The Lotus Eaters Episode 8: Home and Homelessness [unlocked]
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What is the episode’s introduction and why is the series funded on Patreon?
Dear listeners, thank you for joining us on our voyage into Homer's Odyssey. You're listening to The Lotus Eaters, a 12-part series on Homer's Odyssey that was funded by our generous supporters over at Patreon.com. It's because of that support that we're able to release this series for everyone. If you'd like to join them in supporting us, please head over to Patreon.com slash Very Bad Wizards. One of the benefits will be that you'd get access to all of the Lotus Eaters at once rather than having to wait every week for a new episode to drop. But you'd also get access to hundreds of hours of other bonus content and Zeus would smile down upon you for your generosity in supporting us. So thank you for listening.
Let's get to the episode.
Welcome to another episode of The Lotus Eaters.
The Lotus Eaters.
So we are today going to be discussing books 15 and 16 of the Odyssey. This is, I guess, kind of builds up to the reunion of Telemachus and Odysseus. They finally will meet and eventually Telemachus will recognize Odysseus. But there's so many beautiful scenes in these two books. Yeah. What did you think of these overall?
I really liked them, man. You know, it's a buildup. And because I only have a vague notion of what's going to happen with the suitors, you know, like I know broad strokes what happens. I'm enjoying like this sort of tension building in these scenes and like that emotional relief when the son and the father finally recognize each other. And like I felt emotions about what it must be like to have never known your father and to have never seen your son. And he's in disguise. He knows, but the son doesn't know yet. Like it was great. I loved it.
Yeah, and there's a little bit of kind of awkwardness when Eumaeus kind of embraces him for the first time and
he gives
the simile of like it's his own father. Totally.
And it's
like in some ways he has been more of a father to Telemachus than Odysseus has. Absolutely.
and he calls him grandpa which is really
sweet very sweet yeah i think there's a bunch of like beautiful scenes i think the scene with odysseus and eumaeus when he listens to eumaeus's story as they're kind of drinking wine really late at night and enjoying the grief that they get to express as they put it
is
so beautiful I think the stuff at the beginning with Telemachus maneuvering his way to get home out of Sparta is kind of cool. Yeah, and then there's just a lot of weirdness. Like, they pick up this son of a prophet on the way who's
on the run.
He's like, he's like, gotta get the... hell out of dodge, you know, and...
Totally. Like, does that guy make any more appearances? Like, I have to know. Yeah, he does. Okay. Yeah,
I think so. Yeah. But nothing big.
Because you think with, like, stories that are this old and have been told for this long that you might just have, like, vestigial characters who, like, once played a role, but now they just sort of pop in and nobody knows why they're still part of
the story. Yeah, maybe. But I think there's always, I would say, thematic relevance. And that guy in particular... keeps talking about homelessness and how that's a terrible fate. And then that's exactly what Odysseus says when we cut to him in the next scene with Eumaeus. So I think there's definitely some parallels. between him and Odysseus, just he's at a much earlier stage than Odysseus was.
Yeah, totally. The biggest thing I was going to say about theme-wise is the notion of what home is. What does home mean and what is it? And Eumaeus, of all the people, is probably the most at home, even though he's a slave who was sold, but he was sold as a young boy, and so this is all he knows. So he's almost like a bedrock home, whereas everybody else is, yeah, feeling unattached. I don't know if you've ever felt that way. Like I luckily never moved. We didn't move a lot. I think we moved once. Like when I would go to college, there's always home for me. I always consider my parents' house in California home. But I know what it's like to be in that sort of in-between where you're not quite sure what home is.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the episode’s introduction and why is the series funded on Patreon?
0:00–8:28
2
How do Books 15‑16 explore the theme of home and homelessness in the Odyssey?
8:28–17:53
3
What is the significance of the emotional reunion between Odysseus, Eumaeus, and Telemachus?
17:53–26:19
4
What prophecy does Helen give and how does it shape Odysseus’s plan?
26:19–33:24
5
How do Odysseus and Telemachus begin planning revenge against the suitors?
33:24–41:36
6
Why does Odysseus test loyalty among slaves, women, and his own son?
41:36–48:41
7
What moral dilemmas and character growth appear as the heroes prepare for battle?
48:41–54:57
8
How does the episode conclude with the final scene and hints for the next books?
54:57–1:01:55
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Very Bad Wizards
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Episode 341: Psychology Ranked (With Paul Bloom)
The Lotus Eaters Episode 7: Lying Odysseus [unlocked]
Episode 340: The Sublime Folly of Hope
The Lotus Eaters Episode 6: Psyches [unlocked]
The Lotus Eaters Episode 5: Circe, Cyclops, and Psychedelics (Oh My!) [unlocked]