Splendor surrounds the table, but memory darkens the feast.

In this passage from The Odyssey, Telemachus quietly marvels at the wealth of Menelaus’ hall, likening it to the palace of Olympian Zeus. Menelaus hears him and responds with a long account of his own wanderings after Troy—through Cyprus, Phoenicia, Egypt, and distant lands—by which he gathered great riches only to return home to grief. He recalls the murder of his brother Agamemnon, the ruin of his house, and the companions lost far from Argos. Of all these sorrows, he says, none weigh so heavily as the fate of Odysseus, whose labors surpassed all others and whose absence still brings grief to Laertes, Penelope, and the son he left behind.

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Odyssey is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Homer’s classic epic — every day. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Odyssey.