You are listening to Odyssey, the podcast, history's other most awesome epic.

Music history's other most awesome epic.

This is episode number one in the series.

Today's episode is titled Penelope....you And so welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Odyssey, the podcast.

My name is Jeff Wright. I live in Ottawa, Canada, and I'm going to be your storytelling bard

and your traveling companion on this serialized journey through Homer's Odyssey. Now,

folks, Homer's Odyssey is considered by scholars and by literary critics to be one of the

foundational works of world literature. And the scholars

and the critics will go on at length about how Homer's Odyssey informed all sorts of various

literary forms and storytelling devices that we see in all of our other stories, our films,

and our blockbuster movies up into the 21st century.

Now, all of that, of course, is true. Homer's Odyssey is a very important work of literature.

But, as I sit here today as your storyteller, what truly matters to me is that the Odyssey is also one

incredibly entertaining story.

And it is an absolute blast to tell this story to an audience, either live on stage as I do in my

professional job or here as a podcaster as I'm doing for our mutual pleasure.

And so, folks, if you choose to tune in to Odyssey the podcast, well, this podcast serial is going to offer you two things. First of all, of course, you will come away with some knowledge

and a greater appreciation of one of literature's great works of art. But more importantly, or at least as

importantly, as far as I'm concerned, you will come away having heard one really kick-ass

entertainment of a story. Now, when all is said and done, I think the second reason is more

important than the first. Because back 2,500 years ago,

when Homer penned his Odyssey, he wasn't thinking about the scholars or the literary critics.

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