The Odyssey begins with a big empty space where Odysseus should be. His home, his familiy, his household are all suffering for want of him. But where is he--and more importantly, who is he? That's the poem again and again and today, we begin trying to answer it. If there's one thing everyone remembers from this poem it's the adventure stories in the middle: the Cyclops, Circe, the Lotus Eaters. We embark on those stories now, beginning with the moment when Odysseus finally chooses to reveal his true identity to his hosts the Phaeacians...and perhaps also to himself. SIGNUPS OPEN: Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Peter Struck’s interactive Odyssey Map: https://www2.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/homer/index.php?page=odymap Simon Netchev’s Odyssey Map: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15906/odysseus-ten-year-journey-home Selective attention test (the basketball gorilla): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo EPiC, a concept album by Jorge Rivera-Herrans: https://solo.to/jayherrans And check out Rivera-Herrans’s Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/jayherrans/?hl=en

If a tree falls in the forest...does it make a sound? There's actually a great answer to that question, and Aristotle just tweeted it out way back when. Today, in response to a listener question, I finally lay it all on the line and tell you my nuts-and-bolts theory of translation, which is also a theory of the world. It's basically Aristotle, with some Thomas Aquinas mixed in: the mysteries of the soul are inscribed all over with the hieroglyphs of the body, and symbols are the rosetta stone that bridge between them. Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute (now offering Old English instruction!): https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ The Writing of the Gods, by Edward Dolnick: https://a.co/d/4jGv6NO Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my new joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com

Let's check in on how Odysseus' other buddies from Troy are doing. *Briefly scans news report from Proteus* Yeah so uh it's a dumpster fire. Today Telemachus arrives at Troy, where he hears from Menelaus about his own fraught journey home, including his encounter with an immortal seal dad (real) which led to the first news of Odysseus in years. It won't bring him home but it will bring his son hope, which might be just what he needs to fill the void that has opened up since Odysseus left. SIGNUPS OPEN: Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ I Maked This: "If--," Then (And Now) https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com/p/if-then-and-now Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

The name "Rosetta Stone" has great brand recognition, but how much do you really know about Ptolemy V's royal decree? When you get right down to it, it's one of the wildest little corners of world history, stretching from the conquests of Alexander the Great to the defeat of Napoleon, with lots of bonkers facts in between. Plus it'll help us uncover more about the nature of language, logic, and humanity itself. Not bad for a hunk of rock! Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute (now offering Old English instruction!): https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my new joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com

The Odyssey is a very different poem from the Iliad in many ways, but in one way it picks up right where the Iliad leaves off: with the fallout of war and the journey to re-integrate soldiers back into the civil society they came from. Today we begin Odysseus' long journey home, which actually begins at the end and works backward, starting with his son Telemachus' journey to grow to manhod without his dad around.  Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Stephen C. Meyer, The Return of the God Hypothesis: https://a.co/d/gbIOQSY Owen Barfield, Worlds Apart: https://a.co/d/1eVagdy Owen Barfield, Saving the Appearances: https://a.co/d/ioLqsnf C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man: https://a.co/d/e3QeBte C.S. Lewis, Miracles: https://a.co/d/g9hpjq5 Victor Stenger, God: The Failed Hypothesis: https://a.co/d/gmGwcoW James Hannam, God’s Philosophers: https://a.co/d/625AA62 Ed Feser, Aristotle’s Revenge: https://a.co/d/bPGnKuf Augustine, Confessions: https://a.co/d/99APz4T Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram imperfectus liber: https://www.augustinus.it/latino/genesi_incompiuto/index.htm  

Is prophecy a species of translation, or encryption, or both? This fascinating question, prompted by last week's episode on quantum cryptography, breaks down into two different sub-questions: how do prophets receive and communicate their messages, and how should we understand them? There are lots of ways to go wrong here--think doomsday cults--but also some fascinating ways to go right that help reveal the nature of language, scripture, and history. Plus: an illustration of the four traditional ways to interpret the Bible. Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute (now offering Old English instruction!): https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my new joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com I maked this: a full translation of the Book of Isaiah at https://www.rejoice-evermore.com/just-the-translation  

Fall is in the air, which means the time has come for us to close out our study of the Iliad. From book 16 to the end in book 24, the poem engages in what remains one of the most enduring subtle studies of rage, war, grief, and even PTSD that the human mind has ever produced. It shows us the roots of all tragedy in our own lives and throughout history, leaving the stage set for a new adventure in the Odyssey. Which we'll pick up next week! Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Alice Oswald, Memorial: https://a.co/d/dcToGpW Christopher Logue, War Music: https://a.co/d/fF2eVnb Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam: https://a.co/d/3Jo7LpD Books of Titans: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/books-of-titans-podcast/id1237365806

Ifmmp! After months spent explaining how communicating works in different languages, I've gotten a question about now not communicating works, in any language. Turns out the answer will take us through ancient mysticism, the invention of computers, and the technology behind Bitcoin...all in 30 minutes! At the end of it all, a tl;dr on what we should think about the race to build bigger faster quantum systems to make and break codes in our age of AI and machine-generated poetry. Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute (now offering Old English instruction!): https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my new joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com

If I were making a movie of the Iliad (a good one, not the Brad Pitt version of Troy), there's no question the trailer would have to include today's central scene: Hector and Andromache on the wall. This is the money shot that reveals the poem in its full greatness, honest and sober about the realities of war but capable of mourning with those who suffer defeat. The Trojans might be the most interesting part of the poem, especially for what they reveal about the problems of polytheism and the contrast it poses to the Christian gospel. All this and more on our second-to-last Iliad episode. Watch my interview on the Ben Shapiro Sunday Special: https://youtu.be/5qjDUhzJqgc?si=T8JBpdXzc1dlfCzy Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute (now offering Old English instruction!): https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com  

"A word is a kind of painting of which the subject is a thought," wrote Nicolas Beauzée. Even an Enlightenement Frenchman is right twice a day. But where does that leave the written word--as a picture of a picture of a thought? Yes, I argue in this episode, and there's profundity in that which goes far beyond the history of alphabets--though that is, in its own right, exceptionally cool too. It's all here in the latest words, words, words. Dear English Language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ69ny57pR0 Sign up to Audit my Class: ncf.edu/youngheretics Check out our sponsor, the Ancient Language Institute (now offering Old English instruction!): https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my new joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com