to Troy to win glory for you, Agamemnon. We're going to fight to the death to ensure that you get your glory, Agamemnon. We don't want to go home. Don't make us go home. We're going to fight. Okay? So that's the plan. And of course, it backfires. And when people hear, oh, we go home, they all run away and Agamemnon's like, he now is caught in dissonance. He's like, what? Oh, what? He doesn't understand what's going on. Okay? And at this point in the story, the war should be over because all the Greeks just went home. And again, what happens is Odysseus will come and save everyone because he will

### 21:29 seg-0020

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0020`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0020](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0020)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1289s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1289s)

recognize that Agamemnon's just being stupid and he will force all the Greeks to return back to their post. Okay? All right. Testing his men.

### 21:41 seg-0021

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0021`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0021](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0021)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1301s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1301s)

Testing his men, but he only made the spirit race inside their chests, all the rank and file who'd never heard his plan. And the whole assembly surged like big waves at sea, the Icarian sea when east and south winds drive it on, blasting down in force from the clouds of Father Zeus, or when the west wind shakes the deep sand and grain with hurricane gusts that flatten down the stalks. So the mass assembly of troops was shaken now. They cried an alarm and charged towards the ships, and the dust went whirling up from under rushing feet as the men jostled back and forth, shouting orders. Grapple the ships, drag them down to the bright sea, clean out the launching channels. Shrill shouts hitting the heavens, fighters racing for home, knocking the blacks out underneath the holes.

### 22:30 seg-0022

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0022`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0022](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0022)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1350s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1350s)

Okay. So this just shows you how stupid Agamemnon is because Agamemnon thinks that his soldiers actually want to fight this war, but all the soldiers are homesick. They're sick of this stupid war. They don't even know why they're in this war. Okay. So the moment that Agamemnon says, you guys can go home, they're all like, we're going to get home as soon as possible. Okay. They miss their wives. They miss their children. All right. So Aphrodite and Hera are up in the sky, okay, Mount Olympus, and they watch this and like, oh my God, Agamemnon's going to lose us this war. What a moron. And Hera says to Athena, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. It's not actually Hera and Aphrodite. It's Hera and Athena because they're the ones who lost the contest to Aphrodite. Okay. But Hera says to Athena, you get down there, man, and you stop this. Okay. So Athena rushes down and he talks to Odysseus.

### 23:22 seg-0023

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0023`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0023](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0023)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1402s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1402s)

Okay. All right. Can you read?

### 23:30 seg-0024

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0024`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0024](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0024)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1410s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1410s)

And now they might have won their journey home, the men of Argos fighting the will of fate. Yes, if Hera had not alerted Athena. Inconceivable. Child of Zeus whose battle shield is thunder. Tireless one, Athena. What? Is this the way? All the Argives flying home to their fatherland, sailing over the seas brought back, leaving Prime and all the men of Troy a trophy to glory over, Helen of Argos, Helen for whom so many Argives lost their lives in Troy, far from native land. Go, range the ranks of Achaeans armed in bronze. With your winning words, hold back each man you find. Don't let them haul their rolling ships to sea.

### 24:13 seg-0025

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0025`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0025](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0025)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1453s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1453s)

Okay. Can you read?

### 24:17 seg-0026

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0026`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0026](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0026)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1457s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1457s)

The bright -eyed goddess Pallas lost no time. Down she flashed from the peaks of Mount Olympus, quickly reached the ships and found Odysseus first, a mastermind like Zeus, still standing fast. He had not laid a hand in his back, black benched whole, such anguish racked from his heart and fighting spirit. Now close beside him, the bright -eyed goddess stood and urged him on. Royal son of...

### 24:43 seg-0027

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0027`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0027](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0027)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1483s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1483s)

Laertes.

### 24:44 seg-0028

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0028`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0028](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0028)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1484s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1484s)

Laertes. Odysseus. Great testician. What? Is this the way? Okay.

### 24:49 seg-0029

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0029`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0029](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0029)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1489s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1489s)

So, um, so everyone's trying to go home and you would think that Odysseus would be the first person to get on a ship to go back to see his son and his wife. Okay. But he's, he's, um, staying there. He's kind of confused. All right. So he's like, this doesn't make any sense to me. Why would Agamemnon do this? But at the same time, it sort of shows you that he actually doesn't really want to go home. Right? Because if he really wanted to go home, he'd be home by now. Do you mind going?

### 25:15 seg-0030

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0030`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0030](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0030)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1515s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1515s)

All you Argives flying home to your fatherland, tumbling into your oarswept ships, leaving Priam and all the men of Troy a trophy to glory over.

### 25:27 seg-0031

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0031`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0031](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0031)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1527s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1527s)

Helen of Argos.

### 25:28 seg-0032

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0032`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0032](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0032)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1528s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1528s)

Helen of Argos. Helen for whom so many Argives lost their lives in Troy, far from native land. No, don't give up now. Range the Achaean ranks. With your winning words, hold back each man you find. Don't let them haul the rolling ship to sea. He knew the goddess's voice. He went on a run, flaying off his cape as Eurybates picked it up. The herald of Ithaca always at his side. Coming face to face with Atreides' Agamemnon, he relieved him of his father's royal scepter. Its power can never die. And grasping it tightly off, he strode to the ships of Argives armed in bronze.

### 26:06 seg-0033

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0033`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0033](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0033)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1566s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1566s)

Okay. So he's now going to single handedly save the Greeks from losing this war. Okay. So Athena, right? Athena is always part of Odysseus. It's part of his soul, right? The intuition. And his intuition tells him, there's something wrong here. I need to stop this, okay? Also, look at Agamemnon. Agamemnon is frozen. He is so distraught. He's shut down, okay? His brain has stopped working. It's frozen because this is not supposed to happen, right? When he says that you guys can go home, he wanted everyone to say, no. We're going to stay and fight for you, Agamemnon. All right. So it's kind of dissonance. It's so much kind of dissonance that when Odysseus takes the royal scepter, Agamemnon doesn't even notice. The royal scepter is part of his soul, right? It's his legacy. It's what gives him authority. He's the king of kings. And Odysseus just takes the crown from him and says, no, I'm the king for now to save this war.

### 27:12 seg-0034

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0034`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0034](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0034)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1632s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1632s)

Okay? And it just shows you how committed Odysseus is to winning this war. He really believes that this war is about justice, about family, about building a legacy for his son. So he refuses to lose this war.

### 27:27 seg-0035

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0035`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0035](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0035)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1647s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1647s)

All right?

### 27:28 seg-0036

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0036`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0036](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0036)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1648s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1648s)

Do you want to go ahead?

### 27:31 seg-0037

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0037`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0037](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0037)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1651s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1651s)

I thought I - Oh, sorry. Sorry.

### 27:33 seg-0038

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0038`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0038](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0038)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1653s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1653s)

Yeah. All right. All right. So, but that's the Iliad. Okay? And again, what will happen is that Odysseus - Odysseus will win this war and he will win eternal glory for himself with the stratagem of the Trojan horse. All right? Now we go to the Odyssey. And in the Odyssey, we don't actually meet Odysseus for many, many books. Okay? It's only towards the middle that we meet Odysseus. In the first few books, it's a story of Tammacus and his journey to find his father. Okay? And when we meet Odysseus, he's a very different person from his father. From the Iliad. Remember, in the Iliad, he is trying to win this war. He's very energetic. He's galvanized. He's very heroic. Okay? But when we see him in the Odyssey, he's a changed person. In fact, he's a broken person. So, what's happening is that Odysseus and his crew try to go home.

### 28:35 seg-0039

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0039`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0039](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0039)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1715s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1715s)

They get lost at sea. They have many adventures. And they get shipwrecked on an island. And he becomes the sex toy. Okay? Literally a sex toy of a goddess named Calypso. All right? So, basically, he's getting whipped every day at night. And then he goes to the beach and he cries. Okay? So, he's a prisoner of Calypso for many years. And the gods, Zeus, Athena, they get together and say, you know what? We can't have this happen anymore. Okay? Odysseus needs to go home. So, they send Hermes to tell Calypso, you have to send Odysseus home. The gods will it. And Calypso says, sure, why not? Okay? So, can you read?

### 29:21 seg-0040

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0040`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0040](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0040)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1761s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1761s)

With that, the powerful giant killer sped away.

### 29:23 seg-0041

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0041`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0041](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0041)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1763s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1763s)

So, it's Hermes. Okay? So, Hermes has told Calypso, you have to let this guy go.

### 29:27 seg-0042

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0042`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0042](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0042)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1767s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1767s)

The queenly nymph sought out the great Odysseus, the commands of Zeus still ringing in her ears, and found him there on the headland, sitting still, weeping, his eyes never dry, his sweet life flowing away with the tears he wept for his foiled journey home, since then no longer pleased.

### 29:45 seg-0043

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0043`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0043](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0043)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1785s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1785s)

So, he's sitting, he's still, he's weeping, his eyes never dry, and all he's thinking about is the past. Okay? This is clear signs of depression, PDST. Okay? Do you want to go in?

### 30:00 seg-0044

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0044`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0044](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0044)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1800s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1800s)

In the night true, he'd sleep with her in the arching cave. He had no choice, unwilling lover alongside lover all too willing. But all his days he'd sit on rocks and beaches, wrenching his heart with sobs and grumbling and groans in anguish, gazing out over the barren sea through blinding tears.

### 30:19 seg-0045

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0045`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0045](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0045)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1819s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1819s)

Okay, so he's a broken man. He's a very different person from the Iliad. Okay? So, now the question then is why? What happened to him? All right? So, Calypso says to Odysseus, you know what? It's been great having a sex toy, but the gods insist that you have to go home. But you know what? You can choose to be my sex toy for all of eternity. I can make you immortal. Right? You can go home, but I can make you immortal and you'll be my sex toy for all of eternity. Now, this is like, that's a really nice offer. I really want to do this, but I need to go home. Okay? So, he leaves and he gets on the island. And on this island, he's given a ship to go home. Okay? But before he goes home, as a custom, they host a banquet for him. Okay? And they really don't know who he is.

### 31:14 seg-0046

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0046`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0046](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0046)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1874s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1874s)

They don't really know he's Odysseus. All right? So, during the banquet, what's the tradition is have a bard sing a great story. Okay? To sing a story of great deeds. And of course, he sings about the Trojan War. Okay? So, can you read, Ivory? Yeah.

### 31:38 seg-0047

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0047`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0047](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0047)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1898s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1898s)

The Strife Between Odysseus and Achilles, Peleus' son. Okay.

### 31:41 seg-0048

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0048`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0048](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0048)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1901s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1901s)

So, the bard is singing about the Trojan War. Okay?

### 31:45 seg-0049

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0049`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0049](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0049)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1905s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1905s)

How once at the gods' flowing feast, the captains clashed in the savage war of wards, while Agamemnon, lord of armies, rejoiced at heart that Achilles' bravest men were battling so. For this was the victory sign that Apollo prophesies at his shrine in Pitho when Agamemnon strode across the rocky threshold, asking the oracle for advice. The start of the tidal waves of ruin tumbling down on Troy's and Achilles' forces, both at once, thanks to the will of Zeus, who rules the world. That was the song the famous harper sang but Odysseus, clutching his flaring sea -blue cape in both powerful hands, drew it over his head and buried his handsome face. Ashamed, his host might see him shedding tears. Whenever the rapt bard would pause in the song, he'd lift the cape from his head, wipe off his tears, and hoisting his double -handed cup, pour it out to the gods. But as soon as the

### 32:42 seg-0050

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0050`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0050](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0050)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1962s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1962s)

bard would start again, impelled to sing by the oracle of Zeus, the oracle of Odysseus' lords, who reveled in his tale, again Odysseus hid his face and wept.

### 32:51 seg-0051

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0051`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0051](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0051)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1971s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=1971s)

Okay, so there's this great banquet, and the bard sings about the Trojan War. And at this point you would think that Odysseus would be like, hey, that's me, man. He'd be very proud. But instead he cries and he cries, okay? This again is trauma, where the memories are storing pain in him. So clearly something happened during the Trojan War. That made him want to forget about it. That made him resent himself. Okay, that caused his soul to be ruptured. All right. All right. So keep on going.

### 33:30 seg-0052

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0052`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0052](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0052)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2010s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2010s)

Odysseus, master of many exploits, praised the singer. I respect you, Demodocus, more than any man alive. Surely the muse has taught you, Zeus' daughter, or god Apollo himself. How true to life, all too true. You sing the Achaeans' fate, all they did and suffered, all they soldiered through. As if you were there yourself, or heard from one who was. But come now, shift your ground. Sing of the wooden horse Epeius built with Athena's help. The cunning trap that good Odysseus brought one day to the heights of Troy, filled with fighting men who laid the city waste. Sing that for me, true to life as it deserves. And I will tell the world at once how freely the muse gave you the gods' own gift of song. Okay.

### 34:21 seg-0053

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0053`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0053](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0053)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2061s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2061s)

So he's feeling all this pain because of memories of the Trojan War. But he recognizes that if he's willing to go home, because remember, he's on his journey home. He needs to confront his pain. He needs to omit his pain. Okay. So now he's going to ask the bard to sing the memory that he's most trying to repress. He wants to now focus on the Trojan War and really come to terms with it. He comes with his own trauma. Okay. All right. So let's see what happens. Sorry.

### 34:53 seg-0054

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0054`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0054](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0054)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2093s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2093s)

Stirred now by the muse, the bard launched out in the fine blaze of song, starting at just the point where the main Achaean force, setting their camps afire, had boarded the oarswept ships and sailed for home. But famed Odysseus' men already crouched in hiding. In the heart of Troy's assembly, dark in that horse, the Trojans dragged themselves to the city heights. Now it stood there, looming. And round its bulk, the Trojans sat debating, clashing, days on end. Three plans split ranks, either to hack open the hollow vault with ruthless bronze, or haul it up to the highest ridge and pitch it down the cliffs, or let it stand. A glorious offering made to pacify the gods. And that final plan was bound to win the day. For Troy was fated to perish once the city lodged inside her walls, the monstrous wooden horse, where the prime Vargai power lay in wait, with death and slaughter bearing down on Troy.

### 35:54 seg-0055

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0055`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0055](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0055)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2154s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2154s)

And he sang how troops of Achaeans broke from cover, streaming out of the horse's hollow flanks to plunder Troy. He sang how left and right they ravaged Decebe's city, sang how Odysseus marched right up to Defebus' house, like the god of war on attack with die -hard men of Oz.

### 36:15 seg-0056

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0056`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0056](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0056)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2175s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2175s)

Defebus isn't a name for pride, okay? They want to go kill the king. You want to go in?

### 36:19 seg-0057

- Speaker: SPEAKER_00
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0057`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0057](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0057)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2179s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2179s)

There he sang, Odysseus fought the grimmest fight he had ever braved, but he won through at last, thanks to Athena's superhuman power. That was the song the famous harper sang, but great Odysseus melted into tears, running down from his eyes to wet his cheeks. As a woman weeps, her arms flung round her darling husband, a man who fell in battle, fighting for town and townsmen, trying to beat the day of doom from home and children. Seeing the man go down, dying, gasping for breath, she clings for dear life, screams and shrills, but the victors just behind her, digging spear butts into her back and shoulders, drag her off in bondage, yoke to hard labor, pain and the most heartbreaking torment weighs her cheeks. So from Odysseus' eyes ran tears of heartbreak now.

### 37:09 seg-0058

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0058`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0058](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0058)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2229s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2229s)

Okay, so now we know what happened, okay? Alright, so what happened was this. For ten years, Odysseus and the Greeks were trying to defeat the king, the Trojans, and they could not do it because the Trojans were behind a walled city. So Odysseus prayed and prayed to Athena for inspiration, and then one day he had it, the Trojan horse, okay? So he sneaks in, so he gets into the underbelly of the Trojan horse, along with other soldiers, and then they get into the city, and like, you know, they're really scared and they're really excited. Then they're able, at night, to leave the Trojan horse and then open the gates of Troy and the Greeks stream in, and they start to conquer the city. And then Odysseus, you know, he is killing, okay? Because it's war and he's full of adrenaline. But then something catches his eye, alright? He strikes down a soldier and then a woman comes crying and she's traumatized at the sight of the death of her husband.

### 38:15 seg-0059

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0059`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0059](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0059)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2295s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2295s)

And Odysseus is traumatized by this woman being traumatized because he came to Troy to save the woman, right? He sees Penelope in this woman. He says, I came all this way to make sure that Helen could be safe with her husband. And now he just recognized that I just killed someone's husband. But not only that, but the Greeks come and they take her off to be enslaved. So he, by witness war, has destroyed every single family in Troy. He's caused the suffering of thousands and thousands of women and children. And that is what he sees for the first time, okay? For the longest time, he believed that he was here to fight for justice, to save families, to leave a legacy for his son, Timarchus. And now he recognizes, no. This is not a just war. I'm destroying a civilization.

### 39:32 seg-0060

- Speaker: SPEAKER_01
- Source ref: `video:predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda@transcript:v1#seg-0060`
- Transcript segment: [https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0060](https://jianglens.com/episodes/predictive-history-gxlcr7uhhda/transcript/#seg-0060)
- Video timestamp: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2372s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlcR7uHHdA&t=2372s)

This is not a war about family. This is a war about destroying families. And what legacy am I leaving my son? How will my son feel if he knows how I destroyed families like ours? And this causes trauma in him. It splits his soul. And it drives him crazy, basically. And that's the conflict, the central conflict in the Odyssey. Having done so much evil, how can you go home? How can you repair yourself? How can you mend your soul and repair your worldview so that you can live for your family? Okay?