Legends say that over three thousand years ago, in the region of Asia Minor, which is now Turkey, a super-large war occurred, later known as the "Trojan War." This war was sung about and recorded by a blind poet named Homer. Some say the Trojan War was just a myth, not a historical event. However, in 1870, someone discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Troy in northwestern Turkey, shattering the myth that the Trojan War was merely a legend. This further prompted archaeologists to re-examine myths from around the world. What about the Great Flood, the Ten Commandments, the Tower of Babel, the Sumerian King List, and the legends of King Arthur? Did they also happen? Some say that the related myths of the entire Trojan War cycle and other myths from around the world, such as those from Sumer, China, Japan, the Middle East, India, Germany, Northern Europe, and ancient Persia, share astonishing similarities. This once again confirms the idea that myths from all over the world might originate from the same source. Still others say that the two most important major chapters in the Trojan War cycle, the Iliad and the Odyssey, collectively known as the "Homeric Epics," were not written by Homer at all. It is even highly questionable whether a poet named Homer ever existed. So, did a blind poet named Homer actually exist in history? Finally, some say that while many different mythical creatures appeared in Greek mythology, these creatures can actually be explained from a modern perspective. So, did these mythical creatures really exist? And how can these mythical creatures be explained in reality? Hello everyone, I am Di Da. Welcome back to Dimension D. This time, Di Da will tell the complete Trojan War cycle story from beginning to end, including the causes and consequences of the Trojan War, the story of the Trojan Horse, and the original content of the Odyssey. Today, we will talk about the Odyssey. Before we begin, I first want to address a question from a viewer asking why I read "希臘" (lip6) instead of "希臘" (sik1). Actually, in modern Cantonese dictionaries, the pronunciation "(lip6)音" is considered an alternative pronunciation. In historical documents and customary daily spoken language in Hong Kong, this character has long been accepted as having the pronunciation "(lip6)". Even if you check the Cantonese Pronunciation and Lexicon Database of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and other Cantonese dictionaries, it is listed that this character can be pronounced as "希臘" (lip6). The reason for having two pronunciations is that during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican era, the Cantonese pronunciation of this country was originally "希臘" (lip6). The character "臘" (laap6) was directly pronounced like the "獵" (lip6) in "打獵" (daai2 lip6), corresponding to the "-le-" sound in the English word "Hellenic" for Greeks. However, the written form was later unified, changing from "希臘" (lip6) to "希臘" (sik1), corresponding to the "-las" sound in the English word "Hellas." But because the older generation was already accustomed to "希臘" (lip6), a large portion of Cantonese speakers today still refer to this country as "希臘" (lip6) rather than "希臘" (sik1). The most obvious example is the late Prince Philip of the United Kingdom. If you look closely, the "臘" (laap6) in Prince Philip's name is actually the Chinese character "臘" (laap6). But if you look back at old television programs or daily communication in Hong Kong, this character "臘" (laap6) is always pronounced as "臘" (lip6), and he is called Prince Philip. In English, it's Prince Philip. Also, if you use voice typing on your phone now, when you say "希臘" (lip6), it recognizes that you are saying the character "臘" (laap6). Therefore, whether pronounced as "希" (sik1) "臘" (laap6) or "希臘" (lip6), both are widely accepted. However, I estimate that in a few more decades, everyone will probably change their pronunciation and call it "希" (sik1) "臘" (laap6). Only old Hong Kongers and true Hong Kongers will call it "希臘" (lip6). So please don't ask me again why I don't pronounce it "希臘" (sik1) but "希臘" (lip6). First, as always, I will explain the background of the epic before delving into the story content. The Odyssey is one of the two greatest epics in ancient Greek literature. These two epics are the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey." They are collectively known as the Homeric Epics. It is said that both works were created by the blind poet Homer. The Homeric Epics are not only among the oldest Western literature but have also had a profound influence on subsequent Western culture, literature, and art. They have also been adapted into countless film and television works. The Odyssey itself is not an independent story; it belongs to a broader worldview, a part of the Trojan War cycle. The Trojan War cycle is composed of multiple epics, but they all depict the causes and consequences of the Trojan War and the deeds of related heroes. If the Trojan War is likened to a grand epic universe, the Iliad focuses on the first half of the war itself, while the Odyssey tells the story of the hero's return home after the war, the second half. Although the Iliad and the Odyssey are often considered Homer's exclusive works, many other epic parts of the Trojan War cycle are now lost or only exist as fragments, and some are merely later oral records. The Iliad focuses on the last 51 days of the tenth year of the Trojan War. The core is the wrath of Achilles. The story begins with the Greek allied commander Agamemnon taking Achilles' Briseis. Achilles withdraws from the battlefield in anger, leading to a great defeat for the Greek army. His friend Patroclus, wearing his armor, goes into battle and is killed, causing Achilles to return to the battlefield for revenge, killing the Trojan prince Hector. The story ends with the King of Troy redeeming his son's body from Achilles. Although the Iliad focuses on human warfare, it is interspersed with how the Greek gods intervened in human wars. Therefore, many Greek gods appear in the story, such as Zeus, the king of the gods, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Poseidon, the god of the sea, all influencing human decisions and leading to the occurrence and end of the Trojan War. The Odyssey tells the story of the hero Odysseus's ten-year wandering journey home after the Trojan War and his return to his home island of Ithaca. The Odyssey itself does not have just one linear storyline; it simultaneously tells the story of Odysseus and his son. Odysseus recounts his ten-year wandering after the end of the Trojan War before returning home, starting from his being trapped on an island by the sea goddess, then encountering the Cyclops, the Sirens, the sorceress Circe, and his journey to the underworld. At the same time, the story balances the narrative of his son, Telemachus, searching for his father, and the crisis of their home being occupied by suitors. Finally, Odysseus returns home, is recognized by his wife Penelope, kills those who wanted to steal his wife, and reclaims his throne. Compared to the Iliad, the Odyssey is more like an adventure story, containing Odysseus's numerous sea adventures and his son's adventures. Modern academia generally believes that the Odyssey was written in the early Archaic period of ancient Greece, around the late 8th to early 7th century BCE. Its composition was about four hundred years after the Trojan War it depicts, meaning the story was written by later generations. The Iliad, the first part of the story, may have been created earlier than the second part, the Odyssey. Based on artwork, linguistic analysis, and literary references, the creation of the Iliad is estimated to date back to around 750-710 BCE. Some scholars believe it was between 760-650 BCE. The composition periods of the Odyssey and the Iliad fall precisely after the end of the Greek Dark Ages. The Odyssey was originally written in Homeric Greek, using dactylic hexameter, suitable for oral recitation. It initially existed in the form of oral performances by bards at banquets or festive occasions, accompanied by a lyre, and was only gradually compiled into a fixed written version in the mid-6th century BCE. This might be related to the canonization of literature in Athens at that time. The setting of the Odyssey and the Iliad is around 1200 BCE, the late Bronze Age. Therefore, there is a four-hundred-year gap between Homer and the story content he describes. This epic preserves ancient myths and heroic adventures but also incorporates later cultural values, such as Odysseus's wisdom, loyalty, and the theme of returning home, serving as a bridge connecting Bronze Age legends and ancient Greek civilization. Before discussing the Odyssey and the Iliad, we must first know that these two works belong to two major chapters within what is called the "Trojan War cycle." The so-called Trojan War cycle is a collection of ancient Greek heroic epics centered around the Trojan War. It is not a single work but a group of interconnected long stories that together form a complete and grand Trojan War universe. If you look at it from a modern perspective, it is like the MCU today. To be precise, it is like the Marvel Universe model, paying homage to the Trojan War cycle that appeared in the 8th century BCE. The epics in the cycle were created by different poets with the aim of fully presenting the causes and consequences of the Trojan War, forming a coherent epic story chain. The meaning of a cycle is that these epics are linked like rings, one after another, with almost no major plot repetitions. Each story, when combined, becomes a more complete grand narrative. However, all stories revolve around the unfolding of the Trojan War, including its causes, process, the fall of Troy, and the stories of the Greek heroes returning home after the war. Currently, only Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are fully preserved. Most other epics in the Trojan War cycle are lost, with only summaries by later scholars and a few fragments remaining. Because only the Iliad and Odyssey are complete, while other chapters are fragmented, there are sometimes jumps in certain details. The entire Trojan War cycle is mainly composed of eight parts. Arranged chronologically, the first chapter is the "Cypria," which tells the origin of the Trojan War and can be considered the prequel to the entire story. The second chapter, the "Iliad," narrates the last 51 days of the tenth year of the Trojan War. The third chapter, the "Aethiopis," mainly tells of the death of Achilles. The fourth chapter, the "Little Iliad," mainly describes what happened after Achilles' death and how the Greek heroes began planning the Trojan Horse. The fifth chapter, the "Iliupersis," is the story of the Trojan Horse that we are familiar with. The sixth chapter, the "Nostoi," mainly tells the stories of the Greek heroes, other than Odysseus, returning home. The seventh chapter, the "Odyssey," mainly narrates Odysseus's ten-year wandering adventures after the Trojan War and his eventual return home. The eighth chapter, the "Telegony," is the final chapter of the Trojan War cycle, mainly telling of Odysseus's fate after returning home. Later, I will present the content of the entire Trojan War cycle, mainly selecting parts that I personally consider important and interesting. I will slightly modify some stories without affecting the overall narrative, making them more engaging and concise. Since the original text is an epic, some parts are quite lengthy, so I will omit some of the more boring sections and slightly adjust some unreasonable parts to make the connections between the preceding and succeeding parts easier to follow. However, I will absolutely not change the outcome or direction of the story. So, please rest assured. If you are very concerned about my modifications to some story content, I suggest you buy the books to read. Due to the complexity and length of the names, I will try to simplify them and use aliases. For example, I will refer to Diomedes by his title "Lion King." For daughters of gods, I will use terms like "Goddess of Love" or "Sun God." Also, for the translation of mythical figures, different regions have different names. I will choose translations that I believe are closer to Hong Kong culture. Additionally, if you plan to watch Christopher Nolan's "Odyssey" next week, I suggest you pause this video at the "Iliupersis" section, as this part will perfectly connect with the movie's content. So, you can watch the movie first and then return to the latter half of this video. The entire Trojan War cycle begins with the "Cypria." The story actually has nothing to do with wars between mortals at the beginning; instead, it is related to the Greek gods. Zeus felt that there were too many humans, and Gaia, the Earth goddess who bears humanity, felt too burdened. Gaia's soul and body were saturated, causing the world to lose balance. Therefore, Zeus decided to launch a great war to reduce the population and relieve the pressure on the earth. This plan to reduce the population was not unique to the Illuminati or Freemasons; the concept already existed in epics thousands of years ago. The story then moves on to the mortal hero Peleus, who married the sea goddess Thetis, who possessed prophetic abilities. In Greek mythology, Prometheus had previously told Zeus that if he married the sea goddess Thetis, their son would overthrow Zeus. Zeus himself had overthrown his father to gain kingship, so he naturally feared his own son would overthrow him. Therefore, he encouraged the sea goddess to marry the human hero Peleus, saying their son would surely be a great hero. However, the condition was that Peleus had to win over the sea goddess first. So, Peleus hid in the cave where the sea goddess often rested and seized her when she was not paying attention. After being seized, no matter what animal she transformed into, such as a lion, a snake, or even seawater, Peleus did not let go. However, this is mythology, so don't ask me why Peleus could hold onto water; that's just how it was. Peleus won, and the sea goddess Thetis agreed to marry him. All the gods were invited to this grand wedding feast. However, Eris, the goddess of discord, deeply resented not being invited. So, she threw a golden apple at the wedding, inscribed with "To the Fairest Goddess." This golden apple led to Hera, the queen of the gods, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love, all targeting this golden apple, as each believed herself to be the fairest and refused to yield. Faced with the confrontation of these three goddesses, even Zeus, the king of the gods, was unwilling to intervene in this divine dispute. In Greek mythology, although Zeus is the king of the gods, many stories show him to be a selfish and philandering man. So, he ordered Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to guide the three goddesses to Mount Ida and then devised a cunning plan, ordering the Trojan prince Paris to be the judge to decide which goddess would receive the golden apple. To obtain the title of the fairest goddess, the three goddesses each promised Paris a favor that could change a mortal's destiny if he chose them. Hera, the queen of the gods, said that if he chose her, she would grant him supreme kingship over Asia. Athena said that if he chose her, she would grant him invincible wisdom in war and eternal victory. Aphrodite said that if he chose her, she would bestow upon him the most beautiful woman in the world, namely Helen, the Queen of Sparta. As soon as Paris heard Aphrodite say she could give him the most beautiful woman in the world, he unhesitatingly chose Aphrodite, declared her the fairest goddess, and handed her the golden apple. This is the famous Judgment of Paris, which sowed the seeds for the future Trojan War. After the judgment on Mount Ida, Paris immediately received Aphrodite's favor. To fulfill her promise, Aphrodite ordered Paris to immediately build ships and prepare to sail to Greece to win the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. However, before Paris set sail, his brother, the Trojan prince Helenus, prophesied his future, saying that Paris's actions would bring great disaster to Troy. But Paris, upon hearing this, was still determined to go to Greece and steal another man's wife. To ensure the plan went smoothly, Aphrodite sent her own son, Aeneas, to accompany Paris. This Aeneas is the ancestor of the Roman people. Besides his brother's warning, his sister Cassandra also warned her brother, saying that this marriage would lead to the destruction of Troy. But no one believed Cassandra's prophecy because, in mythology, she had once rejected Apollo, the sun god, and was cursed. This curse caused any truth Cassandra spoke to be heard as lies by others. Thus, in his blindness, Paris left the shores of Troy, carrying the seeds of destruction. Not long after, under Aphrodite's favor, Paris's fleet sailed smoothly to Greece. They arrived in Sparta. King Menelaus of Sparta at the time was very hospitable to Paris, fully displaying ancient Greek hospitality. However, shortly after Paris's arrival, King Menelaus of Sparta had an urgent matter to attend to on the island of Crete, leaving his beautiful wife Helen in charge in Sparta. At this moment, Aphrodite, using her divine power, secretly fanned the flames. Paris, taking advantage of the husband's absence, lavished attention on Helen. As the saying goes, "a flirt meets a willing listener." In the end, she successfully persuaded Helen to elope with him. The two also took a large amount of gold and jewels while King Menelaus was away, and sailed away from Sparta overnight. However, their return journey was not smooth sailing. Hera, the queen of the gods, had always disliked Paris since losing the beauty contest. As they sailed back to Troy, she stirred up a great storm on the sea, directly blowing Paris's fleet off course, forcing them to land in Sidon, which is now Lebanon. But Paris was not afraid. Since he had come this far, he decided to plunder the Sidon region, acquiring more spoils before leisurely returning to Troy. At the same time, another event was happening concerning Helen's two brothers, Castor and Pollux. Speaking of these two brothers' origins, they are quite special because their mother was Leda, the human Queen of Sparta. Legend has it that Zeus, the king of the gods, once transformed into a swan to seduce the queen, resulting in the queen laying two swan eggs. One egg hatched Pollux and Helen. As they were Zeus's own offspring, they were born with semi-divine immortality and peerless beauty. The other egg hatched Castor, who had the bloodline of a mortal king. Although brave and skilled in battle, he was still mortal. Despite being half-brothers, the two brothers had a very close relationship since childhood and were inseparable. Hearing this, you might find it strange that the Queen of Sparta gave birth to three children at the same time, who could be considered triplets, yet two were demigods and only one was human. This is a common phenomenon in Western mythology. From a modern scientific perspective, it's as if two men, one a god and one a human, simultaneously impregnated a woman. If you recall my previous video on the mystery of Sumer, it also mentioned Gilgamesh, who was two-thirds god and one-third human. You know that in ancient Western mythology, such situations often occurred. Returning to the story, these two brothers grew up and had a life-or-death duel with another pair of twin brothers over a herd of cattle. In the fierce battle, the brother with a mortal body, Castor, was unfortunately killed. The younger brother, Pollux, who possessed divine immortality, went mad and eventually killed his opponents in revenge, but he himself was severely wounded. Seeing his brother on the verge of death, Pollux was heartbroken. Because he had divinity, if he died, he could ascend to the heavens and gain eternal life, but his brother with a mortal body could only enter the underworld. Pollux could not bear to be separated from his brother, so he prayed to Zeus, willing to give up half of his divinity and immortality to share life and death with his brother. Zeus was moved by this deep brotherly love and made a decision: he divided Pollux's life in half, giving the other half to Castor. From then on, the souls of these two brothers merged into one, eventually becoming the Gemini constellation. This is the origin of the Gemini myth. At the same time, this explains why Helen's two brothers did not come to her rescue when the Trojan War began: they had already left the mortal world before the Trojan War and became the Gemini constellation. Returning to the main storyline, when King Menelaus of Sparta returned to Sparta from Crete, he discovered that his wife Helen had eloped with the Trojan prince Paris and had also plundered the gold and silver treasures from his home. He was so enraged that he trembled. He immediately returned to Mycenae to find his brother Agamemnon. In fact, King Menelaus of Sparta was not a Spartan; he was a Mycenaean. But why did he become the King of Sparta? The reason is that in the Western fairy tales we often heard as children, it was common for a prince to save a princess, or for a warrior to save a princess, and then the king of that country would betroth the princess to that man and also give him control of the entire country. So, in the fairy tales or heroic stories we often heard as children, saving a princess would lead to becoming king. King Menelaus of Sparta was the same. Because he married Helen, the princess of Sparta, he coincidentally became the King of Sparta. After his brother heard the entire story, according to the oath Helen had made to all her suitors, also known as the Oath of Tyndareus, he decided to rally all the heroes and city-states of Greece to launch a major expedition against Troy to reclaim his brother's wife, Helen. Helen was renowned as the most beautiful woman in the world. Before she married Menelaus, her beauty attracted almost all the important princes, kings, and heroes of Greece to propose to her. Legend has it that there were dozens of suitors, including the main heroes of the Trojan War, such as Odysseus, Diomedes, and Ajax. The previous King of Sparta, Tyndareus, Helen's adoptive father, did not know whom to choose among so many suitors. He could only marry his daughter to one person, but doing so would offend the other suitors, who were all powerful heroes. If they were displeased, it could lead to a large-scale civil war. In this urgent situation, Odysseus, although one of the suitors, believed his chances of winning were not high. So, he proposed a very clever solution: he suggested that the former King of Sparta, Tyndareus, should have all the suitors take a most sacred and binding oath before Helen made her choice. That is, no matter whom Helen eventually chose as her husband, all suitors must respect the decision and swear to protect Helen and her future husband to the death. If anyone in the future were to abduct Helen, harm her husband, or threaten their marriage, all former suitors would unite and jointly launch an expedition against this rule-breaker. Agamemnon used this Oath of Helen to rally heroes from all over Greece. Thus, Odysseus, Achilles, the Ajax brothers, Diomedes, and Nestor, the old king of Pylos, all announced their participation in the war. Although this dispute occurred in the mortal realm, Zeus was watching from Mount Olympus to see what these people were up to, as he himself was partly responsible for this dispute, or perhaps Zeus deliberately caused it. In fact, when Agamemnon invited Odysseus to join the team, Odysseus refused because he had only recently married Penelope, and their son Telemachus had just been born. According to prophecy, if he participated in this war, he would face a long period of inability to return home, and he was very unwilling to leave his family. So, when the elite soldiers came to Ithaca to find Odysseus, he decided to use some tricks to evade Helen's oath. He pretended to be crazy, tying a cow and a donkey, two animals with completely different gaits, together. Then Odysseus rode them, galloping back and forth on the beach and in the fields, and even scattering salt as seeds in the fields. He thought that by doing this, people would think he was crazy and unable to go to war. However, among the elite soldiers was a hero known for his intelligence and wit, Palamedes. As soon as he saw Odysseus's behavior, he knew he was faking. So, he snatched Odysseus's son from his wife's hands and placed him in the middle of the road. He reasoned that if Odysseus were truly crazy, he would ride the cow directly over his son. If he were not crazy but just pretending, he would surely stop before the cow trampled his son. As a result, upon seeing his son, Odysseus immediately stopped the cow, revealing to everyone that he was faking and not truly insane. Having no other choice, Odysseus had to fulfill Helen's oath and join the Greek allied forces. However, this incident also made Odysseus harbor resentment towards Palamedes, leading to Odysseus framing Palamedes during the Trojan War, accusing him of betraying the Greeks as a traitor. Agamemnon, believing the slander without fact-checking, immediately sentenced him to death. This incident later became known as the Death of Palamedes. Additionally, there is a story about Achilles, the god of war, before he joined the army. It is said that Achilles' mother was the sea goddess Thetis, who had long known that her son had two predetermined outcomes: first, if he stayed at home obediently, he would live a long life but would not be known; second, if he participated in the Trojan War, he would gain supreme glory, but the price would be his premature death. To protect her son, the sea goddess decided to hide Achilles. She even sent the then very young Achilles to the island of Skyros and entrusted him to the local king. To avoid suspicion, the sea goddess Thetis made Achilles wear women's clothing and disguised him as a girl, even giving him a girl's name, Pyrrha, meaning fiery red, because legend had it that Achilles had golden-red hair. Thus, Achilles mingled among the king's daughters, learning feminine skills such as dancing and weaving every day. Although Achilles wore women's clothing, a "cross-dresser," his strong physique and heroic demeanor could not be hidden. Among the king's daughters, Achilles attracted the attention of the king's eldest daughter, Princess Deidamia. The two fell in love over time, so Achilles revealed his male identity. The two were secretly married, and Deidamia became pregnant, giving birth to a son named Neoptolemus, which means "new warrior" or "young warrior." Later, Achilles' son played an important role at the final stage of the Trojan War and was one of the heroes who conquered Troy. However, this peaceful life of seclusion did not last long. When the Greek reinforcements gathered at Aulis, the prophet Calchas prophesied that without Achilles, the Greeks would be absolutely unable to conquer Troy. So, the intelligent Odysseus was sent to the island of Skyros to find Achilles and recruit him. Odysseus brought a large amount of jewelry, including some exquisite weapons and a magnificent shield. When Odysseus asked the king's daughters to choose gifts, he suddenly blew a war horn. Hearing the horn, Achilles, out of his warrior's instinct, forgot he was in disguise and casually picked up a weapon and shield, striking a fighting pose. His male identity was immediately exposed. After being exposed, Achilles knew that participating in the war would lead to his death, but he ultimately chose the path of glory and set off with the Greek allied forces. Before departing, he reluctantly entrusted his wife and son to the king's care. After all this, the Greek allied forces finally gathered in large numbers at the port of Aulis, with thousands of warriors and ships ready to depart. But at this moment, a huge obstacle arose: the fleet could not set sail at all, as there was either no wind or a strong headwind. The prophet Calchas believed this was divine punishment from Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, because Agamemnon, the commander of the allied forces, had violated the goddess's sanctuary. Legend has it that Agamemnon killed the goddess's sacred deer and boasted that his archery skills were better than the goddess's. Therefore, Calchas proposed the only solution: Agamemnon must sacrifice his own daughter, Iphigenia, to Artemis to appease the goddess's wrath and obtain a favorable wind. Agamemnon was extremely reluctant to sacrifice his daughter, but under pressure from all sides, he finally made a decision. He tricked his daughter by telling her he was going to marry her to Achilles, the god of war. Since Achilles was a famous hero of the time and the idol of many young girls, Iphigenia readily agreed. But when she arrived at the port, she found not a wedding but an altar awaiting her. Just as she was about to be sacrificed, Artemis suddenly appeared. She exchanged Iphigenia's life for the life of a deer and secretly took her to a temple to become a priestess serving her. As Artemis's anger subsided, a favorable wind immediately blew on the previously still sea. Thus, the Greek allied fleet could finally set sail, officially departing from Aulis and heading towards Troy. This marked the official beginning of the ten-year Trojan War. However, the Greek allied forces' first expedition was not smooth sailing. Shortly after the fleet set sail, they encountered dense fog and severe weather. The Greek allied fleet completely lost its course in the dark night. At that time, the Greeks thought they had reached near Troy, but in reality, they had taken the wrong path. They went to the coast of Mysia, in what is now northwestern Turkey. The ruler of Mysia, Telephus, was the biological son of the great hero Heracles, so he possessed a certain degree of combat power. The Greek allied forces, thinking they had entered Trojan territory, immediately launched a fierce attack without regard for the consequences, killing and plundering everywhere. But the Mysian army was not to be trifled with and immediately counterattacked, leading to a fierce battle between the two sides. On the chaotic battlefield, Achilles of the Greek allied forces displayed his astonishing combat prowess and directly confronted Telephus, the king of Mysia. Achilles used the Pelian spear, a magical weapon given by his friend Chiron the centaur to his father, and struck Telephus in the thigh. The wound inflicted by this attack was extraordinary. No matter what medicine Telephus used, the wound could not heal, and it caused him unbearable pain day and night. Although the Greek allied forces had a numerical advantage, they were unfamiliar with the terrain, and since they had attacked the wrong people from the start, the battle reached a stalemate. Finally, the Greek allied forces were forced to retreat, returning to Greece in disarray to regroup. This regrouping took a full eight years. Speaking of this special weapon of Achilles, the Pelian spear, the Iliad describes it as huge and heavy, and only Achilles himself among the entire Greek allied forces could wield it freely. This spear can be said to have combined the power of nature and the power of the gods. First, the shaft was made from the poplar wood cut from Mount Pelion by Chiron the centaur himself. The spearhead was personally forged by Hephaestus, the god of fire. Finally, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, personally polished the spear and blessed it with magic. Originally, this spear was a wedding gift from Chiron the centaur to Peleus, Achilles' father. Do you remember the wedding that triggered the golden apple incident at the beginning? Wasn't it about a human hero marrying a sea goddess? That human hero was Achilles' father. This spear was given to his father at that time. Later, Achilles, who learned medicine, music, and hunting from Chiron, inherited this demigod weapon from his father before departing for Troy. This spear had two special abilities: first, only Achilles could unleash its full power; others, even if they could hold the spear, could not use it with the same force. Second, it could not only cause destruction; miraculously, the iron filings on the spearhead had healing properties. Thus, this spear could both kill and save. For the past eight years, King Telephus of Mysia, since being wounded, had been tormented by unbearable pain. He sought help from various renowned physicians without success. Finally, in desperation, he resorted to divination. The priest gave him a clue: only the person who inflicted the wound could heal it, meaning only his nemesis, Achilles, could save him. To save his life, Telephus decided to take a gamble. He disguised himself as a beggar and sailed to Mycenae, the palace of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek allies. To force the Greeks to help, Telephus even took Agamemnon's son hostage. At one point, Agamemnon was so enraged that he wanted to kill him. Fortunately, Achilles and the intelligent Odysseus were present to mediate, and everyone calmed down. Upon understanding the situation, Achilles finally agreed to help. He scraped some iron filings from the spearhead and sprinkled them on Telephus's wound. As a result, the wound miraculously healed immediately. In return for saving his life, Telephus loyally provided the correct route to Troy and taught them how to avoid whirlpools and reefs. With the correct route, the Greek allied forces were now wiser. They regrouped, replenished their troops and supplies, and finally, this massive Greek allied force, after eight years, set out for the second time. This time, their only target was the city of Troy. As the Greek allied forces gathered again at the port of Aulis, preparing to set sail for Troy, Calchas, the priest of Apollo and the most authoritative prophet among the Greek allied forces, witnessed an omen. Beside the altar, on a tree, he saw a giant snake slowly climbing up. There was a bird's nest on the tree with eight newly hatched chicks and a mother bird. In front of Calchas, the snake leisurely swallowed all nine chicks, one by one. After the snake ate the last chick, Zeus performed a miracle and turned the snake into a stone. Calchas then interpreted this omen, believing that the nine chicks swallowed by the snake represented that the war would last for nine full years, and only in the tenth year would the Greek allied forces have a chance to conquer Troy. He believed the snake represented the Greek allied forces, and the chicks represented the city of Troy and its allies. This prophecy was meant to inform all Greek heroes that this war would not be a quick victory but a long and protracted war lasting ten years. This event made Agamemnon, Achilles, and Odysseus realize that this war was a long war of attrition arranged by the gods. At the same time, it solidified Calchas's unshakeable position within the army. After the allied forces set sail, they soon reached the island of Tenedos, near the city of Troy. The allied forces used this island as a temporary base. There was a key figure in the army named Philoctetes. He was a close friend of the great hero Heracles in his lifetime. He had helped Heracles light his funeral pyre before his death, so he inherited Heracles' unerring divine bow and arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra. In fact, I discussed the stories of Heracles and the Hydra in the episode "The Mystery of Angelology." Heracles' twelfth labor was to go to Lake Lerna and kill the Hydra. The Hydra was a terrifying monster with nine heads, one of which was immortal. When Heracles cut off their heads with his sword, two heads would immediately grow back, becoming even more ferocious. After a fierce battle, with the help of his nephew, Heracles burned the Hydra's wounds with fire, preventing its heads from regenerating, and finally succeeded in killing the Hydra. After killing the Hydra, Heracles did something remarkable: he dipped the tips of his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood, making these arrows imbued with the world's most potent poison. Once these arrows hit their target, the poison would spread rapidly, becoming incurable, and even gods could not heal it. These arrows, stained with poisonous blood, became one of Heracles' most powerful weapons. He used these poisoned arrows many times throughout his life, and they were almost always accurate. On their way to Troy, they passed by the island of Chryse. While walking on the island, Philoctetes accidentally stepped on a poisonous snake guarding the temple. He was then bitten by this snake. His wound deteriorated rapidly, not only festering but also emitting an unbearable, terrible stench. Furthermore, due to the intense pain, he often moaned in agony, causing the morale of the entire army to be very low and causing widespread panic. In those times of limited medicine, the physicians of the Greek allied forces could not cure this strange wound. After consulting with Agamemnon and Odysseus, they made a very cruel decision. To avoid affecting the army's operations, they coldly carried the unconscious Philoctetes to a deserted island called Lemnos. Odysseus and the others only left him some basic food and the divine bow and poisoned arrows before departing. Thus, this hero, who would have achieved great merit, was abandoned by his comrades on a deserted island to die. However, this was actually a foreshadowing that would be used later in the story of the Trojan Horse. Finally, as the Greek fleet slowly approached the coast of Troy, the Trojans had already received the news. The Trojan army was already arrayed on the beach, ready to defend. Although the Greek allied ships had landed, no one dared to be the first to jump off the ship, because the prophet Calchas had made a prophecy: whoever was the first Greek to set foot on Trojan soil would die on the battlefield. As everyone hesitated whether to jump off the ship or not, Odysseus, the embodiment of wisdom, displayed his dark, god-like intelligence. He immediately shouted, "Greek warriors, charge with me!" and then he was the first to jump off the ship. The soldiers, seeing that even the most intelligent Odysseus was leading the charge, thought the prophecy was false and their morale soared. The king of the Phocaean kingdom, in a fit of youthful bravado, rushed onto the shore first, ahead of everyone else. After killing a few Trojans, he was quickly killed by Hector, the eldest prince of Troy, with a single sword stroke. Then all the Greek soldiers looked more closely and realized that when Odysseus jumped off the ship, he did not land on Trojan soil. He first threw a shield onto the beach and then jumped onto the shield. His two feet had always been on his own shield and had never touched Trojan soil. Thus, Odysseus cleverly exploited a loophole in the wording to escape the prophecy. Seeing that the first sacrifice had appeared, the other Greek soldiers dared to fight with confidence and engaged in a fierce battle with the Trojans. In the landing battle, Achilles encountered a formidable opponent, Cycnus. Cycnus was the biological son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and possessed a nearly invulnerable physique, impervious to all weapons. Achilles discovered that even the divine Pelian spear could not pierce his skin. In fact, Cycnus and Achilles had some similarities: both were sons of Greek gods, and both possessed bodies impervious to weapons. The only difference was that Achilles' weakness was his heel, while Cycnus's weakness was his head. So, he had a flash of inspiration. Using his heavy shield, he repeatedly struck Cycnus's head until he was dazed, then decapitated him with a sword. Because they defeated the son of a god, the morale of the Greek allied forces immediately surged, and they gained the upper hand in the landing battle against the Trojan army. After the brutal landing battle, the Greek allied forces finally established a camp on the coast of Troy. They dragged a thousand warships onto the beach, forming a long defensive line, and officially began the long siege of Troy. However, because the walls of Troy were personally built by Apollo and Poseidon and were extremely strong, the allied forces changed their strategy and began raiding the smaller city-states and allies around Troy, intending to cut off supplies and weaken the city of Troy. For a period afterward, Greek heroes took turns attacking, plundering treasures, food, and captives. By attacking coastal cities, the allied forces successfully isolated Troy, turning the war into a long war of attrition. During one of these raids, the allied forces captured two crucial women: Chryseis, the daughter of Apollo's priest, who was assigned to Agamemnon, the commander of the allied forces, and Briseis, who was assigned to Achilles, the top hero. The distribution of these two women later became a key trigger for Achilles' wrath. One account states that this war of attrition lasted for nine full years. During the period when the Greek allied forces besieged Troy, neither side engaged in a decisive battle to the death. The Greek allied forces continued to blockade Troy's coast with their navy, while Troy relied on its strong walls and the secret support of its allies to hold its ground. This marks the end of the first chapter, the "Cypria." The timeline has now reached the tenth year of the war, after which it will directly enter one of the two major chapters of the Trojan War cycle, the Iliad. This section officially enters the "Iliad," one of the two major chapters of the Trojan War cycle. The content of the Iliad does not cover the entire Trojan War but focuses on the last fifty-one days of the tenth year of the war. The story begins with the Trojan War already in its tenth year. The Greek allied forces had been besieging the city of Troy for nine years. So, the entire Trojan War actually lasted for almost twenty years, with the first ten years spent by the Greek allied forces at the gates of Troy after two expeditions. As mentioned earlier, Agamemnon captured two women during a raid. One was Chryseis, the daughter of Apollo's priest. The priest, carrying a large ransom, came to the Greek allied camp hoping Agamemnon would release his daughter. Of course, Agamemnon refused and publicly humiliated him. The old priest felt wronged and returned to his temple to pray to Apollo, the sun god he served, for revenge. Apollo, hearing that his priest had been bullied, was furious. He shot countless poisoned arrows at the Greek allied forces, causing a terrible plague. Greek soldiers died in large numbers, and the camp fell into panic. Although the mythological epic states that Apollo shot countless poisoned arrows, the actual situation was likely due to the very poor sanitation and contaminated water sources in the Greek allied camp, leading to a widespread epidemic. On the ninth day of the plague's continuation, Achilles took the initiative to convene a general assembly of the army. He suggested consulting a prophet to find the cause of the plague. Thus, the prophet Calchas revealed the truth: Apollo was angry because Agamemnon refused to return his daughter to the priest. As long as the daughter was returned and various sacrifices were offered, the sun god's wrath would be appeased. Although Agamemnon was extremely reluctant, to appease the plague, he had to agree to release her. However, in his humiliation, he demanded that another woman be taken from the hands of other generals as compensation. Unluckily, he chose Briseis, Achilles' female slave, and ordered her to be forcibly taken away to compensate for his loss of face and resources. This decision completely enraged Achilles, and the two great leaders of the Greeks immediately erupted into a fierce conflict. Achilles accused Agamemnon of being greedy, selfish, and a contemptible commander who looked down on others. Agamemnon retorted, saying, "Of all the Greek allied forces, you are the one I hate the most. Besides your mother being a goddess and your martial prowess, you have no political wisdom. I will snatch your woman precisely because I want the entire army to know that my authority is above everyone else." Achilles was so angry that he almost drew his sword to kill Agamemnon on the spot. But at the critical moment, Athena appeared and restrained him. Athena whispered in his ear, "Calm down. Put away your sword. Today, swallow this insult, and I promise you that in the future, Agamemnon will pay three times the price for his arrogance today to beg for your forgiveness." Thus, Achilles immediately announced his withdrawal from the war. He and his men would no longer contribute to Agamemnon or the Greek allied forces. He then returned to his tent and told his mother, Thetis, the sea goddess, how Agamemnon had taken his woman. He begged his mother to ask Zeus to make the Greek allied forces suffer a terrible defeat in Achilles' absence, to teach Agamemnon a lesson and let all the people of Greece know who the indispensable core figure was. As a mother, the sea goddess was heartbroken to see her son humiliated and agreed to help. She then went to Mount Olympus to negotiate with Zeus. Zeus, considering that Hera, Poseidon, and Athena had conspired against him and chained him to his bed, and that it was the sea goddess who had found the Hecatoncheires to rescue Zeus, finally agreed to this request and decided to let Troy gain the upper hand in the subsequent battles. Thus, Zeus sent Morpheus, the god of dreams, to Agamemnon's camp at night and gave him a false dream. In the dream, he told Agamemnon that if the entire army attacked Troy now, they could conquer it in one fell swoop. Agamemnon believed this to be true, thinking it was a divine oracle. The next morning, Agamemnon immediately convened a general assembly. However, he lacked confidence in the army, as the war had already lasted nine years, the soldiers were exhausted, homesick, and their morale was very low. Although encouraged by the false dream, Agamemnon feared that if he directly ordered a full-scale attack, the soldiers might not fight with all their might, or even desert or resist passively. So, he deliberately said a string of contradictory remarks to test the army's morale. He said he was tired of this war and suggested that the entire army pack up their belongings and sail back to Greece today, ending this nine-year war. As expected, as soon as Agamemnon finished speaking, all the Greek soldiers cheered and ran frantically to the ships, preparing to pack their belongings and return home. The entire camp immediately fell into chaos, almost leading to an immediate withdrawal. At this critical moment, Athena intervened. She ordered Odysseus to stop the soldiers from fleeing. Empowered by Athena, Odysseus persuaded the nobles and generals to stay and severely reprimanded some ordinary soldiers, even hitting them with his scepter. After great effort, Odysseus finally prevented this large-scale escape, allowing the Greek allied forces to regroup and prepare for battle. The regrouped Greek allied forces soon faced the Trojan army on the plain. Hector, the eldest prince and Paris's brother, was the main protagonist on the Trojan side, just as Achilles was on the Greek side. As the main general of Troy, Hector commanded his troops on the front lines. As the two armies were about to engage in full-scale battle, Paris, the second prince, suddenly emerged from the Trojan ranks. Wearing a magnificent leopard skin and holding a spear, he shouted at the Greek army, demanding a "duel" with the strongest hero of the Greek army. King Menelaus of Sparta, seeing his enemy Paris daring to challenge him to a duel, laughed with joy. Paris was the one who had stolen his wife, and now he had a golden opportunity for revenge. So, King Menelaus immediately jumped off his chariot and charged towards the second prince, fully armed. As soon as the second prince saw the overwhelming momentum of King Menelaus, he turned pale with fear and retreated back into the Trojan ranks. Hector, seeing his brother's cowardly behavior, felt that he had disgraced the Trojans, publicly reprimanded him, calling him a coward who only seduced married women and brought great disaster to Troy. After being scolded by his brother, the second prince felt ashamed and, despite his fear, decided to duel King Menelaus. He swore that whoever won would take Helen and end the war. Thus, both sides agreed to a temporary truce and took an oath before commencing the duel. The King of Troy personally went to the city walls to watch the duel. On the wall, the king also summoned Helen to identify the various Greek heroes. Helen immediately recognized Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Ajax, all men who had once proposed to her. Seeing the scene before her, Helen blamed herself, feeling like a wicked woman who had brought endless disaster to both Troy and Greece. The duel then officially began. At first, King Menelaus had the upper hand. He pierced the second prince's shield with his spear and then fiercely struck his helmet with his sword. Just as King Menelaus was about to kill the second prince with a sword stroke, Aphrodite suddenly appeared. Using her divine power, she conjured a thick fog, rescued the second prince, and sent him back to his chambers in the city of Troy. King Menelaus, seeing that he was about to win but his opponent suddenly disappeared into thin air, was furious. Since Aphrodite had used her divine power to rescue the second prince, King Menelaus suddenly lost his opponent in the duel. Agamemnon then announced to the entire Greek army that King Menelaus had won the duel and that Troy must abide by its promise to return Helen and the plundered treasures, otherwise the Greek allied forces would continue their destructive war. Although I will refer to Paris as the second prince from here on, there has always been debate in epics and history whether Paris was the second or third prince. However, I refer to him as the second prince here mainly to distinguish him from his elder brother Hector. During the temporary halt in fighting, the gods on Mount Olympus, including Zeus, were discussing the battle situation between the two sides. Hera and Athena, due to the earlier golden apple incident, hated Troy and were determined to destroy the city. Zeus, although sympathetic to Troy...

But facing his wife's demands, he ultimately chose to compromise and agreed to continue the war. To break the state of truce on Earth, Athena personally arrived at the Trojan camp. She disguised herself as a senior advisor to Troy and infiltrated the army. She found the renowned Trojan archer Pandarus and incited him. She said, "If you now shoot a cold arrow and hit the King of Sparta with one shot, you will win supreme glory for the Trojans and receive a great reward from the second prince." Pandarus believed Athena's instigation and immediately drew his divine bow, shooting a poisoned arrow at the Greek allied forces. This cold arrow hit the King of Sparta in the waist. Although at the critical moment, Athena actually nudged the arrow slightly, because she only wanted to provoke war and not take the life of the King of Sparta. Moreover, the arrowhead was blocked by the King of Sparta's sturdy belt and armor, absorbing most of its force, so it only pierced the skin, causing a wound that bled profusely. Agamemnon, seeing his brother shot and wounded, was furious. He thought his brother was dying, but the King of Sparta comforted his brother, saying that although the wound looked serious, it was not fatal. Agamemnon immediately summoned the army doctor to treat his brother. At the same time, he told the entire Greek army that the Trojans had openly violated the sacred oath, and the truce agreement was officially and completely broken. Then he ordered the entire army to launch a general attack. Thus, the Greek allied forces launched a torrential and fierce attack on the city of Troy. After the battle resumed, Athena particularly favored Diomedes, making him extremely strong and brave. Athena not only greatly increased his strength but also enabled him to distinguish between gods and mortals on the battlefield. She said to Diomedes, "You can attack gods, but you must absolutely not have direct conflict with other Olympian gods, especially Apollo." After receiving Athena's favor, Diomedes immediately rushed into the Trojan camp and killed many important Trojan generals. Although the archer Pandarus shot several arrows at Diomedes, they only hit his shoulder. Diomedes pulled out the arrows and could still continue fighting. Then Pandarus and Aeneas, the ancestor of the Romans, charged at Diomedes with their chariots. As a result, Pandarus was stabbed to death by Diomedes with a spear. Aeneas tried to protect Pandarus's body, but Diomedes threw a huge rock, and Aeneas was almost crushed to death by the rock. At a critical moment, the goddess of love suddenly appeared and protected her son Aeneas with a white robe, taking him away from the battlefield. The Lion King Diomedes, due to his ability to distinguish gods, rushed forward and stabbed the goddess of love's hand with his spear. The goddess of love immediately let out a scream, and the divine blood, called ichor, flowed from her hand. The goddess of love fled in a panic and returned to Mount Olympus. Zeus mocked her, saying that war was not something women could interfere with. After the Trojan army fell into a disadvantage, the god of war, Ares, personally descended to help the Trojans. He disguised himself as a Trojan warrior and attacked the Greek allied forces. The Lion King Diomedes, under the divine power of Athena, launched an attack on the god of war. His spear struck Ares in the abdomen. The god of war immediately let out a tragic cry and then, like the goddess of love, fled back to Mount Olympus. Zeus also said indifferently that he was the most useless and annoying of all the gods. The Lion King gained the upper hand for the Greek allied forces in this battle. The Trojans were once routed and scattered. Although Prince Hector fought hard to hold the Trojan lines, he still found it difficult to resist the Lion King's fierce offensive. Seeing the unfavorable battle situation, Prince Hector decided to return to the city of Troy to see his relatives, wife, and son. He first met his mother and asked her to take the children and women of Troy to the temple of Athena to offer the most beautiful robe to Athena, praying for the goddess to protect Troy. Then he went to the palace of Prince Paris and found the second prince leisurely polishing his beautiful armor at home. Prince Hector immediately sternly accused his brother of only seeking pleasure and caring about his appearance, but being unwilling to go to battle. Helen was also present at the time. On one hand, she was full of respect for Prince Hector, but at the same time, she blamed herself for bringing disaster to Troy. Despite this, Prince Hector still gently comforted her, telling her not to blame herself too much. Then he set off to find his wife. Finally, Prince Hector found his wife Andromache and their young son Astyanax near the city gate. His wife's eyes were tearful, and she begged Prince Hector not to be too brave, asking him to stay within the city to protect his family. His wife said that she had lost her father and all her brothers before, and now her husband was her only support, her everything. But Prince Hector believed that this battle was inevitable. The education he had received since childhood was to fight for the glory of Troy. He frankly admitted that he had a premonition that if this continued, Troy would eventually be captured by the Greeks, and he himself would die on the battlefield. But death was not what he feared most. What he feared most was that after the enemy captured the city of Troy, his beloved wife would be captured, become a slave, and be cruelly toyed with by the Greeks. When Prince Hector reached out to pick up his son, his son saw the blood-stained armor on his father and the horsehair on his helmet, and cried, shrinking back into his mother's embrace. Prince Hector then took off his helmet and picked up his son. He prayed to the gods in heaven, hoping that the gods would make his son braver and more courageous than himself in the future, becoming the protector of Troy. After the couple tearfully bid farewell, Prince Hector's wife returned home. Looking at her husband's back as he returned to the battlefield, she and the maids at home cried incessantly because she knew very well that Prince Hector was returning to see them for the last time. To protect the city of Troy, her husband was very likely to sacrifice himself and never return. After the previous fierce battles, Prince Hector, inspired by the sun god, challenged the Greek allied forces to a single combat again. He walked out of the city walls and loudly asked, "Which Greek hero dares to fight me one-on-one?" The Greek allied forces heard this, and immediately nine heroes were willing to participate, including Agamemnon, the Lion King Diomedes, and Great Ajax. Finally, it was decided that Great Ajax would fight. Both heroes were top warriors at the time. Great Ajax was tall and immensely strong, known as the wall of Greece. Although Ajax had the advantage in physique, Prince Hector won with skill. The two fought from dawn till dusk without a victor. As it was getting late, Prince Hector proposed a truce. Although they were enemies, they recognized each other as heroes and respected each other's courage. After the truce, Ajax gave Prince Hector a purple belt, and Prince Hector gave Ajax a silver long sword. The entire duel ended in an atmosphere of mutual respect, becoming one of the few scenes full of warrior spirit in "The Iliad." After the duel, Nestor suggested that the Greek allied forces should dig trenches near the camp, build high walls, and set up gates. Within the city of Troy, their war advisor suggested returning Helen to the Greeks to end the war. But this was immediately opposed by Prince Paris, who said that even if they returned her, they would only return the treasures they had previously plundered, but would never return Helen. The King of Troy finally sent envoys to the Greek army, offering to return gold and jewels, but not Helen. However, the Greek allied forces flatly refused, and the war was to continue. The next morning, Zeus, the king of the gods, convened a meeting of the gods on Mount Olympus. He sternly warned all the gods: First, no god was allowed to help either the Greeks or the Trojans. Second, anyone who disobeyed this rule would be thrown into the dark abyss by Zeus. The reason Zeus did this was to fulfill his previous promise to the sea goddess, so that the Greek allied forces, due to Achilles' withdrawal from battle, would suffer heavy losses. After the battle resumed, both sides were evenly matched. But after a while, Zeus decided to intervene personally. He sat on the summit of Mount Ida and weighed the destinies of both sides with a golden scale. The result showed that the destiny of the Greeks began to sink, and Troy rose. Thus, Zeus switched sides to help Troy, and the Trojan army began a full counter-offensive. Here, people might find it strange that Zeus first said that gods were not allowed to help either the Greeks or the Trojans, and then he himself helped Troy. The truth is that Greek mythology itself has many such contradictory plots. Zeus himself is always a case of "the official is allowed to set fire, but the common people are not allowed to light lamps." From his perspective, on one hand, he promised the sea goddess that the Greeks would know they had to pay a price for insulting Achilles. This was his duty as the king of the gods. At the same time, he prohibited other gods from interfering, mainly to prevent Queen Hera and Athena from disrupting the battle. Under Zeus's favor, Prince Hector's combat power suddenly increased greatly. He killed several Greek generals in succession, and the Greek army began to retreat. Nestor's chariot was destroyed, and he was almost killed by the Trojans. Fortunately, the Lion King saved his life at the critical moment. Although the Lion King Diomedes was brave and skilled, trying to stabilize the front line and even wanting to challenge Prince Hector again, Zeus struck the ground near him with lightning to warn him not to act rashly. The Lion King immediately understood that this was Zeus's will, so he had no choice but to retreat with his subordinates. Among the Greek allied forces, Agamemnon, Odysseus, and the Lion King felt despair at the battle situation before them. The Greek allied forces were forced back to the vicinity of the trenches and walls they had previously built, and were almost forced to retreat to their warships. Even after fighting until dark, Prince Hector did not choose to return to Troy but camped near the Greek camp for the night. This was the first time the Trojans had spent the night outside the city since the war broke out, showing that they believed they had gained the initiative. Prince Hector confidently told the Trojan army, "Tomorrow, we will continue our fierce attack, burn the Greek ships to ashes, and completely defeat the enemy." On the other hand, the morale of the Greek allied forces was very low. Agamemnon held an emergency meeting at night. He said that Zeus had abandoned them and suggested that the entire army should return to Greece by ship. The Lion King was the first to object. The strategist Nestor believed that they should immediately apologize to Achilles and ask him to return to the battlefield. Thus, the Greek allied forces sent out three influential envoys, one of whom was Odysseus. He went to Achilles' camp with generous peace terms. Odysseus proposed to Achilles that they would voluntarily return a beautiful woman to him and swear that Agamemnon had never touched Briseis. They would also give him gold, jewels, and seven beautiful women, not to mention anything else. He also said that after the war, he would share most of the Trojan spoils with him, and if Achilles was willing, he could choose one of Agamemnon's three daughters to be his wife, and he would receive a large tract of land from Agamemnon as a dowry. But Achilles heard this and vehemently refused him. He said that Agamemnon was greedy and shameless. He had already paid too much for the Greek allied forces, but all he received was insult. He also said that he had two fates in his life: first, to die in battle in Troy but win glory; second, to go home and not die, but to be unknown. He said that he would rather choose to go home now, unless the Trojans attacked and burned his ships and killed his men, otherwise he would not participate in the war. Odysseus then returned to the Greek camp and said that Achilles had rejected all their conditions and that they would set sail the next day to return to their homeland. The atmosphere among the Greek allied forces at that time was extremely tense. Agamemnon, unable to sleep due to the unfavorable battle situation, went to the tent of his brother, King Menelaus of Sparta. After discussing, the two brothers decided to summon important generals and hold an emergency meeting. The strategist Nestor suggested sending someone to scout near the Trojan camp. At this time, the Lion King volunteered to scout the enemy, but he said he wanted one more person to accompany him. So Odysseus went with him. The two took some simple equipment and set off for the Trojan camp. At the same time, Prince Hector was also holding a meeting with his army in the Trojan camp. He also wanted to know the movements of the Greek allied forces. So he sent out the famous Trojan scout, Dolon, known for his speed, to scout for the Greeks. On Dolon's way, he happened to encounter the Lion King and Odysseus, who were planning to infiltrate the Trojan camp, and was captured by them. The Greek allied forces severely interrogated Dolon, who then revealed the deployment of the Trojan army. He also said that the Thracian king Rhesus, who had just arrived to help, had a beautiful white divine horse, even more beautiful than Apollo's horses, and his troops had just arrived and their guard was very lax. After receiving the intelligence, the Lion King and Odysseus immediately killed Dolon, infiltrated the Thracian camp, and went on a killing spree, killing their king and a considerable number of Thracian warriors, and stealing their white horse. They returned to the Greek camp. The day after they killed Dolon, both sides engaged in fierce fighting again. Zeus sent the goddess of discord, Eris, to the Greek camp to encourage the Greeks. Yes, you heard correctly, I didn't misstate it. Zeus, who had just helped Troy, turned around and helped the Greeks again. Also, don't ask me why sending the goddess of discord, Eris, to the Greek camp would help the Greeks. The epic indeed writes it this way. Some say that the goddess of discord went to the Greek camp to make the Greek soldiers hate the Trojans, so they would fight more fiercely when killing the enemy. Thus, as soon as the battle began, Agamemnon rushed into the main camp of Troy, killing several Trojan generals and princes. Wherever Agamemnon's spear and sword went, there were corpses of Trojans. Even Prince Hector was intimidated by Agamemnon's momentum. Just as Agamemnon was in the midst of his killing spree, a fearless Trojan nobleman rushed to Agamemnon and stabbed him in the arm with a spear. Although Agamemnon was wounded, he continued to fight for a while, but his injuries became more and more serious, and he was eventually forced to withdraw from the battlefield and return to the camp to recuperate. After Agamemnon's withdrawal, the situation immediately reversed. Prince Hector regrouped the Trojan army and launched a fierce counter-attack. Even the Lion King and Odysseus were wounded. Seeing the heavy casualties of the Greek allied forces, Achilles, despite his stubbornness, was actually very curious about the situation outside. So he sent his good friend Patroclus to see if the enemy had indeed reached their doorstep. At the same time, the Trojan strategist suggested to Prince Hector that it was too risky to directly attack the Greek trenches and walls with chariots. He suggested leaving the chariots behind and dividing the infantry into five teams to advance step by step. Prince Hector agreed with the strategist's suggestion and went all out to attack the defeated enemy. He even lifted a huge stone with one hand and smashed it at the gate of the Greek camp. The gate was smashed open by him, and then the Trojan soldiers followed Prince Hector and rushed into the Greek allied camp. The Greek defense line was finally broken. After the Trojans successfully broke into the Greek positions, their offensive became even more fierce. The Greeks were even forced to retreat to their warships. The situation was extremely critical. Seeing that the Greeks were about to be defeated by the Trojans, Poseidon, the god of the sea, violated Zeus's prohibition and secretly disguised himself as the Greek allied forces' prophet Calchas, encouraging the Greeks to continue fighting. Poseidon went to find Great and Little Ajax and bestowed power upon them. With Poseidon's help, the morale of the Greek allied forces greatly increased, and they began to counter-attack. Although the Trojans had a fierce offensive before, they paid a heavy price under the Greek counter-attack. Several Greek generals were killed at this time. Although Prince Hector fought bravely, he was not in the most intense area of battle at this time, but in the center of the war zone, being held back by Ajax. Due to the Greek counter-attack, the Trojan offensive began to stagnate, and they could no longer advance into the Greek camp. At this time, the Trojan strategist once again suggested to Prince Hector that the Trojans should temporarily retreat and regroup. Just as the battle between the Greeks and Trojans reached its climax, Agamemnon actually wanted to push the ships into the sea and prepare to retreat. Odysseus and the Lion King strongly opposed this, but the strategist Nestor believed that someone should be sent to the center of the battlefield to see. On the side of the Greek gods, Queen Hera saw that the Greeks were about to lose, so she decided to intervene and make Zeus fall asleep temporarily, so that he could no longer help the Trojans. Thus, Hera dressed herself up meticulously, wore her most gorgeous dress, applied perfume and makeup. She went to borrow the girdle of love and desire from the goddess of love, and then she found the god of sleep for help. She wanted to make Zeus fall asleep and promised to give him generous rewards after the task was completed. With everything ready, Queen Hera went to Mount Ida to find Zeus. Hera appeared before Zeus in a very seductive manner. The lustful Zeus saw Hera like this and immediately became aroused, completely forgetting that the Greeks and Trojans were fighting fiercely. Thus, Hera and Zeus had a physical encounter. At the same time, the god of sleep acted, and after Zeus and Hera finished their encounter, they fell into a deep sleep. After Zeus fell asleep, Poseidon, the god of the sea, immediately acted without restraint. He openly appeared and bestowed his favor upon the Greek allied forces, greatly increasing their combat power. With Poseidon's help, the Greeks successfully pushed back the Trojans and reversed the entire situation. In the fierce battle, Prince Hector was even struck in the chest by a huge rock thrown by Ajax, falling to the ground and spitting blood. The soldiers on the scene immediately took him to the rear of the battlefield for treatment, and the Trojan offensive was thus severely hit. Seeing this, it is truly unimaginable that myths from thousands of years ago already had such "Bleach"-like fighting. Friends who have watched "Bleach" should know what I am talking about. After Zeus woke up, he discovered that Poseidon had actually helped the Greeks. He was extremely angry. So he went to confront Queen Hera, saying that if Hera disobeyed his orders again, he would show no mercy even to his own wife. Then Zeus ordered the goddess of the rainbow to convey a message to Poseidon, telling him to immediately withdraw from the battle and return to the sea, or he would be severely punished if he disobeyed. Although Poseidon was unwilling in his heart, he ultimately obeyed his brother Zeus's command and withdrew from the battlefield. At the same time, Zeus personally bestowed his favor upon Prince Hector. Prince Hector was originally wounded and had to temporarily withdraw from the battle, but after receiving Zeus's favor, he re-armed and returned to the battlefield. The Trojans once again pushed the Greek allied forces back to their warships and intended to burn the Greek ships to ashes. Achilles' friend Patroclus, seeing the Trojans trying to burn the ships, begged Achilles to fight, but he refused. Then Patroclus said to Achilles, "If you don't fight, at least lend me a set of armor so I can fight on your behalf." So Achilles agreed to his friend's request, but he warned his friend again, "Only drive the Greeks away from the ships, do not attack the city of Troy." Patroclus's name is too long, so I will refer to him as Patro from now on. After Patro put on Achilles' armor, he led the Greeks into battle. The Trojans saw this armor and thought that Achilles himself had come out. Patroclus drove the Trojans away from the warships and extinguished the fires on the burning ships. Then the Trojans were once again pushed back near the city of Troy. At this time, Patroclus was blinded by victory and forgot Achilles' instruction not to attack a defeated enemy. He kept chasing the Trojans all the way to the city walls. At this time, the sun god came out to help the Trojans and bestowed his power upon Prince Hector. Thus, Prince Hector encountered Patro. However, he was not honorable. First, he used the sun god's divine power to disrupt Patro, and then a small Greek soldier saw an opportunity and launched a sneak attack, stabbing Patro several times. Then, while spitting blood, Patro tried to retreat to the Greek camp. At this time, Prince Hector rushed out. He took advantage of his illness to take his life, stabbing Patro several more times. Finally, Prince Hector pierced his abdomen with his spear. Patro died of excessive blood loss, but before he died, he said to Prince Hector, "Don't be too proud, because your death is near. Achilles will personally deal with you." But Prince Hector was unfazed and snatched Achilles' armor and put it on himself. After killing Patro, Prince Hector wanted to drag his body back to the city of Troy to feed the dogs as a show of defiance to the Greeks. But at this time, Ajax arrived in time. Prince Hector tried to drag Patro's body away several times, but was repelled by Ajax. Although the Greeks were at a disadvantage in numbers and morale, they showed tenacious fighting spirit to prevent their comrade's body from falling into the hands of the enemy. Ajax was like a moving castle, protecting the body, while the King of Sparta kept shouting loudly, hoping that more Greeks would notice the situation. After a long tug-of-war, the Greeks finally gained the upper hand and successfully protected Patro's body. Under the cover of the King of Sparta and Ajax, they slowly carried the body back to the Greek camp. Although Prince Hector tried desperately to snatch the body back, he was ultimately unsuccessful. While the Greeks and Trojans were fighting over the body, a soldier ran back to Achilles' camp and reported to him, saying, "Your good friend Patroclus is dead. Prince Hector killed him and snatched your armor." Upon hearing this news, Achilles was deeply saddened and blamed himself. Then he let out a world-shattering cry, so loud that even the sea goddess Thetis in the divine realm heard it. Hearing her son's cry, the sea goddess immediately came to Achilles' camp. She hugged her son and asked him why he was so sad. Achilles told his mother that he regretted the argument with Agamemnon, which indirectly led to the death of his best friend, Patroclus. He believed that he must avenge his good friend, even if participating in the war would mean his own death. He had to kill Prince Hector. The sea goddess told Achilles that if he killed Prince Hector, according to fate, he would also die soon. But Achilles had made up his mind. He wanted glory, not longevity. Thus, Achilles returned to the battlefield to avenge his friend. However, at this time, his armor had already been snatched by Prince Hector. So the sea goddess promised him that before dawn, she would bring him a new set of armor personally forged by Hephaestus, the god of fire. Thus, the sea goddess, as a mother, came to Mount Olympus and asked Hephaestus to forge a new set of armor for Achilles. Hephaestus knew that this was a personal commission from the sea goddess, so he forged a new set of armor with all his heart, and also made a shield. The shield was engraved with images of the universe, the earth, the sea, cities, wars, peace, farming, dancing, and other scenes of human life, symbolizing the entire world. Meanwhile, under the protection of Great Ajax and the King of Sparta, after a difficult battle, the Greeks finally brought Patroclus's body back to the Greek camp. Even though the body was covered in wounds, Achilles was once again filled with deep self-blame upon seeing his friend's body. After dawn, the sea goddess, true to her promise, brought the new armor personally forged by Hephaestus from Mount Olympus. When Achilles saw this new armor, a strong fighting spirit immediately ignited in his heart. As he put on the armor, he radiated a powerful glow, like Saint Seiya putting on the Golden Cloth, inspiring awe in the surrounding Greek warriors. Then Achilles convened a meeting of all the Greek generals. Although he was still in extreme grief, he had made up his mind to avenge his friend. He immediately announced that the dispute between him and Agamemnon was over, and he would return to the battlefield immediately to fight to the death with the Trojans. Agamemnon immediately responded to Achilles, saying that he had been arrogant and foolish at the time, which led to the conflict with Achilles. He blamed Zeus, fate, and the goddesses of vengeance for the responsibility. Agamemnon once again offered generous compensation. First, he would return Briseis to Achilles and swear that he had never slept with her, and would also give him a large amount of gold, jewels, and beautiful women. In addition, after the great war, he would give Achilles the largest share of the Trojan spoils. Although Achilles accepted these compensations, what he cared about most now was when he could go into battle. Briseis returned to Achilles' camp and could not help but cry upon seeing Patroclus's body, because she had been treated kindly by Patroclus and was saddened by his death. Before going into battle, Achilles looked at his two beloved horses, Xanthus and Balius. This was his usual practice before going into battle. But miraculously, one of his horses, Xanthus, suddenly spoke and said to Achilles, "Master, this time I will surely bring you back safely, but your death is near. Your death will be caused by a great god and a mortal together." Upon hearing this, Achilles, although he had long known his fate of death, said to his horse, "No matter what, I must kill Prince Hector and avenge Patroclus." On the other hand, on Mount Olympus, Zeus convened a meeting of the gods and officially lifted the ban on gods participating in the war. He allowed all gods to freely choose which side to help. The gods who supported the Greeks were Queen Hera, the goddess of wisdom Athena, Poseidon the god of the sea, and Hermes the god of travel. The gods who supported Troy were Apollo the sun god, Aphrodite the goddess of love, Ares the god of war, and Artemis the goddess of hunting. This time, it was not just a great war of mortals, but now even the gods were participating in the battle. After Achilles put on the new armor forged by Hephaestus for him, he immediately went to the battlefield. The Greek army's morale was greatly boosted upon seeing his return. Then Achilles let out a great roar on the battlefield. Some Trojans, upon hearing his roar, were so scared that they ran in the opposite direction. Achilles immediately charged into the Trojan camp, slaughtering those in his path like a storm. Wherever he went, rivers of blood flowed. The Trojans were routed and fled in all directions, some even jumping into the river to escape Achilles' pursuit. If you remember, in "The Cypria," it was said that Aphrodite stood on the side of the Trojans because Prince Paris gave her the golden apple. For the sake of the Trojans, Aphrodite would surely achieve victory. She even placed her son Aeneas in the Trojan camp. Let me remind you again, Aeneas is the ancestor of the Romans later. And Achilles at this time killed Aeneas. The two immediately engaged in a fierce battle. Achilles had a clear advantage in strength, skill, and equipment. Just as Achilles was about to kill Aeneas, Poseidon, the god of the sea, suddenly intervened and used his divine power to save Aeneas. If you have been paying close attention, Poseidon was helping the Greeks. So why did he help Aeneas of Troy? The reason is that in Greek mythology, fate transcends factions. Fate decreed that Aeneas would found Rome, so he absolutely could not die. Although Achilles' opponent was taken away, he continued to slaughter madly on the battlefield. No Trojan on the scene could withstand his onslaught. Although Prince Hector tried to engage Achilles head-on several times, he was always stopped by Apollo the sun god. Achilles pursued the Trojans to the Scamander River. A large number of Trojans jumped into the river to escape his pursuit, but Achilles was like a runaway killing machine. He immediately jumped into the river and slaughtered them with his sword, even dyeing the river red. Then he captured 12 young Trojan nobles, preparing to take them back as sacrifices to Patroclus. The river was filled with corpses and abandoned weapons, and the scene was extremely tragic. Because the river water and corpses were blocked by blood, the river god of the Scamander River was furious. The river god appeared in human form and sternly warned Achilles not to kill any more people in his river. But Achilles, who was in a killing frenzy, completely ignored him and continued to slaughter. So the river god became enraged, raised huge waves, and the river water suddenly surged, almost washing Achilles away. At the same time, the Olympian gods were fighting on the battlefield. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, fought Ares, the god of war. Queen Hera fought Artemis, the goddess of hunting. Hephaestus, the god of fire, used his flames to help Achilles fight the river god. Finally, under Hephaestus's fiery attack, the river god was finally forced to surrender and agreed not to help the Trojans anymore. After Achilles emerged from the river, he continued to chase the Trojans madly, pushing the Trojan army back to the city gates. The King of Troy on the city walls, seeing his people being slaughtered, was heartbroken. So he ordered the city gates to be opened to allow his soldiers to return to the city. The Trojan army retreated steadily. After returning to the city, Prince Hector alone remained outside the city gate, wanting to face Achilles alone. The King and Queen pleaded with him from the city walls, begging him to return to Troy and not go to his death. Prince Hector was actually very scared in his heart, but he believed that as the protector of Troy, he had to bear this responsibility and could not shrink back due to fear. So he made up his mind to stay put and wait for Achilles to come. After a while, Achilles finally slowly arrived, his killing intent like a raging fire, and his armor shining with divine light. Even the battle-hardened Prince Hector felt a strong sense of fear upon seeing Achilles. But the fated moment finally arrived. The two protagonists finally met: Prince Hector, representing the Trojans, and Achilles, the god of war, representing the Greeks. They finally began their epic duel. The duel began. Prince Hector first threw his spear, but Achilles blocked it with the shield made for him by Hephaestus. Then Achilles also threw his Pelian spear, but Prince Hector dodged it. He seized this opportunity and rushed forward to engage Achilles in close combat. The two fought dozens of rounds with their long swords, but could not determine a victor. Prince Hector believed that a prolonged battle was unfavorable to both sides, so he gambled everything, concentrating all his strength, and charged forward to stab Achilles with his long sword. At this moment, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, used her divine power to return the Pelian spear to Achilles' hand. He then seized the opportunity, aimed precisely at the gap in Prince Hector's armor with the Pelian spear, and pierced Prince Hector's neck. Prince Hector immediately spurted a large amount of blood, but being strong, he refused to fall. He knelt on his knees. Although Prince Hector lost, he was a true man. In fact, he had many opportunities to escape back to the city before, but he preferred to face his enemy head-on rather than be a coward. Some might call this foolish, but I call it backbone. Before he died, he begged Achilles to return his body to the Trojans for proper burial and not to leave it in the wilderness. However, Achilles ruthlessly refused him, saying he would feed his body to the dogs. After Prince Hector died, Achilles committed an extremely cruel act. First, he pierced a hole in Prince Hector's ankles, then threaded a leather strap through it, and tied it to the back of his chariot. Then Achilles drove the chariot, dragging Prince Hector's body outside the city of Troy to humiliate the Trojans. The King of Troy, seeing this scene from the city walls, was heartbroken, and the entire city was filled with wails. After killing Prince Hector, Achilles held a grand funeral for his friend Patroclus. First, he drove his chariot around Patroclus's body, mourning. Then he personally cut off a lock of his hair and placed it in his friend's hand as a final farewell. After that, other Greek generals also offered their hair. In addition, Achilles killed dozens of cattle, sheep, and horses, and 12 Trojan nobles as offerings to his good friend. Finally, Achilles lit a pyre and burned Patroclus's body. The raging fire burned throughout the night. After Patroclus's funeral ended, Achilles' rage had not subsided. Every morning, he would tie Prince Hector's body to the back of his chariot and circle his friend's tomb three times, thoroughly humiliating the Trojans. Even the gods could not bear to watch this scene, especially Apollo the sun god, who strongly condemned Achilles' actions, foreshadowing future events. So Zeus convened a meeting of the gods and decided to end this tragedy. He ordered the sea goddess Thetis and her son to stop abusing Prince Hector's body and to accept the ransom from the King of Troy to return Prince Hector's body to the Trojans. After receiving the instructions, the sea goddess went to Achilles and conveyed Zeus's will. Although Achilles was still unwilling, knowing it was the will of Zeus, the king of the gods, he agreed to the arrangement. Then, under the guidance and protection of Hermes, the god of travel, the King of Troy, carrying a generous ransom, secretly crossed the battlefield at night and came to Achilles' camp. The King knelt before Achilles, clasped his feet, and kissed the hand that had killed his son. He begged Achilles, "Think of your father Peleus, how painful it would be if he lost you. Please return my son to me." Achilles, upon hearing the King of Troy mention his father, could not help but shed tears. Although the Trojans were his enemies, he understood the pain of losing a son. Achilles was finally moved by the King of Troy's grief and dignity and agreed to return Prince Hector's body. He even personally helped to clean Prince Hector's body and wrapped it in the most luxurious cloth. Achilles personally promised the King that during the time the Trojans were burying Prince Hector's body, the Greeks would not launch an attack and would give the Trojans enough time to hold a funeral for Prince Hector. Then the Trojans held a grand funeral for Prince Hector, burning the body, collecting the ashes, piling up a tomb mound, and mourning for nine days and nine nights. In the original text, Helen cried at Prince Hector's funeral, saying, "It has been 20 years since I left my homeland and followed Paris here." Based on this sentence, later generations generally believe that the Trojan War lasted for 20 years, divided into the first 10 years of two voyages and the latter 10 years of besieging the city of Troy. The first major chapter of the Trojan story, "The Iliad," officially ends at this point. From this point onwards, it is the beginning of a new chapter, "The Aethiopis." The story continues after the funeral of Prince Hector. Although the city of Troy had lost its most important fighting force, the war was not over. To save the situation, the King of Troy personally went to invite some reinforcements. One of them was Queen Penthesilea of the Amazons. She was a descendant of Ares, the god of war, and a beautiful and formidable female warrior. Queen Penthesilea brought other Amazon warriors to Troy. The King valued them highly and treated them with great respect. Queen Penthesilea promised the Trojans that she would personally kill Achilles and end the war. Her initial appearance did indeed slightly reverse Troy's disadvantage. Achilles, knowing that Queen Penthesilea had arrived, wanted to meet her personally. Although they were both of demigod blood, the battle did not last long. Achilles quickly pierced Queen Penthesilea's body with his spear and killed her. Legend has it that after killing Queen Penthesilea, Achilles took off his helmet to see what she looked like and found that she had an unparalleled beauty. He immediately developed a strong infatuation for her. Some accounts even say that he developed necrophilia for Queen Penthesilea's corpse. This is also the earliest appearance of necrophilia in Western literature. Seeing this, you might realize that Achilles is actually a very versatile character. First, he already had several wives. Although Patroclus was his good friend, the epic repeatedly describes their relationship as beyond friendship, so I suspect that Achilles and Patroclus were originally homosexual. Also, his later necrophilia upon seeing Queen Penthesilea's corpse confirms that Achilles was not only warlike but also had a very broad inner capacity. After Queen Penthesilea died, another reinforcement who came to help Troy was King Memnon of Ethiopia. It is said that Memnon was the son of Eos, the goddess of dawn, and he was tall and wore armor personally forged by Hephaestus, the god of fire. In addition, his troops were well-equipped. The King of Troy, seeing him arrive, also treated him with great respect and considered Memnon the last hope for saving Troy. Memnon's army did temporarily resist the Greek advance again, but as before, Achilles, upon hearing of a formidable enemy's arrival, personally came to meet him. In terms of strength, the two of them should have been similar, as they both wore Hephaestus's armor and were both demigods. Initially, they fought fiercely, their spears and shields clashing constantly. Memnon's initial performance was extremely brave, even putting Achilles in a difficult struggle for a while. However, besides his great strength, Achilles also had extensive combat experience. After fighting for a while, Achilles found Memnon's weakness through his superior skill and pierced his body with his spear, killing him. After Memnon was killed, his mother, the goddess of dawn, prayed to Zeus, and Zeus ascended Memnon's soul to the heavens, granting him eternal life. Although Achilles seemed invincible, his bad news was soon to come. After killing Memnon, Achilles became even more arrogant and confident, believing that no mortal in the world could match him. So he led the Greek allied forces in a fierce attack on the city of Troy, pushing the Trojans all the way to the city gates. He also shouted outside the city gates, saying that he would personally destroy the city. At this time, Apollo the sun god decided to intervene, as Achilles' arrogance had angered the Olympian gods. Apollo found Prince Paris and told him, "Now is your time for revenge. Go, I will guide your arrow." So Prince Paris hid on the city walls of Troy and waited. He saw Achilles finally reach the vicinity of the city gates, madly chasing the Trojans. Then Apollo told him, "The opportunity has come. Fly!" Under Apollo's guidance, Prince Paris shot an arrow. This arrow, surprisingly, accurately hit Achilles' right ankle. Legend has it that after Thetis, the sea goddess, gave birth to Achilles, she wanted him to have immortality. So Thetis took the infant Achilles to the river Styx in the underworld to bathe. It is said that any part of the body touched by the waters of the river Styx would become invulnerable. At that time, the sea goddess held Achilles by his right ankle and dipped him in the Styx, so that the part of his ankle that her hand held did not touch the waters of the Styx. Thus, Achilles' right ankle became the only fatal weakness in his entire body. Hence, the term "Achilles' heel" later came to refer to a specific fatal weakness in a body or an object. Although Achilles was in great pain after being shot, he tried to pull out the arrow and continue fighting. But strangely, his wound rapidly worsened, and Achilles soon fell to the ground and died. Before he died, he still let out a deafening roar to vent his unwillingness. After Achilles died, the Greek army immediately fell into great chaos. Having experienced the near loss of Patroclus's body to the enemy before, Great Ajax and Odysseus knew they had to protect Achilles' body. At the same time, the Trojans were doing their best to snatch his body. However, after a fierce battle, the Greeks ultimately managed to bring Achilles' body back to the Greek camp. Most of the Greek generals and soldiers could not accept the fact that Achilles had been shot dead, as Achilles had long been regarded as the strongest pillar and hope of the Greek army. Later, the Greeks held a grand funeral for Achilles. First, they washed Achilles' body with clear water and then applied fragrant oil. His mother, the sea goddess, let out a mournful cry upon learning of her son's death. Then they set up a huge pyre, placed Achilles' body on it, and set it on fire. Then the Greeks collected the ashes of Achilles and his good friend Patroclus and buried them together. This part will begin another chapter called "The Little Iliad." From this chapter onwards, it slowly enters the familiar story of the Trojan Horse. After Achilles' funeral ended, these Greek generals were not thinking about how to attack Troy again, but were wondering who had the right to inherit Achilles' armor and shield forged by Hephaestus. There were mainly two heroes who wanted to contend for this equipment: first, Great Ajax, who has been mentioned many times before. He was tall and strong, so he had another title, "the wall of Greece." The other person who wanted to obtain this equipment was Odysseus, who was known for his wisdom. He believed that although he might not be as strong as Great Ajax, he deserved this divine equipment for his overall contributions and wisdom. Both sides argued their case, their faces flushed red, almost coming to blows. Later, there is a saying that Agamemnon asked the captured Trojans who had caused more harm to Troy. As a result, most of the Trojans believed that Odysseus had caused the greatest harm to Troy. Thus, Odysseus obtained Achilles' armor and shield. Great Ajax, upon learning the result, felt it was unfair because he believed he was the bravest on the battlefield, while Odysseus only won through cleverness and cunning. He also believed that after Achilles' death, he was the strongest warrior among the Greeks, so he was extremely dissatisfied with this outcome. On the same night, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, suddenly appeared. She believed that Great Ajax did not respect Achilles and, in order to protect Odysseus, decided to punish him. Athena magically drove Great Ajax into a frenzy, and he became mentally deranged. He then slaughtered sheep in the Greek camp with his sword, mistaking them for enemies. In Ajax's eyes, he believed he was slaughtering Agamemnon and Odysseus. He even tied up two particularly large sheep, thinking they were Agamemnon and Odysseus, and beat and mocked them madly. Other normal Greeks, seeing his behavior, thought he had truly gone mad. The next morning, Ajax regained his senses and saw sheep carcasses all around him. Being arrogant and proud, he felt extremely ashamed and had lost his honor as a warrior. So he went to a forest by the sea and committed suicide with the long sword that Prince Hector had given him. If you remember, in "The Iliad," Great Ajax and Prince Hector had a duel. After the duel, they recognized each other as heroes and exchanged tokens. He gave Prince Hector a purple belt, and Prince Hector gave him a long sword. Great Ajax finally used this sword from Prince Hector to commit suicide. Thus, after losing Achilles, the Greek allied forces successively lost another important fighting force. They held a funeral for Great Ajax. Also, because he died by suicide, it was considered a disgraceful death in ancient Greece, so his body could not be cremated like Achilles' but could only be buried. After the deaths of two heroes in succession, the morale of the Greek army plummeted to rock bottom. At this time, the prophet Calchas made a prophecy for the army, saying that with their current strength alone, the Greeks would not be able to capture Troy. He received divine guidance that the Greeks must recall two specific heroes to achieve ultimate victory. The two heroes were Philoctetes, and if you remember "The Cypria," there was a person whose foot was bitten by a poisonous snake, and the wound emitted a foul odor. Odysseus abandoned this person on a deserted island. This person was Philoctetes, who still possessed the divine bow and poisoned arrows left by the hero Heracles. The other hero was Neoptolemus. Similarly, in "The Cypria," it was said that when Achilles was disguised as a woman in his youth, he met the princess of the island of Skyros and had a son. This son was Neoptolemus. Upon hearing Calchas's prophecy, Odysseus and the Lion King Diomedes set out to find these two people. In fact, at first, Philoctetes was unwilling to return to the Greek allied forces because he was still angry that the Greeks had abandoned him on a deserted island. Later, Heracles appeared.

It is hoped that Philoctetes can let go of his hatred for the Greeks, and that Heracles promised the Greeks would heal his foot, only then would he be willing to join the war. After that, they went to the island of Skyros and found Achilles' son, Neoptolemus. His son inherited his father's brave character. Upon hearing the invitation from the Greek allied forces, he readily agreed to join the war. One legend says that Odysseus personally gave Achilles' armor, which he had previously snatched and was crafted by Hephaestus, to his son. After the two of them went to the Greek camp, the Greeks honored the agreement between Heracles and healed Philoctetes' foot. Thus, they quickly went to the battlefield to join the war. As soon as he entered the field, he called out by name, challenging Paris, the second prince of Troy. It is clear that this was the ultimate duel between archers, as Paris was the one who shot and killed Achilles with an arrow. The two of them fought a decisive battle in front of the gates of Troy. The second prince first shot an arrow at Philoctetes. Although Philoctetes' foot had just been healed, he easily dodged the second prince's arrow. Then he drew Heracles' heavy bow and placed three arrows, dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra, on the bow at once. He shot three arrows in rapid succession. The first arrow hit the second prince's hand, the second arrow hit his eye, and the third arrow hit his ankle. It is clear that the third arrow was deliberately shot at his ankle, with the intention of avenging Achilles. The second prince did not die immediately after being shot, but was rescued back into the city by the Trojans. However, the Hydra's poison was the most potent in the world, and all the renowned physicians in Troy were helpless. At this moment, the second prince suddenly remembered someone. In fact, before the second prince went to Sparta to abduct Helen, he originally had another wife named Oenone. Oenone was skilled in all healing magic and medicine. So the second prince went to Mount Ida and knelt before his ex-wife, begging her to save him, in the name of their past marriage. However, Oenone, seeing this unfaithful man who had abandoned her, still harbored great hatred for him abandoning her to marry Helen. So she harshly refused the second prince, saying, "Since you love Helen so much, go back to Troy and ask Helen to heal you with her beauty." The second prince, rejected and helpless, had no choice but to set off back to Troy. But the Hydra's poison was too potent, and he died of poisoning on his way back. Oenone, in fact, was just being stubborn. After the second prince left, she actually intended to take herbs to Troy to treat him. Little did she know that when she arrived in Troy, she found that the second prince had already died of poisoning. At that time, the Trojans were cremating the second prince. Oenone regretted not treating the second prince immediately and, in her grief, rushed into the funeral pyre and turned to ashes along with the second prince's body. After the death of the second prince of Troy, the prophet Calchas made another prophecy. He said that the reason Troy had not been conquered for so long was because of the Palladium, the sacred statue of Athena that protected the city. Legend has it that the Palladium was a statue of Athena that fell from the sky. As long as this statue remained in Troy, the city was equivalent to having a divine barrier bestowed upon them. So, Odysseus and Diomedes, the Lion King, infiltrated the Temple of Athena in Troy at night and stole the Palladium. Because this mission was extremely dangerous, success would have been the greatest military achievement of the Trojan War. It is rumored that Odysseus even considered killing the Lion King to claim the credit alone, but in the end, both of them returned to the Greek camp safely with the statue. After the Palladium was stolen, Troy lost its last divine protection. All that remained were the city walls built by the Sun God and the Sea God Poseidon. Since the Greek allied forces had successively lost powerful fighters like Achilles and Ajax, Odysseus believed that a frontal assault was impossible. So he devised a brilliant plan that would be remembered for thousands of years. He found the famous Greek craftsman Epeius and had him build a giant wooden horse. The wooden horse was hollow and could hide elite soldiers inside. After the wooden horse was built, the Greek allied forces hid their bravest warriors, such as Odysseus, King Menelaus of Sparta, and Diomedes, the Lion King, inside the wooden horse. Then they burned their camp and some of their ships, pretending to retreat. In reality, most of their forces were hidden on the nearby island of Tenedos, waiting for a signal. Only this giant wooden horse was left on the beach. They also left behind a man named Sinon, who pretended to be abandoned by the Greeks on the beach. The Trojans, seeing the Greek camp burned and the fleet departed, thought the war was over. At the same time, they discovered the giant wooden horse on the beach and were filled with curiosity. They captured Sinon and brought him back to Troy. Sinon told the Trojans that the wooden horse was originally used by the Greeks to sacrifice to the goddess Athena. The Greeks said that if the Trojans destroyed the wooden horse, they would incur the wrath of the gods, but if the Trojans brought the wooden horse into the city, the goddess Athena would bring happiness to the Trojans. And the Greeks deliberately made the wooden horse so large because they deliberately did not want the Trojans to be able to bring it into the city. This marks the beginning of another new chapter, called "The Fall of Ilion," which is what we know as the Trojan Horse. After the Trojans discovered the wooden horse, they had a heated discussion about how to deal with it. One faction believed that the wooden horse should be brought into the city and used as a trophy to commemorate the victory after ten years of war. Another faction strongly opposed, believing the wooden horse was a Greek trick. Among them, the Trojan priest Laocoön warned the Trojans not to bring the wooden horse into the city, saying, "Are you Trojans crazy? This is clearly a Greek trick. How could you possibly bring this wooden horse into the city? Isn't that like inviting trouble?" The priest even picked up a spear and thrust it fiercely into the wooden horse. However, there was not a sound from inside the wooden horse. At this moment, most Trojans believed they had already won and were all intoxicated, no one listening to the priest's warning. Just as the priest was about to persuade the Trojans further, two giant venomous snakes suddenly emerged from the sea, coiled around the priest and his two sons, and bit them to death. Seeing this, the Trojans generally believed that Athena was punishing the priest for angering the wooden horse. In reality, from a mythological perspective, these two snakes were indeed sent by Athena, because Athena was helping the Greeks. Thus, the Trojans believed Sinon's words, thinking that the wooden horse was originally used to sacrifice to Athena, and destroying it would incur divine wrath, while bringing it into the city would bring happiness to the Trojans. So they dismantled part of the city wall and dragged the giant wooden horse into Troy. That night, the Trojans sang, danced, and drank, celebrating the end of the war. Late at night, most people had passed out from drinking. Sinon then walked to the wooden horse, knocked three times, signaling the Greeks inside to come out. Then Odysseus, the King of Sparta, and the Lion King emerged from the wooden horse, quickly killed the surrounding guards, and then slowly opened the gates of Troy, signaling the Greek army hiding on Tenedos. Subsequently, a large number of Greek allied forces poured into Troy, slaughtering the unprepared Trojans. The city was filled with screams, cries, and the clash of weapons. The Greeks killed everyone they saw in the city, regardless of whether they were men, women, children, or even the elderly; none were spared. They set fires everywhere, burning down Trojan houses, and the entire city was engulfed in flames. Moreover, after the Greeks broke into Troy, no members of the royal family were spared. The King of Troy was killed by Achilles' son in the altar of Zeus. Odysseus, to cut off all ties, threw Hector's youngest son, the eldest prince, from the city walls onto the street. The Queen of Troy, witnessing her husband and several sons being killed and finally captured by the Greeks. Cassandra, the sister of the second prince Paris, was violated by Ajax the Lesser in the Temple of Athena. And Hector's wife, the eldest prince's wife, just as the eldest prince had predicted, was captured and taken away by the Greeks. Finally, Helen was found by King Menelaus of Sparta. The King of Sparta originally wanted to kill this femme fatale with his own hands, but because Helen was so beautiful, men are like that, they soften their hearts. In the end, he took her back to the ship. After the Greeks plundered all the gold, silver, and jewels, they killed most of the Trojan men and took the Trojan women and children as slaves. Then they set fire to Troy. It can be said that the Trojan War officially ended here. Some may ask why this chapter is called "The Fall of Ilion" and not "The Fall of Troy." The reason is that Ilion was actually the official name of Troy. In formal occasions and literary works, ancient Greeks actually referred to Troy as Ilion, while Troy was merely a more colloquial term. Therefore, this chapter in classical literature is called "The Fall of Ilion." At the end of the Trojan Horse story, we mentioned that Ajax the Lesser violated Cassandra in the Temple of Athena. Cassandra, while being violated, held onto the statue of Athena and prayed for protection. Ajax the Lesser's actions were a serious blasphemy to Athena, completely enraging her. So Athena asked Zeus to punish the Greeks, especially Ajax the Lesser. Zeus agreed to Athena's request and decided to bring disaster upon the Greeks during their return voyage. Due to disagreements, the Greek allied forces did not act in a unified manner but divided into many different fleets and departed in batches. Agamemnon, with a large amount of spoils and captives, returned to Mycenae. Among the captives was Cassandra. King Menelaus of Sparta set off with Helen. They were preparing to go to Sparta, but he later got separated from the main fleet. Other heroes like Odysseus and Diomedes, the Lion King, also boarded their ships, preparing to return to their hometowns. Shortly after their fleets departed, they encountered the first punishment from the gods. A fierce storm suddenly appeared on the sea, destroying many Greek ships. A large number of Greek soldiers drowned in the sea, and Ajax the Lesser received the most direct punishment in this storm. His fleet was shattered by the waves of Poseidon, the Sea God, and Ajax the Lesser himself was swallowed by the waves. Some versions of the myth even say that he was directly struck down by Athena with lightning. Agamemnon's fleet encountered a fierce storm on its return voyage. Many ships in his fleet were destroyed by the strong winds and huge waves. Although Agamemnon himself survived by chance, the fleet suffered heavy losses. In the end, they were left with only a few ships to return to mainland Greece. When Agamemnon returned to Mycenae, although he was warmly welcomed by his wife, in reality, during the ten years Agamemnon was away at Troy, his wife and his cousin had already been unfaithful to him. They had seized power in Mycenae in Agamemnon's absence and had long planned to avenge his cousin's family when Agamemnon returned, because Agamemnon's father had killed several of his cousin's brothers and then cooked their flesh into meatballs and fed them to his cousin's father. After Agamemnon returned to the palace, he took a comfortable bath, and then his wife brought out a seemingly luxurious nightgown. However, this nightgown was specially made, with the sleeves sewn shut, so that once his hands were put in, they could not be taken out. After his wife helped him put on the nightgown, she immediately tied him up. Then his wife and his cousin attacked together. Agamemnon's wife repeatedly struck her husband with an axe, and finally, Agamemnon was hacked to death. Cassandra, who was brought back as a captive, was also killed along with him. In fact, Cassandra had long prophesied that Agamemnon's wife would kill him with his cousin. Do you still remember that Cassandra had a curse from the Sun God, which meant that any truth she spoke would be considered a lie? Therefore, even though she had warned Agamemnon, he did not believe her, and as a result, he was killed by his wife upon returning to his homeland. As for King Menelaus of Sparta, after the end of the Trojan War, he returned to Sparta with his recovered wife Helen. However, shortly after their fleet set sail, they encountered a storm. Their fleet was blown off course and went to Egypt and Phoenicia. It is said that King Menelaus was stranded in Egypt for seven to eight years. They remained on the island of Pharos, unable to set sail because there were no favorable winds. Legend has it that only Proteus, the Sea God, knew how to leave the island of Pharos. With the help of Proteus's daughter, King Menelaus set a trap and captured Proteus while he was sleeping. He then forced Proteus to tell the truth and teach them how to leave the island of Pharos. Proteus said that they first had to go to Egypt to offer sacrifices to the gods, and only then would they have favorable winds to send them home. In addition, Proteus, the Sea God, revealed the fate of other Greek heroes to King Menelaus, such as Agamemnon being killed by his wife, and so on. After that, King Menelaus went to Egypt to complete the sacrifice and finally got favorable winds to return to Sparta. Due to being stranded in Egypt and on Pharos for so many years, King Menelaus returned to Greece much later than other Greeks. As for other heroes in the Trojan War, such as Diomedes, the Lion King, although his return home was relatively smooth, during the ten years he was away, his wife had been unfaithful to him, and his throne had been usurped. After returning home, Diomedes was assassinated and persecuted, and he was eventually forced to leave Greece. One legend says that he eventually went to Italy, where he founded a new city and lived out the rest of his life. Most Greek heroes, after the Trojan War, either returned home and were killed by their enemies or were lost at sea in storms. Only a very few managed to return home safely. Nestor, the strategist, was one of them. He was one of the very few Greek heroes who returned to his country safely and continued to enjoy his later years. The entire "Homecoming" chapter mainly tells us that although the Greeks ultimately won the Trojan War, each of them paid an extremely heavy price. Almost all the main heroes encountered misfortune, such as dying in battle, being killed, being exiled, losing their thrones, and their wives being unfaithful. Therefore, the entire story has no winners, all ending in tragedy, a typical Greek tragedy. This part marks the official entry into the Trojan story cycle, one of the two major chapters: The Odyssey. The Odyssey mainly tells the story after the Iliad and the Trojan Horse. The Homecoming chapter has already told the stories of other Greek heroes' returns, so the Odyssey mainly tells the story of Odysseus's return. After experiencing the Trojan War, Odysseus began his journey back to his homeland. His fleet also encountered storms, and then they went to an island. By chance, they found a cave. Inside the cave were sheep and cheese. Since Odysseus and his men had been starving at sea for a long time, they immediately rushed into the cave upon seeing the sheep and cheese and ate the cheese and sheep to satisfy their hunger. However, this island was inhabited by a group of Cyclopes, the most powerful of whom was Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon. When Polyphemus went to the cave, he discovered that Odysseus and his group had suddenly appeared. First, he found a large rock to seal the entrance, then he killed several of Odysseus's men and ate them. While the Cyclops was eating his companions, Odysseus took the opportunity to hide in a corner of the cave. Then Odysseus thought of offering the Cyclops good wine, hoping the Cyclops might let them go. So Odysseus offered the sacred wine given to him by a temple priest to the Cyclops. This wine had a very high alcohol content, and when the Greeks drank it, they usually diluted it with twenty times the amount of water. However, Odysseus deliberately added no water and directly handed this divine strong liquor to the Cyclops. After taking a sip, the Cyclops was greatly shocked because he had never tasted such sweet and potent wine. So the Cyclops said to Odysseus, "Give me another cup, and tell me your name, and I will give you a great gift." Odysseus seized this opportunity. He gave the Cyclops four cups of strong liquor in succession and then told him, "My name is Nobody." After hearing this, the Cyclops laughed twice and said, "Alright, Nobody, my great gift to you is to eat your companions first, and then eat you last." Then the Cyclops, having drunk too much, fell asleep. But making the Cyclops fall asleep was Odysseus's true intention. He had long instructed his men to sharpen an olive tree, heat it, and then, while the Cyclops was asleep, stab him in the eye. The Cyclops woke up in pain and roared madly, trying to call other giants on the island for help. However, the Cyclops roared, "Nobody is attacking me! Nobody is attacking me!" The other giants heard this and thought he was joking, so they did not come to help. The next morning, the Cyclops knew that the sheep in the cave had to go out to graze. So, he had no choice but to move the large rock blocking the entrance. Odysseus had already guessed that he would let the sheep out to graze, so he told everyone to hide under the bellies of the sheep. Even though the Cyclops was blind, he would touch the sheep's backs when letting them out to ensure they were sheep and not people before letting them out. However, the Cyclops was too stupid to think of Odysseus and his men hiding underneath the sheep, so he let Odysseus and his group out. Later, after letting the sheep out, he found no sound in the cave and realized that Odysseus had followed the sheep out of the cave. After Odysseus left the cave, he ran frantically back to his ship. The Cyclops chased after them. But don't ask me why a blind Cyclops could chase them. When the Cyclops reached the shore, Odysseus and his men had already boarded the ship and left the shore. The Cyclops picked up some large rocks and tried to sink their ship, but since Odysseus had already gone a certain distance, the Cyclops's rocks missed. Then, on the ship, Odysseus couldn't help but mock the Cyclops. He shouted, "It wasn't Nobody who harmed you! The one who harmed you is Odysseus!" This statement completely enraged the Cyclops. So the giant prayed to his father, Poseidon, the Sea God, to severely punish Odysseus and his men. As a result, Poseidon became extremely displeased with Odysseus and was determined to prevent him from returning home safely. Three years had passed since the end of the Trojan War, and Odysseus had not yet returned to Greece. Poseidon created huge storms at sea, destroying Odysseus's ship in the giant waves, almost annihilating his entire crew. Odysseus, with the secret protection of the goddess Athena, clung to a piece of driftwood and drifted at sea for nine days and nights. Finally, he was washed ashore on the island of Ogygia, which was the island of Calypso, the sea nymph. Legend has it that Calypso was a very beautiful sea nymph. She found the dying Odysseus and, for some reason, fell in love with him. She healed Odysseus with her divine power and forcibly kept him on the island, compelling Odysseus to become her lover. Although Odysseus missed his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus, he tried many methods but could not leave the island. For example, as soon as Odysseus set sail, Poseidon would stir up storms, making it impossible for him to leave the sea. Then Calypso used various pleasures and magic to keep Odysseus, even saying that if he was willing to stay, she could make him immortal. Thus, Odysseus was semi-forcibly kept on the island of Ogygia for a full seven years. Although he outwardly lived with the goddess, his heart was filled with pain and homesickness, so he would often sit alone by the sea and cry. It was not until the tenth year after the end of Troy that Zeus convened a meeting of the gods. Athena took the opportunity to plead for Odysseus, saying that among mortals, Odysseus was the most devout to the gods, but he had long suffered hardships, and his homeland, Ithaca, was occupied by suitors, and the situation was critical. So Zeus agreed to Athena's request and decided to let Odysseus return to his homeland. Athena transformed into a stranger and came to the island of Ithaca to find Odysseus's son, Telemachus, who was then 20 years old. Since his son's name is too long, I will simply call him Telemachus from now on. The situation on Ithaca was very chaotic. A group of suitors from all over the world had long occupied Odysseus's palace. Legend has it that there were 108 of them, who spent their days feasting, drinking, and squandering Odysseus's wealth. They also forced Odysseus's wife, Penelope, to choose one of them to remarry. Although Telemachus had grown up, he was unable to confront these 108 people alone. So Athena, disguised as a stranger, encouraged Telemachus, telling him that he should be brave and actively search for his father's whereabouts. She also suggested that he visit Nestor and King Menelaus of Sparta, as they might have news of Odysseus, and hinted that Odysseus was not dead. Encouraged by Athena, Telemachus began to resist the suitors and prepare for his journey to find his father. Meanwhile, Zeus sent Hermes, the god of travel, to the island of Ogygia to order Calypso, the sea nymph, to release Odysseus immediately and not to detain him on the island any longer. Although Calypso was extremely reluctant, she dared not disobey Zeus's command. Finally, she tearfully helped Odysseus build a raft and let him leave. After hearing Athena's advice, Telemachus convened an assembly of the citizens of Ithaca. This was the first formal assembly held on Ithaca since Odysseus's departure. At the assembly, Telemachus expressed his dissatisfaction, blaming the suitors for occupying his home for so long, feasting and drinking, squandering his father's wealth, and constantly harassing his mother Penelope. He demanded that the suitors leave his home immediately, or face the consequences. The suitors were surprised by Telemachus's sudden assertiveness, but most of them did not take him seriously and mocked him as just a brat. Among the suitors, two stood out: Antinous and Eurymachus. After hearing Telemachus's speech, they said they would never leave unless Penelope agreed to marry one of them. They also warned that if he continued to resist, unfortunate events might befall him, meaning he might be destroyed. But Telemachus, unafraid of power, said he would set sail to find his father, Odysseus. Although the suitors felt a little uneasy about the possibility of Odysseus's return, they first believed that the chance of Odysseus being alive was very slim, and second, they did not believe that this brat in front of them had the ability to find his father. Athena, with her magic, helped Telemachus prepare a ship and sailors. She also cast a dense fog over the island, making it impossible for the suitors to detect Telemachus's departure. On the night the assembly ended, with Athena's help, Telemachus successfully set sail, embarking on his journey to find his father. Afterwards, the suitors discovered that Telemachus had already left Ithaca. The leader of the suitors planned to set a trap to kill Telemachus on his return journey. Accompanied by Athena, Telemachus sailed to a country called Pylos, the hometown of Nestor, the former strategist of the Greek allied forces. Upon arriving, Telemachus saw Nestor and his son sacrificing to Poseidon by the sea. Telemachus, seeing a famous hero for the first time, felt a little nervous. Nestor, upon learning that he was Odysseus's son, received Telemachus with the highest honors. They first completed the sacrifice to Poseidon, then invited Telemachus to dine with them and gave him the best seat. After the meal, Nestor asked Telemachus why he had come. Telemachus told Nestor that he was looking for his father, Odysseus. Telemachus asked Nestor if he knew any news of his father, but Nestor said that the last time he saw Odysseus was after Troy was conquered, and he had no news of him since. However, he believed that Odysseus was still alive, but for some reason, he was stranded somewhere. Nestor said he was too old to accompany him in searching for his father, but he advised Telemachus to seek out King Menelaus of Sparta, as Menelaus was the last hero to return to Greece and might have information about Odysseus. Nestor also asked his son to accompany Telemachus to Sparta. Just as they were about to set off for Sparta, Athena suddenly revealed her true form, making everyone present realize that Telemachus's journey to find his father was blessed by Athena, making them believe that this journey was divinely protected. Then Telemachus and Nestor's son quickly went to Sparta. At that time, King Menelaus of Sparta was holding a wedding for his son. King Menelaus was very happy to learn that the descendants of Odysseus and Nestor had come to see him. He also received them with the highest honors, prepared hot water for them to bathe, gave them clean and luxurious clothes, and arranged for them to dine together. During dinner, Telemachus met Helen for the first time. After the Trojan War, Helen had finally returned to Sparta and resumed her status as queen. Helen remarked that upon closer inspection, Telemachus indeed resembled Odysseus in his youth. Then King Menelaus explained why they had returned to Sparta after seven years. He said he had met Proteus, the Sea God, and learned from him the fate of many Greek heroes. He knew that Odysseus was being held captive on an island by Calypso, the sea nymph, and could not leave. Telemachus learned for the first time that his father was not dead. Then King Menelaus and Helen recounted many past events of the Trojan War. Finally, Helen gave him a magnificent robe she had woven with her own hands, saying it was for Telemachus's future wife to wear on her wedding day. The plot then shifts back to Hermes, who was ordered to tell Calypso to release Odysseus. Hermes conveyed Zeus's command, telling Calypso that she must release Odysseus and no longer detain him on the island. Although Calypso was heartbroken upon hearing this, she dared not disobey Zeus's command. So, she reluctantly let Odysseus leave. Calypso then saw Odysseus sitting alone by the sea, weeping every day. In fact, she also missed her family and her wife. Calypso told Odysseus, "You can go now," and personally helped him build a sturdy raft, preparing food and water. At their parting, although Calypso was very reluctant, she blessed Odysseus to return home safely. In fact, at this point, it can be seen that Calypso had genuinely fallen in love with Odysseus. After that, Odysseus sailed for 17 days without incident. Then Poseidon discovered that Odysseus had left Calypso's island and stirred up fierce winds and waves, shattering Odysseus's raft. Odysseus, with the protection of Athena, miraculously survived the storm and drifted at sea for two days and two nights. Finally, he was washed ashore on an island, which was actually the land of the Phaeacians. After two days and two nights of drifting, Odysseus was exhausted after coming ashore and fainted in the grass by the shore. At the same time, Athena appeared to Princess Nausicaa of the Phaeacians in a dream, telling her to go to the beach to wash clothes in preparation for her wedding. So the next morning, Nausicaa went to the beach with her maids. After washing their clothes, they sang and danced by the shore, and they accidentally discovered Odysseus, who had fainted in the grass. At that time, Odysseus was naked because his clothes had been blown away by the storm. Odysseus could only cover his lower body with a leaf and cautiously approached. Odysseus, with a very humble and polite attitude, approached the princess and her maids. The maids, seeing this stranger covered in mud and sand, all screamed in fright, but only the princess stood calmly in place. Odysseus did not approach further but stood at a distance. He asked the princess if she could give him clothes and take him to the city. Princess Nausicaa, seeing Odysseus's demeanor and behavior, knew he was no ordinary person. Not only did she not disdain him, but she also told her maids to get clothes for Odysseus to wear. After Odysseus washed himself, cut his hair, and shaved his beard, he emerged looking completely different. The princess said she could take Odysseus into the city, but to avoid gossip, she asked Odysseus not to walk with them but to follow them slowly from behind. Finally, they returned to the palace. The princess pleaded with King Alcinous of the Phaeacians, hoping that the king would treat this stranger well. The Phaeacians were a people with excellent seafaring skills and were very hospitable. When the king and queen saw Odysseus, they knew from his demeanor and conversation that he was a well-educated and knowledgeable person. The king first arranged for Odysseus to dine with them and ordered the servants to treat him well. After dinner, the king asked about Odysseus's origin and experiences. However, having experienced so much, Odysseus was very cautious. He did not immediately reveal his true name, only saying that he was a traveler who had suffered hardships and was washed ashore here. So the king promised him that he and his country would help Odysseus return home safely. He also ordered sailors to prepare ships and set sail when the time was right. Even if Odysseus's homeland was very far away, the Phaeacians would do their best to help. Then he invited Odysseus to participate in their athletic competition the next day. At the banquet the next day, a blind bard recounted stories of the Trojan War, including the events of the Trojan Horse and Odysseus's heroic deeds in the war. The real Odysseus, upon hearing these stories, was suddenly reminded of his own suffering and the comrades he had lost in the Trojan War. He shed tears on the spot. Seeing this, the king knew that Odysseus was no ordinary person and asked him who he truly was. Then Odysseus told the king, "My real name is Odysseus, King of Ithaca." The Phaeacian nobles present were all shocked upon hearing this famous name. Then Odysseus began to recount his various experiences after the end of the Trojan War. It turned out that after Odysseus left Troy, he went to a place called the Land of the Lotus-Eaters. The local people gave Odysseus's crew a very sweet lotus. Anyone who ate it would forget their homeland and only wish to stay forever in the Land of the Lotus-Eaters. However, Odysseus himself did not eat the lotus. So he dragged his crew back onto the ship one by one and continued sailing. Then they went to an island, which was the island of the Cyclops Polyphemus mentioned at the beginning of the Odyssey chapter. The story of their encounter on the island has already been told at the beginning, so it will not be repeated here. After leaving the Cyclops's island, they went to the floating island where Aeolus, the god of the winds, lived. Aeolus hospitably entertained them for a month. When Odysseus was about to leave, Aeolus gave them a large bag made of oxhide, saying it contained all the strong winds except the west wind. He strictly warned them not to open it casually. After Odysseus left Aeolus's island, they sailed for nine days. In fact, they were quickly returning to Ithaca, but Odysseus's crew, thinking the bag contained gold, quietly opened it while Odysseus was asleep. As a result, all the strong winds rushed out of the bag, creating a huge storm that pushed the ship back to Aeolus's island. Seeing that Odysseus had not heeded his advice, Aeolus thought he was hated by the gods and refused to help Odysseus return home any longer, driving them away. Then they went to another island inhabited by giants. However, these giants were cannibals. At that time, Odysseus's fleet had 12 warships. He led these 12 ships to an unknown harbor on the island. The environment of this harbor was very special, with towering cliffs on both sides and only a very narrow entrance in the middle. After entering the harbor, the water was calm and as clear as a mirror, with no waves at all. Odysseus, being naturally cautious, did not sail his ship into the harbor, but the other 11 ships all entered the harbor within the island. The cannibal giants on the island, upon discovering Odysseus's fleet, launched a fierce attack. They destroyed the fleet's warships and even ate his crew alive. Seeing the unfavorable situation, Odysseus immediately set sail and fled, but the other 11 ships, trapped in the special enclosed environment of the bay, could not escape. Thus, the entire fleet, originally 12 ships, was reduced to only Odysseus's single ship. After leaving the island of cannibals, Odysseus arrived at a place called Aeaea, the island of the sorceress Circe. Circe was the daughter of Helios, the Sun God, and was skilled in magic. Odysseus initially sent his crew to scout, but the sorceress Circe used magic and her wand to turn his crew into pigs. However, one of them narrowly escaped and returned to the ship to report to Odysseus. So Odysseus decided to rescue his companions himself. At that time, Hermes, the god of travel, also appeared to help him. He gave Odysseus a strange black herb, saying it could resist the sorceress's magic. After eating the black herb, Odysseus successfully resisted the sorceress's magic and threatened her with his sword. The sorceress, being threatened for the first time, was also awestruck by Odysseus's intelligence and strength. So she agreed to turn the crew who had been turned into pigs back into humans and hospitably entertained them. Thus, Odysseus and his crew stayed on the sorceress's island for a full year. The sorceress used her magic to help Odysseus's men live a life of luxury and pleasure. During this period, the sorceress developed feelings for Odysseus. This time, unlike the sea nymph Calypso, the sorceress did not prevent Odysseus from leaving. She even helped Odysseus find a way to return to his homeland. She told him that to return home safely, they first had to go to the underworld to find the prophet Tiresias, as only he knew how to return safely. With the sorceress's help, Odysseus and his men arrived at the entrance to the underworld. They performed sacrifices according to the sorceress's instructions: they dug a pit, offered sheep's milk, honey wine, and water, and then sacrificed a black sheep and a black cow, letting their blood flow into the pit. Then the spirits would come to drink the blood, but Odysseus would guard with his sword, only allowing the spirits he wished to see to drink the blood from the pit. Odysseus saw many people, including his mother. However, he had been away from home for too long and did not expect that his mother had already died. His mother told him that his wife Penelope was waiting for him at home and that his son Telemachus had grown up, but his home was occupied by suitors, and urged him to return quickly. After seeing several more spirits, he finally met Tiresias, the prophet of the underworld. After drinking the blood, the prophet of the underworld prophesied Odysseus's future. He said that Odysseus would eventually return to Ithaca, but he would experience many hardships along the way. Upon returning home, the first thing he must do is drive out the suitors. He also had to undertake another special journey. He said that Odysseus would have to take his oar inland until someone mistook the oar for a winnowing fan or a sieve, only then would Poseidon's curse be appeased. He also prophesied that in his old age, Odysseus would be taken away by a gentle death from beyond the sea. In addition, Odysseus saw the spirits of Agamemnon and Achilles. Agamemnon warned Odysseus never to trust women, while Achilles said he would rather be a slave in the mortal world than be king in the underworld. After meeting the prophet of the underworld, Odysseus knew how to return to his homeland and hurriedly left the underworld, returning to the sorceress's island. The sorceress once again entertained them and warned them in advance of the dangers they might encounter on their journey, such as the Sirens, the two sea monsters, and the sacred cattle of the Sun God. The next morning, Odysseus left the sorceress's island and set off for his homeland. The sorceress first warned them that they would encounter the Sirens. These Sirens would appear on reefs in the middle of the sea and would lure humans with their songs. Those who heard their songs would jump into the sea and commit suicide. Shortly after Odysseus set sail, the Sirens indeed appeared. So, following the sorceress's instructions, he sealed the ears of all his crew members with wax so they could not hear the songs. Then he told his crew to tie him to the mast of the ship, so that even if he heard the songs, he would not be able to jump into the sea and commit suicide. As they passed the Sirens, Odysseus was deeply captivated by their songs and wanted to jump into the sea, but his crew held him tightly, and the other crew members could not hear the Sirens' songs, so they successfully passed safely. Next, Odysseus came to the domain of the two sea monsters. The two sea monsters were Charybdis, who was like a giant whirlpool, swallowing and spitting out seawater three times a day, capable of dragging an entire ship into the whirlpool, and Scylla, a six-headed monster living in a cave in the cliff, with sharp teeth on each head, capable of eating six men in an instant. The sorceress advised Odysseus to approach the monster Scylla rather than avoid the whirlpool monster Charybdis. So Odysseus followed the sorceress's advice and avoided the whirlpool monster, but six of his crew members were captured by Scylla. Afterwards, they went to the sacred island of Helios, where many of the Sun God's cattle were grazed. The sorceress and the prophet of the underworld had warned them not to kill these cattle. However, upon reaching the island, the crew, suffering from long-term lack of food, took advantage of Odysseus's sleep and killed a few cattle to eat, thinking no one would know. When Odysseus woke up and saw that they had eaten the cattle, he knew that something bad had happened. So, when they set sail again, the Sun God asked Zeus to send down a storm. Finally, lightning struck the ship, shattering it to pieces, and all the men drowned at sea. Only Odysseus, who had not eaten the cattle, survived alone, clinging to a broken mast and drifting at sea. Finally, he was washed ashore on the island of Calypso, the sea nymph, which was mentioned at the beginning of the story. He was detained on the island by the sea nymph for seven years, connecting to the beginning of this chapter. After listening to Odysseus's adventure story, King Alcinous of the Phaeacians was deeply moved and decided to ensure Odysseus's safe return home. The king prepared the fastest ship and the most skilled sailors, allowing him to sleep soundly on the ship. After the ship set sail, it traveled very fast. Before long, they reached Ithaca. The sailors landed on a secluded bay in Ithaca and carried the sleeping Odysseus ashore, along with the numerous precious gifts from the king, and then quietly departed. When Odysseus woke up, he initially did not recognize his homeland. As mentioned earlier, Athena had used a dense fog to conceal the entire island to facilitate Telemachus's secret mission. So Odysseus thought the Phaeacians had abandoned him in a strange place. Later, Athena transformed into a shepherd and appeared before Odysseus. Seeing the stranger, Odysseus continued to conceal his identity and told Athena a fabricated story. After listening, Athena revealed her true form and dispelled the fog, allowing Odysseus to clearly see that he had returned to his homeland, Ithaca. Athena told Odysseus that his palace was occupied by 108 suitors, who were forcing his wife Penelope to remarry, and that his son Telemachus had gone out to find him and had not yet returned to Ithaca. Then Athena used her divine power to transform Odysseus into a ragged old beggar, allowing him to act secretly on Ithaca without being recognized. Afterwards, Odysseus went to find his most loyal servant, Eumaeus, the swineherd. Eumaeus was Odysseus's old servant. Although Odysseus had been away from Ithaca for 20 years, Eumaeus remained loyal. He did not defect to the suitors and saw his master every day. When Odysseus arrived at the pigsty, Eumaeus, seeing Odysseus disguised as an old beggar, felt sympathetic towards him. Eumaeus took Odysseus into the house, gave him the best chair, and prepared food for him. Although Eumaeus lived a rather poor life himself, he still made great efforts to entertain his guest, demonstrating the ancient Greek virtue of hospitality. Odysseus decided not to reveal his identity for the time being and instead told a fabricated story, saying that he had met Odysseus during the Trojan War and that he was still alive, wandering in the outside world, but would soon return to Ithaca. Eumaeus, upon hearing the old beggar say this, was very excited. He said he did not believe his master was dead and that he hated the suitors, believing they were squandering Odysseus's property. Eumaeus said that if his master returned, he would severely punish them. At the same time, Athena appeared in Sparta and reminded Odysseus's son, Telemachus, to return to Ithaca immediately, as the suitors' behavior was becoming increasingly arrogant, and they had set an ambush at sea to kill him on his return journey. His mother, Penelope, was now under great pressure and was about to be forced to remarry. So, Telemachus heeded Athena's advice and immediately bid farewell to King Menelaus and Helen of Sparta. King Menelaus of Sparta prepared generous gifts for Telemachus and blessed him to return home safely. After bidding them farewell, Telemachus immediately set off for Ithaca. According to Athena's instructions, Telemachus avoided the ambush set by the suitors at sea and safely returned to Ithaca. However, he did not go home immediately but, following Athena's instructions, went to the swineherd's house first. At this moment, he happened to encounter Odysseus, who was disguised as an old beggar. Upon seeing his young master arrive, the swineherd immediately treated him warmly. Odysseus, standing nearby, observed his son. Although he was very excited inwardly, having not seen his son for a long time, Athena then used her divine power to restore Odysseus to his original appearance. The father and son were finally reunited. Odysseus and Telemachus revealed their identities to each other. At first, Telemachus did not believe that this was his father, until Odysseus embraced him, and the instinct of kinship told him that the person before him was his father. The father and son then officially recognized each other and wept in each other's arms. After their reunion, Odysseus and Telemachus immediately discussed how to deal with the 108 suitors. Odysseus decided to continue entering his home as an old beggar to survey the environment, while Telemachus would be responsible for returning home, collecting weapons, and gathering intelligence, assisting his father when necessary. This matter must not be revealed, and only a very few loyal servants could be trusted; no one else. Then Athena encouraged them, saying she would help them in the battle. At the same time, in the palace of Ithaca, the suitors already knew that Telemachus had returned to Ithaca. So the leader of the suitors ordered his subordinates to continue monitoring Telemachus and to kill him when the time was right. Penelope, upon hearing the suitors' plot, was very worried about her son's safety. Telemachus then set off for the palace alone. Eumaeus would bring Odysseus to the palace later. The next morning, Telemachus returned to the palace. Penelope, seeing her son return safely, was very excited and asked him what he had gained from his travels. Telemachus did not immediately tell his mother that he had found his father, Odysseus, but only said that he had heard some news in Sparta that his father might still be alive, but the specific situation was unclear. According to the plan, Eumaeus brought Odysseus, disguised as an old beggar, into the palace. On the way to the palace, Odysseus saw a very old dog sleeping next to a pile of garbage. This dog was Argos, a hunting dog that Odysseus had personally raised 20 years ago. Although Odysseus had disguised himself as an old beggar with Athena's magic, Argos recognized his master at a glance. He wanted to go to his master, but because he was too old, Argos only wagged his tail and bid farewell. Seeing this scene, Odysseus couldn't help but shed tears, but the current situation did not allow him to acknowledge his dog. Afterwards, Odysseus entered the palace as a beggar and began to provoke the suitors. However, most of the suitors were very rude and even mocked and insulted him. The worst among them was Antinous, the leader of the suitors. Not only did he not give him anything to eat, but he also threw a chair at Odysseus. However, Odysseus did not get angry immediately when he was hit, but continued to observe the surroundings as a beggar. His wife, Penelope, heard that a beggar had come to the palace and that this beggar claimed to have seen Odysseus. So Eumaeus specially brought her over. Odysseus, after 20 years, saw his wife again and was very excited inwardly, but he did not acknowledge her immediately. He told his wife Penelope that he knew Odysseus was still alive and would soon return to Ithaca. Penelope was moved upon hearing this, but she was still half-believing whether Odysseus was still alive. However, she kindly prepared a bed for the old beggar to rest. But in fact, in the palace...

There was originally a beggar named Eunoos. He was tall and often extorted food from other suitors. When Eunoos saw a new beggar arrive, he thought Odysseus wanted to take his territory, so he disliked Odysseus intensely. The suitors, wanting to see a show, incited the two beggars to fight, saying that whoever won would get more food. Odysseus initially did not want to fight, but he was forced by the circumstances and had to agree. So, the two of them stripped naked and prepared to compete. Eunoos struck first, but Odysseus, with just a few heavy punches, knocked him to the ground, unable to get up. The suitors were very surprised to see this old beggar so easily defeated. Then, Odysseus dragged Eunoos outside the palace and warned him not to return. Penelope, hearing the commotion of a fight in the palace, came to the hall and rebuked the suitors for occupying her home for so long and wasting her husband's property. She also said that she would wait for her husband to return and told them to give up hope. After watching the good show, the suitors left the palace after drinking and eating their fill. Penelope spoke to Odysseus, who had disguised himself as an old beggar. She told him that she had tried every method to delay the suitors. For example, she had said that she had to weave a shroud for Odysseus's father and that she would remarry once the shroud was finished. So, the suitors came to the palace every day to wait for her. Penelope would weave the shroud in the morning, but she would unravel it at night, so the shroud was never finished. She used this scheme to delay for three years. However, later, the maids in the palace got involved with this group of suitors. The maids revealed Penelope's scheme of unraveling the shroud at night to the suitors, so the suitors were now forcing her to remarry every day. As it was getting late, Penelope asked the old, elderly maid, Eurycleia, to wash the old beggar's feet. This old maid was actually Odysseus's nurse. While the old maid was washing the old beggar's feet, she saw a scar on the old beggar's calf. She immediately recognized this scar because Odysseus had been bitten by a wild boar while hunting when he was young. This scar was left from that time. So, as soon as the old maid saw this scar, she knew that the old beggar's true identity was actually Odysseus. Then, Odysseus covered the old maid's mouth and told her not to reveal anything. The old maid said she would keep the secret. Later, Penelope told the old beggar that she had recently had a dream. In the dream, an eagle killed all the geese in her house. She thought this was a good omen, meaning her husband would definitely return and punish these suitors. The next day, Penelope announced that she would hold an archery contest. The rule was that whoever could shoot through the holes of 12 axes with Odysseus's great bow would remarry her. In fact, Penelope knew this was an almost impossible condition because ordinary people could not even draw Odysseus's great bow, let alone shoot through the holes of 12 axes. The only one who could do it was Odysseus himself. So, she actually had a hope that if Odysseus was still alive, he might appear on the day of the contest and complete this challenge. The next morning, Penelope came to the palace hall. She took out Odysseus's treasured great bow and said that whoever could shoot through the holes of 12 axes would marry her. The suitors lined up to try, but most of them could not even draw the great bow. So, they tried other methods to see if the bow would be easier to draw, for example, they tried heating the bow or applying some oil to make the bow more flexible. But even so, almost no one could draw the bow to its full extent, let alone shoot through the holes of 12 axes with it. Even the leader of the suitors, Antinous, a big man, could not draw the bow to its full extent. At this moment, the swineherd handed the bow to the old beggar. Then, the suitors strongly objected. The beggar had the right to participate in the contest, but Odysseus's son, Telemachus, stepped forward and supported giving the beggar a try. So, the swineherd handed the bow to the old beggar. Then, the old beggar, with great ease, drew the bow to its full extent with one pull. He stood at the doorway and aimed at the holes of the 12 axes, shooting an arrow. This arrow accurately passed through the 12 holes. The entire hall fell silent. Then, Odysseus exchanged a glance with his son, and his son immediately stood beside his father. At this moment, Odysseus revealed his true form and cursed the suitors. He said, "You scoundrels, thinking I, Odysseus, am dead, you can steal my wife and property. Now it is the death of all of you." It was only then that the suitors realized that the old beggar was Odysseus, who had been missing for 20 years. After Odysseus revealed his true form, his first arrow killed the leader of the suitors. The other suitors thought about finding weapons to resist, but Telemachus had, according to the plan, hidden the weapons beforehand, leaving only a few for themselves. Odysseus stood in front of the main gate and continuously shot and killed other suitors with his great bow, while Telemachus, the swineherd, and other loyal servants killed the suitors with close-combat weapons. The father and son, one at close range and the other at long range, covered each other, fighting so that the suitors had no power to resist. The suitors present were either cut down or shot to death. The palace was suddenly awash with blood. Soon, all 108 suitors were killed by Odysseus. After killing the suitors, Odysseus dragged out the 12 maids who had been intimate with the suitors and ordered them to clean the bloodstains in the hall. After cleaning, he hanged them all. There was one male servant who had betrayed Odysseus's family. Finally, Odysseus subjected him to extreme torture, including cutting off his nose and ears and cutting off his penis to feed to the dogs. Finally, Odysseus fumigated the entire palace thoroughly with sulfur in a purification ritual. After the revenge was over, the husband and wife were finally reunited. In fact, Penelope initially did not believe that the person before her was Odysseus. So, she asked Odysseus a question. She said, "Since you are my husband, please have the servants bring out the bed where we got married, and then I will make the bed for you to rest." Upon hearing this, Odysseus immediately said, "This is impossible, because that bed was made by my own hands from the trunk of a giant olive tree. The tree itself is a pillar of the palace, and its roots are deeply embedded in the ground. That bed is completely immovable unless someone cuts down the tree." This secret about the bed was known only to Odysseus and his wife. Upon hearing this, Penelope finally admitted that the person before her was her husband, Odysseus. Then, the husband and wife were reunited after 20 years. They embraced and wept. After their reunion, Odysseus and Penelope returned to their large olive tree bed. Odysseus told his wife about his experiences over the past 20 years, and Penelope also told him how she had delayed the suitors over the years. That night, the couple finally reunited and enjoyed the warmth of their long-awaited reunion. Here, the second major chapter of the Trojan War cycle, the Odyssey, officially concludes. After this, we will enter the final chapter of the Trojan War cycle. Finally, we arrive at the last chapter of the Trojan War cycle, "Telegonia." After Odysseus killed all the suitors and restored his throne in Ithaca, he remembered that when he went to the underworld to find the prophet Tiresias, there was one thing left unfinished. Previously, during his sea adventures, he had offended Poseidon's son, the Cyclops, and Poseidon had cursed Odysseus, saying that whenever Odysseus went out to sea, he would encounter great winds and waves. He remembered that the prophet in the underworld had taught him how to break the curse: to carry an oar to an inland place where the sea could not be seen at all. There, people, having never seen an oar, would mistake it for a winnowing basket or a windmill. So, Odysseus followed the instructions, went to a local temple of Poseidon, and offered a bull, a ram, and a boar, finally successfully dispelling Poseidon's curse. After completing this journey, Odysseus returned to the island of Ithaca and was formally reunited with his wife Penelope and son Telemachus, once again becoming the king of Ithaca. Afterward, Odysseus and Penelope spent a relatively peaceful period, and Telemachus grew up to become the rightful heir. On the distant island of Aeaea, Circe had actually had a son with Odysseus named Telegonus. Telegonus grew up on Circe's island, raised by Circe herself. He inherited his father's adventurous spirit. As he grew up, he asked Circe who his father was. So, Circe told him that his father was the famous Greek hero Odysseus, who was currently the king of Ithaca. Thus, Telegonus decided to set out to meet his father. Circe prepared a ship for him and a special spear, the tip of which was made from a stingray's barb and contained a potent poison. After bidding farewell to his mother, Telegonus set sail on his journey to find his father. He followed his mother's instructions and arrived at the island of Ithaca. As it was his first time in the outside world, he did not know where the palace of Ithaca was, so he asked people around the island where Odysseus lived. Due to the previous incident with the suitors, the people on the island were highly vigilant. They initially thought Telegonus was a pirate or an enemy. Telegonus soon clashed with the locals. As he was Odysseus's son and inherited his father's excellent genetic traits, he was brave and skilled in combat. Using the poisoned spear given to him by Circe, he killed several villagers on the island. At this moment, Odysseus and Telemachus heard the sounds of fighting on the island and rushed to see what was happening. They saw a stranger attacking their people, so they immediately joined the fight. However, Odysseus did not know that the person before him was his son with Circe, and Telegonus did not know that the person before him was his father, Odysseus. In the melee, Telegonus stabbed Odysseus in the thigh with his poisoned spear. The potent poison on the spear acted quickly, and Odysseus immediately fell to the ground. Poisoned, Odysseus, before dying, asked the young man before him what his purpose was in coming to Ithaca. After revealing his identity, Odysseus realized that the person before him was his son with Circe. The father and son were reunited in this tragic situation. Odysseus comforted his son, saying it was fate's arrangement. He asked Telemachus to take good care of his younger brother Telegonus and to take his body back to Circe's island for burial. After making his final arrangements, Odysseus died of poisoning, ending his eventful life. This ending also fulfilled the prophecy of the underworld prophet that he would have a gentle death from beyond the sea. Beyond the sea, his son came to Ithaca from beyond the sea. Telegonus was very sad because he never expected that the first time he met his father would be the last, and that he himself would kill his father. Then, they followed Odysseus's dying wish and took his body back to Circe's island. Circe used her divine power to hold a grand funeral for Odysseus. According to legend, Telegonus married Odysseus's wife, Penelope, and Telemachus married Circe, forming a very peculiar four-way marital relationship. Finally, legend says that the four of them went to a mysterious island together and gained eternal life, becoming mythical figures. Here, the entire story of the Trojan War cycle officially concludes. In this section, I will discuss some of the mythical creatures that appeared in the Odyssey. First, the Cyclops. The Cyclops have limbs and bodies similar to humans, but their size is much larger than ordinary humans, some being several stories high, while others are only two or three people high. Their skin is rough and thick, with a texture similar to the skin of elephants and rhinoceroses, and they have no hair. In the center of their head, there is a large eye. They have only one eye, hence they are called Cyclops. The Cyclops are not fast movers; you can think of them as having the speed of an elephant. There are three origins for the Cyclops. Origin one is according to the poet Hesiod. In his work "Theogony," written around the 8th or 7th century BC, it is recorded that the sky god Uranus and the earth goddess Gaia engaged in frenzied mating, giving birth to eighteen children. The first to be born were the twelve Titans, followed by the three Cyclops brothers, who were Argus, representing light, Brontes, representing thunder, and Steropes, representing lightning. These Cyclops were initially imprisoned in hell, Tartarus, by their father Uranus. Later, when Zeus launched the Titanomachy to seize power, Zeus deliberately released these three Cyclops. In return for their gratitude to Zeus, they forged their exclusive weapons for the Greek gods, including Zeus's thunderbolt, Poseidon's trident, and Hades's helmet of invisibility. The Greek gods we know today defeated the Titans with these divine weapons. The Cyclops were the celestial arms dealers at the time, as Hephaestus, the god of fire who was supposed to forge weapons, had not yet been born. The Cyclops from Origin one possessed the craftsmanship for warfare; their creations were full of power, might, and intricate design. Because of their immense bodies and divine power, they later went to the underground of Mount Etna in Sicily and the nearby Aeolian Islands to become assistants to Hephaestus. They once forged their specialized bows and arrows for Apollo and Artemis, and chariots for Ares, as well as Athena's shield. Not only underground in volcanoes, but the Cyclops have also left ancient imprints on celestial astrology. According to an astrological myth from the Hellenistic period, the Cyclops were actually the builders of the first altar in human history. This myth belongs to a type of constellation origin legend used to explain how the constellation Ara came to be. According to this myth, before the war with the Titans, the Cyclops built an altar. Zeus and the other Greek gods swore an alliance at this altar. After winning the great war, the gods raised this altar into the night sky as a memorial, which later became the constellation Ara. This myth suggests that humans began the tradition of swearing oaths before altars from then on, to guarantee their sincerity and loyalty. According to the 2nd-century AD ancient Greek geographer Pausanias, in the sanctuary dedicated to Poseidon in the Isthmus of Corinth, there did indeed exist a sanctuary called the Cyclops Altar. Ancient people made sacrifices to the Cyclops there. However, apart from this, there is no other historical evidence of any other worship or sacrificial activities related to the Cyclops. In this origin of the Cyclops, the ancient primitive Cyclops were theoretically immortal, like the Titans. However, two legends mention the death of these Cyclops. The first is that Asclepius, the son of Apollo, was struck down by Zeus's thunderbolt. Apollo, seeking revenge, decided to strike at the supplier of thunderbolts. Instead of attacking Zeus, he directly rushed into the underground of the volcano with his bow and arrows and uprooted all the Cyclops who forged thunderbolts for Zeus, carrying out a collective massacre. The second account is that Zeus personally killed these Cyclops to prevent them from forging thunderbolts for others, similar to the 11 scientists who disappeared recently. The second origin of the Cyclops states that during the heroic age of ancient Greece, a second group of Cyclops appeared. These Cyclops were gentle in nature, not robbing or eating people, but they were masters of civil engineering and were god-like architects with supernatural skills. Legend has it that the so-called Cyclopean super defensive walls of the ancient cities of Mycenae, Tiryns, and Argos in mainland Greece were built by these Cyclops with their own hands. Although they can be considered a separate group, these Cyclops architects share several commonalities with the Cyclops from Origin one. First, both groups of giants appeared in the ancient primordial era. Second, both possessed extraordinary craftsmanship and were top-tier artisans. The Greeks of that time, seeing these colossal, almost miraculous prehistoric stone walls composed of tens or even hundreds of tons of giant stones, believed that ordinary human strength could absolutely not move these large stones. Therefore, they believed that in ancient times, there must have been a group of Cyclops, and these walls were built by them. In terms of history, archaeology, and architecture, this magnificent architectural style is still officially called Cyclopean masonry to this day. However, from this, it can be seen that in ancient times, ancient people had already discovered the existence of prehistoric megalithic civilizations, because the ancient Greeks, upon seeing these structures, proved that when they went to these places, the megalithic structures already existed and were not built by the Greeks. Many ancient megalithic structures, such as Stonehenge in Britain and Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, are very interesting, but I will not discuss them here; I will dedicate a separate episode to them in the future. And the last origin of the Cyclops, as mentioned earlier, is the Cyclops that the protagonist Odysseus encountered on the island in the Odyssey. They were born to Poseidon, the sea god, so I will not elaborate further. However, the Cyclops from Origin three are completely different from the previous two groups of Cyclops. The previous two groups of Cyclops were either skilled in forging divine weapons or skilled in architectural techniques. But the Cyclops in the Odyssey, not only did they not originate with the ancient Titans, but they spent their days herding sheep on the island, living in caves, and leading a primitive life. They knew nothing of agriculture, seafaring, craftsmanship, or even architecture. Their greatest skill was to eat lost human sailors who strayed onto their island as food. They were completely barbaric. Also, don't think that only European mythology has Cyclops. In fact, Chinese mythology also records events related to Cyclops. In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas," "Overseas North Classic," and "Great Square North Classic," it is recorded that in the Great Square region to the north lived a tribe called Yimu Jiao. These people were very burly and had only one large eye in the center of their face. Coincidentally, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus also mentioned in his writings a nomadic tribe of one-eyed people in the north. It's just north, and they are just one-eyed. Why would two civilizations separated by thousands of miles both say that a tribe of Cyclops lived in the north? Could it be that the Cyclops mentioned in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and those mentioned by Herodotus are actually the same people? Another possibility is that the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" does not simply record the geography of ancient China, but rather the geography of the entire Earth in ancient times. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why, over three thousand years ago, with extremely backward technology and transportation, ancient Greeks and ancient Chinese people separated by tens of thousands of miles would coincidentally imagine a giant with a large eye on its forehead. Did all the myths in this world originate from the same source, or did two ancient peoples actually see the existence of Cyclops? If viewed from a modern scientific and rational perspective, the Cyclops can also be explained. Ancient Greeks and Mediterranean inhabitants often dug up extremely large bones in the limestone caves of Sicily and Crete, and these bones had a large cavity in the center. Ancient people, upon seeing them, would have thought they were the skeletons of the Cyclops from myths. However, after modern scientific examination of these bones, it was found that these bones were not from Cyclops, nor were they human, but rather fossilized skulls of dwarf elephants that went extinct tens of thousands of years ago during the Ice Age. Although called dwarf elephants, they were still enormous beasts to humans. And the skulls of these elephants did indeed have a cavity in the center. That position was actually the location of the elephant's trunk, and the hole in the middle was the nasal cavity. Since the eyes of these elephants were located on the very hidden sides of the skull, their eyes were very small. Moreover, the ancient Greeks had never seen elephants, so it is completely understandable that when they dug up skulls in caves that were several times larger than a human head and had a hole in the middle, they would naturally mistake them for Cyclops. So, have you noticed why I said at the beginning that the skin of the Cyclops is somewhat like that of elephants and rhinoceroses, and their movements are also somewhat similar to elephants? There is a reason for this. Ancient Greeks also believed that the earliest indigenous people of Sicily in legend were the Cyclops tribe, as well as another group of man-eating giants. This group of man-eating giants was also mentioned in the Odyssey. Odysseus originally had 12 ships, but after being attacked by giants in a bay, only Odysseus's own ship was able to escape. The so-called man-eating giants refer to this group of giants. Furthermore, ancient Greeks believed that the weapon manufacturing plant of Hephaestus and his group of Cyclops assistants was actually located on the island of Lipari in the Aeolian Islands. The name of this island is actually the origin of the English word "volcano." The reason why ancient people forcibly placed the weapon manufacturing plant of the Cyclops underground in a volcano was simply because ancient people could not understand why volcanoes erupted. In their eyes, they believed that a group of Cyclops lived underground, and the fire and smoke produced when they forged iron underground were volcanic eruptions. Also, ancient blacksmiths, to protect their smelting techniques from being leaked, often lived in isolation. And when forging iron, to prevent sparks from flying into their eyes, ancient blacksmiths would cover one eye with a piece of leather, working with one eye. If some uninformed ancient people looked over, they would see these one-eyed big men forging iron. As the story spread, it evolved into the myth of the Cyclops. The nine-headed Hydra had a huge body and nine heads. However, some legends say it had dozens of heads, and the central head among the nine had the ability to be immortal. Anyone who cut off one of its heads would regenerate two new heads from the stump within seconds. That's why some legends say it had dozens of heads; it should be that the individual nine-headed serpent had its head cut off many times, so it continuously grew new heads until it had dozens. Legend has it that the nine-headed Hydra appeared near the Lerna Marsh. In reality, this place does exist; it is in a small town called Lerna in southern Greece. The Hydra's most powerful weapon was its potent poison. Its poison was so strong that even the air it exhaled could turn into a deadly poisonous mist. Anyone who approached the Lerna Marsh where it lived and inhaled the poisonous gas would die instantly. Even the slime it left on the muddy ground could make the entire land barren and the water sources unusable. Legend has it that the Hydra's father was the ultimate monster Typhon, who had 100 dragon heads, and its mother was Echidna, the mother of all monsters, with the upper body of a beautiful woman and the lower body of a giant snake. She and the sea monster Scylla and the three-headed hellhound Cerberus, who appeared in the Odyssey, were siblings. However, the reason the Hydra hid in the Lerna Marsh was actually caused by Hera, the queen of the gods. Hera hated her husband Zeus for having affairs with mortal women and having children. At that time, Hercules, Zeus's illegitimate son, was born and grew up to fulfill 12 divine tasks. Hera, wanting to kill Zeus's illegitimate son, raised the nine-headed Hydra and threw it into the Lerna Marsh, intending to use the Hydra to kill Hercules. When Hercules encountered the nine-headed Hydra, no matter how many heads he cut off, they would grow back. However, Hercules later discovered that one of the nine heads was the core. So, after cutting off each head, he would have his nephew burn the wound with fire. After the Hydra's wounds were burned, it could no longer grow new heads. After Hercules cut off all nine heads, he then used a giant rock weighing a thousand pounds to press down on the Hydra's core head. Then, Hercules dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood. These poisoned arrows also led to Hercules's accidental death later, and even injured his mentor, the centaur Chiron. Some people might ask, wasn't it Perseus who killed the nine-headed Hydra? In fact, the monster Perseus killed by the sea was called Cetus, a deep-sea whale monster. However, later Hollywood movies or Western games felt that a whale monster was not imposing enough, so they borrowed Hercules's nine-headed Hydra for Perseus to use, which caused a lot of confusion, making many people think that Perseus, not Hercules, killed the nine-headed Hydra. However, in orthodox Greek mythology, only Hercules ever killed the nine-headed Hydra. If we look at it from a rational scientific perspective, this nine-headed Hydra can also be explained. Historians believe that the Lerna region in ancient Greece was a marshland that experienced intermittent outbreaks of groundwater. In ancient times, the Lerna Marsh frequently had new springs erupting from underground. Large amounts of groundwater would surge from the springs, flooding surrounding farmland and villages, causing floods. To manage the floods, ancient people sent people to seal these springs with stones or mud. However, since groundwater flows, if you seal one outlet, it will create a new spring and erupt elsewhere. This situation is precisely like Hercules cutting off one head of the nine-headed Hydra, and it growing two heads. Also, ancient people discovered that to completely seal these underground springs that continuously gushed water, it was useless to just seal the holes with stones and mud. They would use large amounts of wood, set it on fire, and use high temperatures to burn the limestone and mud around the springs into hard blocks, completely sealing the outlets of the springs. This corresponds to the myth where Hercules had his nephew burn the Hydra's wounds with fire so that it could not grow new heads. The Hydra's deadly poisonous gas is very simple; it is marsh gas that erupts along with the groundwater. Ancient Greeks did not know about marsh gas. When they walked through the marsh and accidentally inhaled this high-concentration marsh gas, they would be poisoned, suffocate, or even die suddenly. Besides Greek mythology, other countries' mythologies also surprisingly have monsters like multi-headed dragons or multi-headed snakes. One of the most classic is the Yamata no Orochi in Japanese mythology, which has eight heads and eight tails. Its body is so huge that it can span eight valleys. Its eyes are blood-red, its back is covered with moss, and its belly is constantly festering and bleeding. In Japanese mythology, it is said that Susanoo, the god of storms, was banished from heaven for causing trouble and went to the land of Izumo. Here, he saw an old couple crying. Upon inquiry, he discovered that a Yamata no Orochi came every year to eat one of their daughters, and this year it had reached their last daughter, Princess Kushinada. Susanoo heard this and decided to be a hero and save the beauty. However, instead of confronting the Yamata no Orochi head-on like Hercules, he used a trick. He asked the old couple to make eight barrels of strong sake and place them on the path that the Yamata no Orochi would take. When the serpent arrived, it smelled the sake and, unable to resist the temptation, stuck its eight heads into the eight sake barrels and drank madly. As a result, it got drunk. At this moment, Susanoo took out his Kusanagi sword and cut off all eight heads and eight tails. When he cut off the last tail, there was a sudden "ding." It turned out that the Kusanagi sword had broken. He then cut open the tail to see, and found a sword hidden inside, which was later known as the Kusanagi sword. In Sumerian mythology, there is also a seven-headed serpent monster called Mušḫuššu. Its body is a net snake, with the claws of a lion and the wings of a flying eagle. In the ancient Babylonian "Epic of Creation," it is described as having poisonous teeth and flowing with deadly venom instead of blood. In the oldest Sumerian mythology, this seven-headed serpent was one of the eleven monsters born to Tiamat, the mother of all monsters, to destroy the world. At that time, Ninurta, the god of storms, war, and hunting, stepped forward to destroy this seven-headed serpent. Legend has it that Ninurta used his talking divine hammer, Sharur, to shatter all seven heads of this seven-headed serpent. Some believe that the story of Ninurta's great battle with the seven-headed serpent spread from the Sumerian and Babylonian regions to the Aegean Sea in Greece, evolving into the nine-headed Hydra depicted by the Greeks. Do you notice here that Susanoo of Japan and Ninurta of Sumerian mythology are somewhat similar? Both are gods of storms, and both have destroyed multi-headed serpent monsters. Also, Ninurta being the god of storms includes the function of a thunder god, and he wields a divine hammer as his weapon. So, could this image have later spread to Northern Europe to become the Thor, the thunder god, whom we are very familiar with? Why do three different places in the world, Sumer, Greece, and Japan, all have a myth of a hero killing a multi-headed serpent? And have you ever heard that the Japanese and Sumerians are closely related? However, I will leave this as a foreshadowing and discuss it in future episodes. Although in modern popular culture, for example, the siren in the logo of a very famous coffee chain is equated with mermaids, in ancient Greek mythology, Sirens were not mermaids but half-human, half-bird monsters. The characteristic of Sirens was their enchanting voice. Legend has it that they lived near the Strait of Messina. Whenever human ships passed by, the Sirens would sing on the reefs. Their songs had an irresistible magic. Anyone who heard their voices would involuntarily steer their ship towards the reefs or jump into the sea in a frenzy. If we consider the appearance of mythical creatures today, many people would think that Sirens are mermaids. However, in the oldest Greek myths, they were half-human, half-bird monsters. Above their waists, they were beautiful human women, but below their waists, they were actually the bodies of eagles, covered in feathers, with a pair of huge wings and sharp eagle talons. The image of mermaids that we are familiar with only emerged in the Middle Ages, after European mythology merged Sirens with the river water spirits in Germanic mythology, and their image evolved from half-human, half-bird to the current mermaid image. Another possibility is that in ancient Greek mythology, there were already half-human, half-bird monsters called Harpies. To avoid confusion, later myth writers might have changed the image of Sirens to mermaids, which is not impossible. Also, the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" recorded a monster that was also half-human, half-bird, called "Ju Mang." However, I have already discussed this in the episode about the mystery of Sanxingdui, so I will not repeat it here. There are two origins for the Sirens. Origin one: Legend has it that they were not originally monsters but a group of beautiful mortal nymphs who often sang and danced in gardens. At that time, Siren had a good friend, Persephone, the goddess of spring, who was later abducted by Hades, the king of the underworld, to be his wife. One day, while Persephone was picking flowers in the meadow, Hades suddenly emerged from the earth with his chariot and forcibly abducted Persephone to the underworld. The Siren nymphs present at the time were too frightened to stop Hades and watched helplessly as their good sister was abducted. Afterward, Demeter, Persephone's mother, the goddess of grain, learned of this and was furious with the nymphs for not intervening. So, she cast a dark spell on them, transforming them into beings with human upper bodies and eagle lower bodies, and exiled them to a deserted island, where they were to use their mournful songs to help find the missing Persephone. Origin two: Legend has it that they were the offspring of the river god Achelous and the muse Calliope. They inherited the musical talent of the muse. So, Sirens were born with beautiful singing voices. However, as they grew up, the Sirens became arrogant and even dared to challenge the other muses. As a result, the Sirens were defeated, and the victorious muses showed no mercy, transforming them into half-human, half-bird forms and plucking their feathers. Unable to fly without feathers, the Sirens could only hide on the solitary islands of the strait and use their resentful songs to lure sailors to their deaths, seeking revenge on the world. From a realistic perspective, what were these Sirens in reality? In fact, navigators have studied that due to the extremely complex underwater topography of the Strait of Messina, when strong tides rush against the outer rocks at very high speeds, a very rare water whistling effect occurs. When wooden ships sail through these waters, the thick wooden planks become a natural guitar amplifier, amplifying the low-frequency resonance of the whistling effect from the seabed. So, the sailors on the ship would hear sounds resembling human women singing. Coupled with the fact that ancient sailors had been at sea for months and were mentally exhausted, when they heard these sounds amplified by the ship's hull in the fog or at night, they would feel that beautiful women were luring them on the reefs. Thus, they listened so intently that their ships crashed into the reefs. In fact, historians and marine biologists are one hundred percent certain that the mermaids in myths are actually marine mammals, manatees and dugongs. The mammary glands of these animals are located under the armpits of their forelimbs. When a mother manatee is nursing, she uses one forelimb to hold the infant like a human mother, and floats half-submerged in the sea. So, when viewed from a distance, it would appear as if a woman is holding an infant and floating on the sea. Sailors during the Age of Discovery often sailed at sea for months. These young, virile sailors were completely isolated from women on board for hundreds of days. Their mental desire for women reached a pathological extreme. Simply put, they were hallucinating. When these sailors saw a manatee floating in the sea tens of meters away, their brains would only imagine them as slender, well-endowed, fair-skinned mermaids. In an era full of myths and legends, this is not entirely incomprehensible. The sea monster Charybdis basically has no fixed body; their so-called body is usually completely hidden beneath the seabed. The only recognizable sign of them is that they live directly beneath a giant, dark, black reef in the strait. On this reef grows a giant fig tree. This tree is the only reference for sailors to identify Charybdis in the sea. Hidden beneath the reef and the seabed, Charybdis is said to have a giant funnel-shaped mouth tens of meters in diameter, filled with countless rows of sharp teeth. They have no limbs or heads of humans or beasts; their entire body is an esophagus and stomach extending to the depths of the seabed. If I were to describe it, it would be like an upright sea anemone. According to the Odyssey, Charybdis periodically sucks in water three times and spits it out three times a day. When it opens its mouth and frantically sucks in water, a whirlpool forms on the sea surface for kilometers around. From the black reef to the seabed, there is a bottomless, super giant black whirlpool. The suction of this whirlpool is so strong that even the sand and rocks on the seabed are swept up. Any ship, regardless of size, that gets close will be instantly pulled into the center of the whirlpool and torn to shreds by the deep-sea giant mouth filled with sharp teeth, leaving not even a piece of wood. When it sucks in seawater and ships, digests them, it then spews them out like a volcanic eruption, along with the wreckage of the ships. At this time, the sea surface will rise tens of meters high, like boiling, monstrous waves and black foam. Legend has it that Charybdis's father was Poseidon, the sea god, and its mother was Gaia, the earth goddess. As the offspring of the sea king and the earth mother, Charybdis possessed immense divine power to control tides and devour the earth from birth. Some people might notice here that Gaia, the earth goddess, is Poseidon's grandmother. So why would they give birth to this sea monster? That's right, the relationships in Greek mythology are that messy. Often, fathers get involved with daughters, and grandsons get involved with grandmothers. This is also a unique aspect of Greek mythology. Legend has it that in ancient times, Poseidon and Zeus often quarreled over the dominion of land. Charybdis, as Poseidon's daughter before becoming a sea monster, decided to help her father. She used the divine power of the earth inherited from her mother, Gaia, to trigger a world-shattering flood, frantically sucking up land, rocks, and even cities into her earth, and then flooding the land with seawater, with the aim of expanding Poseidon's oceanic territory. Because of this great flood, Charybdis was mythologically given the divine attribute of greed and gluttony. What brought about Charybdis's downfall was another mythical event of cattle theft. Legend has it that the Greek hero Hercules was carrying out his twelve divine tasks, one of which was to drive the precious Geryon's red cattle herd from the distant land of giants back to Greece. As Hercules was driving the large herd of red cattle across the sea, the greedy Charybdis acted up again. Seeing these shining red cattle, she swallowed them all at once. This incident crossed Zeus's bottom line because Hercules was one of Zeus's most favored descendants, and this task was a divinely ordained trial. Charybdis had already incurred Zeus's displeasure by helping Poseidon expand his territory, and now she had interfered with Zeus's son's task. So, Zeus, in his rage, threw a thunderbolt from Mount Olympus down to the mortal realm, directly striking Charybdis, transforming her from a beautiful divine maiden into a mortal and casting her into the cold, dark seabed. To punish her for her endless greed and gluttony, Zeus cast the cruelest curse upon her. Zeus said, "Since you love to eat so much, I will make you never be full for your entire life." Zeus twisted her body into a deep-sea monster with sharp teeth that could never be satisfied, and forced her to suck in and spit out the sea three times a day. According to Greek historians, they believe that the prototype of Charybdis should be located in the Strait of Messina, between Italy and Sicily, facing the rock of Scylla on the mainland. In reality, that location is indeed a whirlpool formed by the confluence of currents, but it only poses a threat to small vessels under extreme conditions. It is believed that ancient people once saw this whirlpool, and it was passed down and evolved into the whirlpool monster Charybdis. In ancient Greek mythology, Scylla is one of the most terrifying monsters in the sea. She and Charybdis, the giant whirlpool monster facing her across the strait, jointly guarded an extremely narrow strait, which is the present-day Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily. Scylla's appearance can be roughly divided into three parts. Above her waist is a human female torso, and some say she was quite beautiful. But the most terrifying part is her waist. Her waist has six huge dog heads, each with a long and flexible neck like a snake. Each dog head has three rows of sharp, saber-like poisonous teeth and emits a chilling cry like a dying puppy. Her lower body is composed of twelve giant octopus tentacles or snake tails. Normally, she uses these tentacles to cling to the depths of dark sea caves. Whenever human ships pass by, she extends her six dog heads from the cave simultaneously, like fishing, instantly snatching six sailors from the ship. Scylla has a total of three origins. Origin one: Legend has it that a fisherman named Glaucus mistakenly ate a divine herb and transformed into a half-human, half-fish sea god. He fell madly in love with Scylla, a mortal walking on the beach, and pursued her relentlessly. However, Scylla was frightened by his fish tail. The devoted merman, in order to win the goddess's heart, sought out the famous sorceress Circe. Yes, this Circe is the sorceress in the Odyssey who turned Odysseus's men into pigs. The merman hoped the sorceress could concoct a love potion for him, which from a modern perspective would be an aphrodisiac. But to his surprise, after the merman went to the sorceress, the sorceress fell in love with the merman herself and told him, "Scylla does not deserve your love; I do." But the merman firmly refused. Thus, the sorceress, driven by anger and love turned to hate, decided to destroy Scylla. The sorceress concocted a deadly cursed poison. At night, she poured this poison into the sea pool where Scylla loved to swim and bathe. When Scylla entered the pool as usual, and the water reached her waist, she suddenly discovered six dogs near her waist. She was terrified and tried to drive the dogs away, but later she discovered that these dog heads were part of her own body. The transformed monster Scylla finally fled the human world and hid in the dark sea caves of the strait, becoming a monster feared by all. Origin two: Legend has it that Scylla was originally a very beautiful nymph who was noticed by Poseidon, who was roaming everywhere. Poseidon secretly pursued Scylla madly, and they sometimes met in secret. But the affair could not be kept secret, and Poseidon's wife soon discovered her husband's infidelity. However, Poseidon's wife did not confront Poseidon but instead vented all her anger and resentment on the mistress, Scylla. Thus, Poseidon's wife secretly concocted a wicked magical poison. At night, she poured the poison into the pool where Scylla loved to swim and bathe. Scylla, unaware of what was happening, entered the pool, and the poison immediately permeated her skin, causing her beautiful legs to dissolve and mutate into a monster with six heads and twelve tentacles. Origin three: It directly states that Scylla's father was Typhon, the ultimate monster with 100 dragon heads in Greek mythology, and her mother was Echidna, the female demon. Echidna has the upper body of a human beauty and the lower body of a snake, similar to Nuwa in Chinese mythology, Isis in Egyptian mythology, Naga in Indian mythology, and Ninhursag in Sumerian mythology, all having human bodies and snake legs. According to this genealogy, Scylla did not need anyone to poison her; she was born a terrifying, deformed monster. Her siblings are also famous monsters in Greek mythology, including her brother Cerberus, the three-headed gatekeeper of hell, her sister the nine-headed Hydra (Hydra) that Hercules once killed, and her younger brother Chimera, whose head is a lion, body is a goat, and tail is a snake. From a realistic perspective, the so-called sea monster Scylla is actually a treacherous sea cave on the Italian side of the Strait of Messina. Below this rocky mountain, there are many sharp underwater reefs. So, when wooden ships are swept towards this cliff by the currents, the ships will be smashed by the reefs below the seabed, and the sailors will fall into the sea, be injured by the reefs, and finally perish in the sea. This looks like a sea monster eating people. The so-called cry of Scylla is actually the strong northwest wind that frequently blows in the area. When the waves hit the hollow sea caves below this cliff at extremely high speeds, the air is compressed in the caves, producing a hollow echo. To ancient sailors, it sounded like a monster roaring. Centaurs are a common mythical creature in Western mythology, with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. In many Greek myths, centaurs are considered wild and untamed like wild horses. Legend has it that they lived in the regions of Magnesia and Mount Pelion, as well as the forest of Pholoi in Elis. Currently, there are many origins for centaurs in myths and legends. Five origins are frequently mentioned. Origin one: Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a kingdom called Thessaly, ruled by a king named Ixion. This guy was incredibly lustful and actually molested Hera, the queen of the gods. When Zeus found out, he was furious. So, he magically transformed a cloud into a fake Hera, whom Zeus later named Nephele, the goddess of clouds. The lustful Ixion, without suspicion, did with this fake Hera what everyone loves to do. Later, the fake Hera gave birth to a monster named Centaurus. This monster later went into the mountains and mated with the local wild horses, and their offspring became the centaur race. Origin two: Legend has it that Zeus had an illegitimate son with a mortal woman. This illegitimate son was Dionysus, the god of wine. To prevent Hera from killing his illegitimate son, Zeus sent twelve river spirits from the river Lamos to personally care for Dionysus. Who knew that when Hera discovered this, she used dark magic to transform these twelve guardian spirits into centaurs with bull horns. However, although these twelve spirits transformed into centaurs were very sad, they later became warrior centaurs and accompanied the army of Dionysus on their eastern campaign to India. Origin three: Before Zeus became king of the gods, the previous king of the gods, Cronus, secretly pursued a beautiful nymph named Philyra, hiding it from his wife Rhea, the goddess of time. To escape the god-king's sexual harassment, the nymph used shapeshifting to transform herself into a mare and flee. However, Cronus saw through her scheme. To obtain this nymph, Cronus also transformed himself into a red stallion and chased after her. While the two horses were mating passionately, Cronus's wife Rhea suddenly appeared and caught them in the act. Cronus was so shocked that his soul left his body, and he ejaculated immediately and fled. He left behind the heartbroken nymph. The nymph later became pregnant and gave birth in a cave on Mount Pelion. However, when she looked at the infant she had given birth to, she found that the infant had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. The nymph felt that giving birth to a monster was a great shame and found the experience of being raped by Cronus disgusting. In extreme despair, she cruelly abandoned the half-human, half-horse infant. She then complained to the gods, wishing to become a plant rather than the mother of this monster. The gods took pity on her and transformed her into a linden tree. This unwanted infant was later found by Apollo, the sun god, and Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, who raised him. Legend has it that this infant was the later centaur Chiron. The sun god and the goddess of the hunt taught him everything they knew without reservation, cultivating him into an omniscient and wise sage. He was proficient in many fields, including medicine, martial arts, astronomy, astrology, music, and moral cultivation.

You will therefore see the image of the centaur Chiron, completely different from other savage centaurs. He appears in the guise of a sage. It is precisely because of this that the Cypriot Song also states that when Achilles' father Peleus got married, Chiron gave him a Pelion long sock. Afterwards, Peleus also sent his own son to the centaur Chiron to learn martial arts and morality. Not only Achilles, but even Hercules was Chiron's student. Chiron is generally a respected centaur in ancient Greek mythology.

Origin Four: Legend has it that on the distant island of Cyprus, there lived a tribe of very strange centaurs. Legend has it that this group of Cypriot centaurs was born when Zeus, in his mad pursuit of the goddess of beauty Aphrodite, ate a lemon. In his rage, Zeus then masturbated on the spot, ejaculating onto the land of Cyprus. He was so angry that he would rather ejaculate on the ground than give it to her. And this land, feeling the wrath and humiliation of the king of the gods, later gave birth to a group of centaurs. Unlike the centaurs in Greece, the Cypriot centaurs had a pair of horns like those of a buffalo on their heads, and they were more aggressive.

Origin Five: Legend has it that the sun god Apollo and the nymph Stilbe had a pair of twin brothers. The names of these brothers were Centaurus and Lapiths. The younger brother, Lapiths, remained in the local area and became an indigenous inhabitant, the ancestor of the Lapith people. The elder brother, Centaurus, led some of his clansmen to the Magnesia mountain region. Legend has it that this mountain region was rich in wild horses, and he and his clansmen would mate with the local mares from time to time. Thus, the centaur race, with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse, was born. So don't think that the donkey in lowbrow comedy is a joke. In fact, many ancient human ethnic groups in history had the custom of mating with animals. This is something that can be discussed further in the future. The implication is that centaurs and humans actually come from the same family.

One day, the king of the human race, Pirithous, held his grand wedding, marrying the beautiful Hippodamia. The human king, in his kindness, invited these distant relatives of the centaurs to attend the wedding. Who knew that these centaurs had never drunk strong liquor before. After a few cups of "shit water" went down their throats, they collectively went mad and rioted in the wedding hall, attempting to assault the bride and all the human women present on the spot. Coincidentally, the great Greek hero Theseus was present at the scene. Seeing these beasts behaving so rudely, he drew his sword to help and joined forces with the human race to fight against the centaur race. This great battle was extremely bloody. There was a human hero named Caeneus, who was blessed by the gods and impervious to weapons. However, the frenzied centaurs, finding him invulnerable, ganged up on him, dozens against one. The centaurs used huge rocks and tree trunks like pile drivers, and alive, they drove the invulnerable hero into the ground, crushing him to pieces. Finally, through the efforts of the human hero Theseus, they successfully drove away this group of centaurs.

If you have paid attention, Origin One and Origin Five are actually related. This is because the name Centaurus appears in both stories. Another version of this legend says that Hercules was also in this great battle between humans and centaurs. He used arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the nine-headed Hydra to frantically shoot the centaurs. In the melee, his poisoned arrows accidentally wounded the immortal centaur Chiron. The poisonous blood of the Hydra caused him immense pain, but he could not die. As a result, the centaur Chiron voluntarily gave up his divine immortality to Prometheus, and then he died. Zeus, to commemorate the greatness of the centaur Chiron, ascended him to the heavens, transforming him into the constellation Centaurus, which is Sagittarius.

From a modern perspective, this great battle between humans and centaurs is actually a metaphor for the great battle between civilized people and barbarians. Some historians believe that the mythical creature of the centaur is very likely the experience of the ancient Greeks encountering nomadic peoples riding horses for the first time during the Bronze Age, around 2000 BC. At that time, Greek farmers did not know how to ride horses. Horses were mainly used to pull chariots. But when they saw nomadic peoples from the north riding on horses, and some riders even shooting arrows from horseback, the ancient Greeks, who had never ridden horses, would have thought they were centaurs when seen from a distance. Then, the unknown fear and shock of seeing humans riding on these half-human, half-horse creatures, after hundreds of years of oral tradition, eventually evolved into the classic mythical creature of the centaur.

Some people call the Trojan War cycle an epic of heroes, but I actually think it's more like mythology. Firstly, myths are written by people, and just because they are written by people doesn't mean they can't be called myths. The reason I define it as mythology is that from beginning to end, many Greek gods are involved. The entire story originated from Zeus wanting to reduce the population, which led to the Trojan War. Although this was not mentioned later, and even this reason was ignored, the story in the middle is interspersed with many stories of gods. Also, the Odyssey chapters greatly enhanced the fantasy elements, such as sea monsters, cyclops, and witches. By the end of the story, the protagonists ascended to immortality. Therefore, from my personal standpoint, the Trojan War cycle is actually a mythological story. In this section, I will compare the Trojan War cycle with various mythological stories from around the world, and you will find that they have many similarities.

First, I will compare it with the Sumerian mythology, which everyone likes the most. I don't really know why everyone likes Sumerian mythology so much, but if you remember my video on "The Mystery of Sumer," I once said that the world's earliest epic of heroes is the Epic of Gilgamesh. In fact, both have many commonalities. First, the Trojan War cycle says that Achilles was born to the sea goddess Thetis and a mortal, possessing three-quarters divine blood. In the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh's mother was a goddess, and his father was a mortal, possessing two-thirds divine and one-third human blood. Some people might ask why it's such strange fractions as three-quarters and two-thirds. This is because in mythology, bloodline calculations are different from ours in reality. Divinity must be more than humanity, so that these demigods appear closer to gods than to humans. Anyway, their calculation method is not something we can calculate with ordinary mathematical logic. But the protagonists in both stories are demigods and half-humans.

In the Trojan War cycle, Achilles initially refused to fight until his old friend Patroclus was killed by Hector, which then spurred Achilles to return to the battlefield. In Sumerian mythology, Gilgamesh was originally a tyrant until he met Enkidu, and the two became sworn brothers. Later, the gods wanted to take Enkidu's life, which shattered Gilgamesh's faith in strength. Both of them began to awaken only after their best friends died.

Also, in the Cypriot Song, it is said that at the beginning, Zeus felt that the population on earth was too large, putting too much pressure on the earth goddess Gaia, so he instigated the Trojan War to reduce the population. In Sumerian civilization, their god Enki created mortals to do labor, but humanity's reproduction rate was too fast, and they became increasingly noisy. So, the king of the gods, Enlil, felt that humans were too noisy and disturbing his sleep, so he sent down a great flood to clear the population. This story is also the prototype of Noah's Ark in the Bible. In both myths, a king of the gods instigated a plan to eliminate the population.

Also, in the Odyssey, Odysseus went to Circe's island, where Circe put a drug in their food, causing the sailors to turn into pigs after eating it. Similarly, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, there was a goddess, Ishtar, who proposed to Gilgamesh, but Gilgamesh rejected her on the spot and revealed her past love affairs. Ishtar was very fond of turning her former lovers into animals. In both myths, a character resembling a goddess or witch turns people into animals.

Speaking of turning into animals, there's another similar story in Chinese mythology. In the Taiping Guangji of the Song Dynasty, a story called "The Three Maidens of Banqiao" is preserved. This "Three Maidens" was also a woman who knew magic. Legend has it that a traveler named Zhao Guihe passed through Banqiao, which is now near Shaanxi Province. Zhao Guihe stayed at the Three Maidens' inn. The Three Maidens put a drug in the food, and guests who ate it would turn into donkeys. This story is basically the Chinese version of the witch Circe in the Odyssey. Therefore, some Chinese scholars believe that this plot might originally have come from Homer's epics, spread to India, and then from India to ancient China. And Banqiao was a major hub for foreign trade during the Tang and Song dynasties. So, it is not entirely impossible for these mythological stories to spread from Europe to the Middle East, then to India, and then to China.

From this transmission route, looking back at my previous video "The Mystery of Sanxingdui," it also suggests that the people of Sanxingdui were very likely from Egypt or the Middle East. If myths can be transmitted like this, then I believe it is not strange for other ethnic groups to have come to ancient China along similar routes.

After comparing with Sumerian mythology, let's compare with some Asian myths. First, in the section about "Returning Home," it is said that Agamemnon's father killed his brother's son and then made a feast for his brother with their flesh. When I mentioned this story just now, did it sound familiar to everyone? In China's Investiture of the Gods, King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa's father, Ji Chang, offended King Zhou with his direct advice, so King Zhou imprisoned him for seven years. Ji Chang's eldest son, Bo Yikao, went to the city to rescue his father but was killed by Daji. King Zhou ordered the chef to make Bo Yikao's flesh into minced meat, made three exquisite meat pies, and gave them to Ji Chang to eat. In fact, Ji Chang had already divined and knew that this meat was his son's, but he deliberately ate these meat pies in order to help Ji Fa launch a rebellion against Zhou in the future. King Zhou thought he was truly foolish and let him go. After Ji Chang left, he remembered that he had eaten his son and immediately vomited.

Some people might ask, wasn't Investiture of the Gods written in the Ming Dynasty? But in fact, when Investiture of the Gods was written, it referenced ancient historical materials. Historically, there is indeed a passage about King Wen of Zhou eating his son's meat soup. So, this plot was not created but actually happened in history. And in both myths, someone's son's meat is cooked and given to someone to eat.

Also, in the Odyssey, Odysseus went to the island inhabited by the god of winds. Later, when he was about to leave, the god of winds gave him a huge bag made of oxhide, saying that it contained all the gales except the west wind, and warned them not to open it. However, later, Odysseus's crew thought the bag contained gold. While Odysseus was asleep, they quietly opened the bag, and the gales inside rushed out, pushing their ship back to the island of the god of winds.

This part is somewhat similar to the legend of Urashima Taro in Japanese mythology. It is said that after Urashima Taro went to the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea, Princess Otohime gave him a jade box, telling him not to open it casually. But when Urashima Taro returned to the surface, driven by curiosity, he opened the brocade box given to him by the god. As a result, Urashima Taro instantly turned into an old man. In both myths, a god gives the protagonist an item and tells them not to open it. But driven by curiosity, the protagonist and his group open the gift from the god and are punished in the end.

In fact, if the story of Urashima Taro were extended, it would be somewhat like the story of Pandora's Box. However, I have already discussed the myth of Pandora's Box in the episode "The Mystery of the Great Flood," so I will not repeat it here.

Also, in the Odyssey, Odysseus accidentally went to the island of the Cyclops. Later, at night, they sharpened stakes made of olive wood and, while the Cyclops was asleep, blinded him by stabbing his eye. In the Middle Eastern myth of "One Thousand and One Nights," there is an identical story. In "One Thousand and One Nights," Sinbad and his crew encountered a storm, and their ship drifted to an unknown island. On the island, they discovered a palace floating on clouds, and a giant Cyclops emerged and ate their captain. So, Sinbad and the surviving crew, while the giant was asleep, worked together to lift a giant iron fork, heated it in the fire, and then aimed it at the Cyclops's eye and stabbed it.

Also, in the Odyssey, Odysseus hid under the bellies of sheep to escape the Cyclops's cave. When they returned to the ship, the blinded Cyclops went to the seashore and picked up nearby giant rocks to try to attack Odysseus's ship. In "One Thousand and One Nights," Sinbad and his crew escaped on a raft. The blinded Cyclops also went to the seashore and picked up some giant stones to try to sink Sinbad's raft. From these two points, it can be seen that the story in "One Thousand and One Nights" definitely pays homage to the story in the Odyssey. Otherwise, these two plots could not be so similar, with a similarity rate of up to 95%.

Also, in the Cypriot Song, it is said that the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, the wife of the Spartan king, which ultimately led to the allied Greek forces attacking Troy. In Indian mythology, there is a similar story. In ancient India, there was a prince named Rama. He, his wife Sita, and his brother Lakshmana lived a secluded life in the forest. At that time, the ruler of Lanka, now Sri Lanka, was the ten-headed demon king Ravana. Legend has it that he had ten heads and twenty arms. I suspect that this Ravana is the prototype of the "Ten-Faced Demon" in Kamen Rider Amazon.

Returning to the mythological story, Ravana heard that Sita was very beautiful, so he set a trap to lure Rama and his brother away. He then disguised himself as an ascetic and abducted Sita to Lanka. When Rama and his brother returned and found Sita missing, they embarked on a long journey to find her. Eventually, they learned that Sita was imprisoned on Lanka by the ten-headed demon king. Then, it is told how Rama crossed the sea, assembled an army, and fought to reclaim his wife. The battles between good and evil in between are not detailed. In the end, Rama successfully rescued Sita. However, the parts about how they crossed the sea, assembled an army, and fought to reclaim their wife are exactly the same as the Trojan War.

Also, in many mythological stories around the world, the protagonists are invincible all over, almost immortal, like Achilles, but have a small fatal weakness. As long as that weakness is attacked, their immortality can be broken. Here, I would like to remind everyone that in Greek mythology, after the sea goddess Thetis gave birth to Achilles, she took the infant Achilles to the River Styx to bathe. Legend has it that the parts of the body submerged in the River Styx become impervious to weapons. However, at that time, the sea goddess held Achilles by the ankle of his right foot, so the ankle of his right foot was not submerged in any of the River Styx water. This made Achilles' right ankle the only fatal weakness in his entire body. In the end, Achilles died from this weakness.

In the German heroic epic, the Nibelungenlied, there was a young prince named Siegfried. In an adventure, he encountered the dragon Fafnir, who guarded the Nibelungen treasure. After a great battle, Siegfried pierced the dragon's heart with a divine sword. The dragon's blood immediately gushed out and sprayed onto Siegfried's body. Siegfried immediately stripped naked and bathed in the dragon's blood. The dragon's blood had supreme defensive power, so after the dragon's blood dried, it seeped into Siegfried's skin, making him immortal. However, when Siegfried was bathing in the dragon's blood, there was a linden tree nearby. A leaf from the linden tree fell from the tree and stuck to his back, between his shoulder blades, corresponding to the position of his heart on his back. Because this leaf was stuck to his body, that part of his skin was not soaked in dragon's blood. Later, Siegfried was assassinated by his political enemies due to this weakness.

In Norse mythology, there is a god of light named Baldr, who is the biological son of the king of the gods Odin and the queen of the gods Frigg. For a time, Baldr had constant nightmares, dreaming that he would die. So, his mother Frigg, upon learning of this, traveled to all nine worlds, asking everything in the world to swear an oath that they would absolutely not harm her son Baldr. Through Frigg's efforts, all things in the world, such as metal, stone, trees, diseases, and poisons, everything tangible and intangible you can think of, swore an oath, causing all physical and magical attacks to bounce off Baldr automatically. However, Frigg overlooked one thing. As she passed by Asgard, she saw a mistletoe growing next to a tree. At that time, she thought this mistletoe was so weak and harmless. Frigg thought, "What threat can such a frail thing pose?" So, she did not ask the mistletoe to swear an oath. Later, due to this oversight, any weapon made from mistletoe would cause significant harm to Baldr. In mythology, the evil god Loki used this weakness to kill him. If you have played God of War V, you will definitely have encountered this character and setting, as there is an identical plot in the game.

Also, in the mythology of ancient Persian religions, such as Zoroastrianism and Mazdaism, there is a myth called Esfandiyar. He received a baptism of holy water from a prophet, and his entire skin turned into bronze. Any swords, spears, and arrows that hit him would automatically break. However, when his eyes received the holy water, the flow was too strong, so Esfandiyar instinctively closed his eyes, resulting in his eyeballs not being touched by any holy water. As you can guess, his eyes became his weakness. In the end, he was shot in the eye and died.

In the Indian mythology of the Mahabharata, there is a character named Duryodhana. Duryodhana's mother used all her accumulated divine light to shine on his body, making his entire body indestructible. However, while shining the divine light, Duryodhana, out of shame, secretly covered his inner thighs with leaves, so his genitals were not illuminated by the divine light. Similarly, he was eventually attacked at this weakness and died. However, to be fair, I think any man attacked in the genitals would die instantly. This is very normal.

In this section, I will discuss Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. In ancient times, Homer was generally considered the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. However, contemporary academia believes that although the two epics are called the Homeric epics, they speculate that the so-called Homeric epics, and even the entire Trojan War cycle, may have been independently created, meaning they were not created by a single author but were the crystallization of long-term oral traditions collected from multiple authors. Since many people in ancient Greece during the Dark Ages and Archaic periods were illiterate, these epic stories were mainly performed orally by bards for their audiences, rather than written down. Simply put, bards were the YouTubers of ancient times. If "Di Da" lived in ancient times, I would also be a bard, or perhaps not even a full-time YouTuber.

Ancient Greeks generally depicted Homer as a blind bard who, accompanied by a lyre, sang these heroic stories at banquets, festivals, court gatherings, and while wandering. This image of Homer is deeply ingrained and has even influenced later literary works and art. For example, in Dante's Divine Comedy, Homer is specifically called the king of poets. Speaking of Dante's Divine Comedy, it is one of the earliest Western literary works to establish the image of hell. I personally like the Divine Comedy very much. If there is an opportunity in the future, I can make a video about the Divine Comedy.

Returning to the topic, in ancient Greek, Homer does not literally mean hippopotamus. In ancient Greek, Homer means hostage or blind person. So, the name Homer might have been given later by people who knew he was blind but didn't know the poet's name, so they called him Homer. In anecdotes, Homer is described as having lost his sight. Some ancient biographies usually describe Homer as poor but very wise and extremely skilled at improvisation. As for Homer's birthplace, at least seven cities in ancient times were considered possible hometowns, namely Smyrna (modern Turkey), Izmir, Chios Island (modern Chios Island in Greece), Ionia (the western coastal region of modern Turkey), and other places I won't mention, but they are all along the coasts of Turkey and Greece. Therefore, based on these places, modern scholars generally believe that Homer most likely came from the Ionian region, which is the western coastal area of modern Turkey, because the language of the epics is mainly in the Ionian dialect, and Homer was generally very familiar with the geography of that region. From this information, if Homer truly existed historically, he was most likely from the region around Turkey or mainland Greece.

As for the period of Homer's existence, there are several theories. According to the famous ancient Greek historian Herodotus, Homer lived 400 years before him, which is around 850 BC. The modern mainstream view is that Homer was active in the 8th century BC. The two differ by about 100 years, so the modern view generally considers Homer to be a person of the 8th century BC, which roughly coincides with the period when the Iliad and the Odyssey were written. A minority of ancient views place Homer's era closer to the time of the Trojan War, i.e., the 12th century BC, but this view is generally considered too ancient and not very credible.

Homer is regarded as a typical bard of the oral tradition. He did not write in a study but preserved and transmitted ancient heroic stories through his powerful memory and improvisational performances. Legend has it that he continued to travel in his later years and eventually died on the island of Rhodes. One legend says he died of excessive grief because he could not answer a fisherman's riddle. There are also many biographical accounts that mythologize Homer, such as saying he was a descendant of the Muses, had a blood relationship with the sun god Apollo, or was a descendant of Odysseus's family, etc. However, most of these claims are considered by modern scholars to be later biographies, not reliable facts.

Currently, there is controversy in Western classical academia about whether Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. It mainly revolves around two points: First, some people believe that Homer was a real genius poet who personally created and compiled the two epics. Second, a group of people believe that Homer may not be a single historical figure but a collective of poets who have been orally transmitting these two epics for a long time. The epics, through hundreds of years of oral tradition, were gradually completed and enriched by multiple bards, finally taking shape around the 8th century BC. The current mainstream academic view is that even if there was a core contributor, this person might indeed be called Homer, but the Iliad and the Odyssey are still the collective crystallization of long-term oral culture, not the result of a single author's solitary creation.

Whether Homer was a single creator or a collective creator is a question commonly known as the "Homeric Question" in Western academia. Regardless of the final outcome of the Homeric Question, modern mainstream classical academia believes that there is currently no conclusive historical evidence from the same period to prove that Homer was a real single historical figure. He might just be a symbolic name, a legendary figure representing the embodiment of the entire bardic tradition.

In fact, scholars believe that Homer was not a real person for a reason. Firstly, the earliest reliable record mentioning the name Homer is about one to two hundred years later than the period he is presumed to have existed. He is currently presumed to be a person of the 8th century BC, but the earliest record mentioning him in ancient Greek literature appears in the 6th to 7th centuries BC. Moreover, these records are considered by later generations to be historical accounts of someone who once existed, not contemporary records. Currently, there are no archaeological artifacts, inscriptions, or contemporary documents that directly prove the existence of a blind poet named Homer.

Furthermore, there are different versions of Homer's biography circulating in ancient Greece, filled with legendary colors, such as being blind, wandering, competing with the famous poet Hesiod and dying from being puzzled by a riddle, etc. Modern scholars generally believe that these biographies are embellished by later generations to add more color. This is because later people believed that the author capable of creating such great epics must be full of mythical color and not so mundane, just as other ancient civilizations usually endow a main god or heroic figure with legendary colors. In addition, the geographical and temporal details in the two epics are mixed, which is why later scholars believe that the two epics are the collective result of hundreds of years of oral tradition, gradually perfected and modified by multiple bards. Even if there was a core genius poet who carried out a major compilation in the 8th century BC, it is unlikely that he could have completed two complete epic poems alone. Therefore, the final conclusion is that many scholars believe that a core genius poet might have truly existed historically and carried out a high-level compilation of previous epic stories, but historians believe that Homer did not exist historically, at least not provable at present.

Regarding the Odyssey, whether the route of Odysseus's sea voyage actually exists is still undecided in academia. According to the myth, the main area where the story takes place is around the Peloponnese Peninsula and the Ionian Islands. Although countless scholars have attempted to reconstruct and draw a complete navigational chart of Odysseus, it is generally believed that the fantastical landscapes described in the story contain too many mythical and imaginative elements, making it difficult to align precisely with real geographical coordinates. For example, whether Odysseus's homeland, Ithaca, is the present-day Ithaca in Greece, is still debated in academia. Moreover, before this epic was formally recorded in writing, it had been orally modified by folk bards for centuries, so the information within may have been distorted over hundreds of years. It is basically very difficult to align with the geographical locations of the present world.

However, compared to the fantastical Odyssey, the Trojan War itself has a much higher degree of authenticity. As early as ancient Greece, most Greeks regarded this epic war as real history. However, some historians doubt whether the Greeks could indeed have dispatched 1,186 warships for an expedition, and even around 100 AD, some scholars believed that the Trojans actually won this war, and the Greeks wrote this epic to cover up their shame of defeat.

As time progressed to the mid-19th century, academia generally agreed that the Trojan War was merely a myth, not a historical event. It was not until an archaeological discovery in 1870 that the academic consensus that the Trojan War was a myth was broken. The key figure who reversed this consensus was the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. In fact, the earliest excavation of the ruins of Troy began with preliminary exploration by the British archaeologist Frank Calvert in 1865. Schliemann then took over in 1871 and conducted large-scale excavations. At that time, Schliemann hired local workers to excavate on Hisarlik Hill in northwestern Turkey. Due to the lack of professional knowledge among the local people, they crudely used explosives to excavate underground. As a result, by chance, they unearthed ancient golden artifacts that were a full thousand years older than the Homeric epics. At that time, Schliemann insisted that these were artifacts from Troy and named this treasure trove of countless gold beads, headdresses, and earrings the "Treasure of Priam," named after the king of Troy in the Trojan War. After discovering this treasure, Schliemann secretly smuggled these ancient artifacts from Turkey to Greece, which later led to a long legal dispute with the Turkish government.

Although Schliemann misidentified the stratum at the time and even misjudged the owner of the treasure, he accidentally unearthed this location. Later, through continuous corrections and re-evaluations by scientists, it was finally proven to the Western world that the city of Troy truly existed and was not a fictional city in mythology. Currently, the actual location of the ancient city of Troy is on a hill called Hisarlik in northwestern Turkey, within the province of Çanakkale. This location is only a few kilometers from the mouth of the Dardanelles Strait flowing into the Aegean Sea. Therefore, this site has been officially named the Ancient City of Troy Ruins.

From a geographical and historical perspective, the current location of the ancient city of Troy had unparalleled strategic value in ancient times. It can be said to be the throat of the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. During the Bronze Age, all merchant ships carrying gold, grain, and bronze from the Black Sea to the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas had to pass through this location. The sea winds and currents in the Dardanelles Strait are extremely dangerous, and ancient sailing ships could not force their way against the wind. They often had to anchor in the port of Troy for weeks or even months, waiting for a favorable wind before they could sail out. In the story of the Trojan War, we often hear that the characters in it had to wait for a favorable wind before sailing. The Trojans, by collecting customs duties and supply fees from merchant ships worldwide, gradually accumulated wealth to the point of being incredibly rich. In mythology, the reason Troy could defeat the allied Greek forces for ten years is precisely because they were extremely wealthy.

There is a coincidental commonality between mythology and actual geography regarding the locations of Troy and Mysia. If you open a modern map, you will find that the location of Mysia, which is now the Balıkesir Province of Turkey, is directly south of the ruins of Troy. This corresponds to the episode where the allied Greek forces, on their first voyage, mistakenly went to Mysia. In an era without satellites, over a thousand Greek warships lost their way in the vast sea. When they saw land, they thought they had reached Troy and thus attacked Mysia below. From the current geographical structure, this perfectly matches the mythological plot, being located directly south of the ancient ruins of Troy.

Furthermore, when archaeologists conducted further geological research on Hisarlik Hill, they discovered that the ruins of Troy are actually a giant millefeuille. Over a long history, a new city was built on the stratum of the previous ancient city. Therefore, the ruins of Troy have a total of nine major historical strata, currently referred to as Troy I to Troy IX. Some historians believe that whenever a city was destroyed by war or natural disaster, later generations would rebuild a new city on the original ruins. Archaeologists have confirmed that human settlements in the ruins of Troy have continued from the earliest Bronze Age to the Roman rule. Among these nine layers of architecture, the sixth and seventh layers belong to the 13th century BC. Therefore, both in terms of age and material civilization, they are recognized as being closest to the period of the Trojan War described in Homer's Iliad.

In the strata of Troy VI and VII, archaeologists have also found ironclad evidence that perfectly matches the epic. Firstly, the sloping city walls and acropolis. In Troy VI, scientists excavated a defensive system up to nine meters thick and 4.5 meters wide. This city wall has a unique sloping angle, corresponding to the numerous descriptions in the Iliad of the walls of Troy being jointly built by Apollo and Poseidon, making them difficult to conquer. In Troy VII, archaeologists excavated numerous traces of burning, scattered bronze arrowheads and spearheads, and hastily repaired defensive fortifications. This proves that the city of Troy was indeed subjected to fierce attacks during that period.

In November 2001, geologists announced a geological survey report that had been conducted for over twenty years since 1977. They used sediment sampling and terrain reconstruction techniques to compare the modern sedimentary geological conditions with the Iliad, restoring and simulating them. The results showed that the currently identified location of the ancient city of Troy, the camp of the allied Greek forces on the beach, and the river near the battlefield, in the actual terrain of the late Bronze Age, showed a high degree of regularity and consistency with the topographical features described in the epic's account of the battle. Therefore, academia generally agrees that the ruins of Troy discovered by Schliemann are indeed the ruins of the Trojan War in Homer's epics. This site was officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. Nearby the ruins, there is also a Troy Museum, which houses an Attic black-figure amphora from 530 BC, depicting Achilles killing the Amazon queen Penthesilea on the battlefield. Another Roman silver cup from the 1st century AD also depicts the classic scene of the Trojan king secretly entering the Greek camp at night and kissing Achilles' hands to beg him to return the body of his eldest son, Hector.

Since the ruins of Troy have been found, did the Trojan War really happen? Modern historians generally believe that the ten-year war described in Homer's Iliad may not be entirely fictional but is based on the real conflict between the Mycenaean civilization of mainland Greece and the Hittite Empire, which dominated Asia Minor, in the 13th to 12th centuries BC. At that time, Troy was caught between these two superpowers. The wars between these two superpowers, after centuries of oral tradition, were eventually mythologized and heroicized by later generations, evolving into the Trojan War cycle we know today.

In 1924, historians, through the Hittite cuneiform clay tablets unearthed from the capital of the Hittite Empire, Hattusa, discovered that the names in the Hittite archives perfectly matched those in Homer's epics. First, the tablets repeatedly mention a powerful country in the west called Ahhiyawa, which linguistically is the Achaeans, the self-proclaimed name of the allied Greek forces in Homer's epics. These people were from the Mycenaean civilization of mainland Greece. The Hittite emperor even listed the Mycenaean Empire, the Egyptian Empire, Babylon, and the Hittite Empire itself as the four major kingdoms of that time. Second, the tablets record that in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, there was a vassal state called Wilusa. In ancient Greek, another name for Troy was Ilion, and the pronunciation of ancient Wilusa and Ilion is basically the same. This confirms that Troy was once a vassal state of the Hittite Empire.

In the royal historical archives of the Hittite Empire, several artifacts have been preserved that record over a hundred years of friction between the Mycenaean Greeks and the Hittite Empire in Troy. The most representative is the Alakshandros Treaty signed in 1280 BC. This treaty was a protection treaty signed between the Hittite king Muwatalli II and the king of Wilusa. In the treaty, the name of the king of Troy was Alakshandros, which is the same name as the second prince Paris, who instigated the Trojan War in the Iliad. This is because Paris in mythology actually has another name, Alexander. Therefore, Alakshandros and Alexander are essentially the same name. This document confirms that the second prince Paris mentioned in the myth was actually a real person, and Troy at that time was protected by the Hittite Empire.

There is also another document, the Tawagalawa Letter from 1250 BC. This letter is a diplomatic letter written directly by the Hittite Empire to the king of Mycenae. In the letter, the Hittite king mentions that the two countries had many unpleasant military conflicts over the land of Troy, but all matters have now been resolved. There is also a letter called the Madduwatta Letter, which also mentions that Mycenae, i.e., Greece, frequently intervened in the affairs of Troy. From these letters, we can see that the Greek Mycenaeans and the Hittite Empire indeed had multiple direct confrontations over the land of Troy in real history.

Combined with the archaeological excavations of the ruins of Troy, the geographical comparison of the locations mentioned in the myths with real geographical locations, and the historical records of the Greek Mycenaeans and the Hittite Empire, we can infer the real historical prototype of the Trojan War at that time. It is estimated that Troy, due to its location on the golden trade route of the Black Sea Strait, could levy customs duties on goods and passing ships. In addition, the city of Troy was located east of the Aegean Sea, backed by the extremely fertile plains of Asia Minor. During the Bronze Age, this peninsula was basically the largest grain-producing area in the ancient Mediterranean, with an endless supply of various fruits and goods. Therefore, the Mycenaeans of mainland Greece, eager to cross the sea and seize resources, desired the land of Troy. However, the military power of the Hittite Empire was too strong, and the Greeks did not dare to declare war directly. Instead, they adopted a method commonly used by modern countries: proxy wars. Greece first supported pro-Greek and anti-Hittite warlords along the coast of Asia Minor, and then subsidized them with weapons and money to frantically harass and attack Troy. These people were the ones like Agamemnon and Achilles in the myths. They even drove the king of Troy from power. However, whenever Troy was in danger, the Hittite emperor would personally lead countless chariot armies from the inland capital to quell the rebellion in northwestern Troy.

According to Hittite tablet records, Troy experienced at least four major wars in the late Bronze Age. These four major wars can correspond to the traces of burning, bronze arrowheads, and spearheads unearthed in Troy VII, indicating that the city was indeed subjected to fierce attacks at that time. The archaeological period of this layer falls within the decline of the Hittite Empire. Furthermore, anthropologists, through isotopic analysis of human skeletons unearthed from the ruins of Troy, found that the skeletons unearthed here have distinct Greek and Balkan human characteristics. This biological evidence further supports the fact that Troy experienced large-scale wars with the Greek Mycenaeans. This war occurred at the end of the 13th century BC, and the Homeric epics were written in the 8th century BC, with a gap of four to five hundred years in between. This historical great war was highly literary processed by bards over the following centuries. These poets may have included Homer. To make the story more epic and humanistic at banquets, these bards omitted many realistic elements, such as the diplomacy of the Hittite Empire and Troy's ability to levy customs duties on cargo ships. They then put a mythical mask on this historical event, rewriting the war triggered by geopolitics as a ten-year war planned by the Greek gods for the sake of the "peerless beauty Helen." They packaged the diplomatic power behind the leaders of these two countries as the duel between Achilles and the eldest prince Hector at the city gate, which has become the myth that has been passed down for thousands of years.

If you look back at my video "The Mystery of Angelology," I mentioned that winged gods, i.e., angels, might have first appeared in Central Asia and then spread to Europe and India. From India, they were transmitted to China through certain channels, and then from China to Japan. Now, looking back at myths from around the world, the Trojan War cycle has many similarities with them. Or, conversely, the Trojan War cycle has many similarities with myths from around the world. The entire concept is the same as what I said in "The Mystery of Angelology": the image of angels spread from one place to another.

Comparing with the myths we just discussed, you will find that the creation of later literature is sometimes not based on imagination out of thin air, but on the mythological structures of predecessors, with minor adjustments and localization. In the long history of humanity, myths have been continuously inherited, adapted, and localized. The Trojan War story, as a representative of Western classical mythology, has core elements that can be found in highly similar versions in many different civilizations around the world. This phenomenon is the strongest evidence of mythological common origin, meaning that many later mythological stories are actually based on older common prototypes, adjusted and created, and then, as they spread to different regions through cultural exchange, they are integrated with local characteristics, eventually evolving into what appear to be independent myths today.

We also mentioned earlier that the element of immortality with a fatal weakness is a good example. This setting appears repeatedly in the myths of Europe, India, Northern Europe, and Persia. These places are generally neighboring regions, showing a very clear transmission network. There is also the story of a hero slaying a multi-headed serpent, which appears in Japanese, Sumerian, and Greek mythology. In fact, Jewish mythology and the Classic of Mountains and Seas also have similar records. Like the great flood, why does the same myth appear in different parts of the world? Unless these people came from the same place, and then scattered, taking the myths with them to other places. Therefore, the high degree of similarity in myths worldwide reflects the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible.

Another possibility is that each myth has a common source. The transmission process of myths is likely based on the stories of predecessors, with some modifications. When an ancient myth is transmitted from one civilization to another, later generations will retain the core elements of the predecessor's myth and adapt and package it according to local culture, making it appear as a brand new story. Therefore, when creating the Trojan War story in ancient Greece, it is certain that older myths were referenced, and the Epic of Gilgamesh from Sumer might be one of the references. Later mythological stories may also have referenced the Trojan War story. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why different countries around the world, so far apart in ancient times, have almost identical mythological threads. I do not believe that similar stories were unintentionally developed in different places in ancient times.

If we think in this way, is it highly likely that the story of the great flood in the Bible is also referenced from the story of the flood in Sumerian mythology? Or perhaps these people once experienced a great flood and took this story to different places.

Before the ruins of the ancient city of Troy were rediscovered, in the mid-19th century, Western academia generally believed that myths and history were completely different things. Under the influence of the Enlightenment and rationalism, historians adhered to strict positivism. In their arrogant stance, only official documents, historical records, and endorsed materials were qualified to be called history. Myths full of demons, monsters, and heroes impervious to weapons were all categorized as pure fictional literature, religious prophecies, or even fairy tales fabricated by ignorant ancient poets. At that time, academia had an ironclad consensus that myths and history were two parallel lines that would never intersect. Homer was just a poet, absolutely not a historian.

However, with the excavation of the ancient city of Troy, the worldview of the traditional Western academic community was immediately rewritten. This historical turning point directly led to a great reevaluation of all ancient myths worldwide. Some scholars began to realize that myths were not baseless lies. The core of myths was very likely real history, but in the dark ages without written records, these memories had to be passed down orally from generation to generation. Moreover, to make the stories more engaging and easier to transmit, later bards would package these real historical events with mythical and heroic elements, like coating them with sugar. Finally, these myths appeared to transcend reality, but in fact, they were the unique way ancient people recorded history. The liberation of this thinking quickly spread from Greece to the study of ancient civilizations worldwide. The most classic example is the Epic of Gilgamesh, unearthed in Mesopotamia, which is even older than Homer's epics. I have already discussed this epic in detail in the episodes "The Mystery of the Great Flood" and "The Mystery of Sumer," so I will not repeat it here. Those who have not watched it can click to watch it later.

Originally, the Epic of Gilgamesh was considered by the West to be a Mesopotamian monster novel. However, inspired by the discovery of Troy, historians put aside their past prejudices and, by aligning it with later unearthed Sumerian king lists, were astonished to find that Gilgamesh was a king who truly existed in Uruk in the 26th century BC. This discovery once again proved to the world that the heroes in myths were actually historical figures. These scholars further speculated that if this king was real, then was the great flood recorded in Sumerian mythology possibly have occurred in ancient times? And could the eight kings recorded on the Sumerian king list, who reigned for a total of 240,000 years, also be true?

Similarly, the famous legend of King Arthur also made a comeback thanks to the discovery of the ancient city of Troy. In earlier Western literary circles, the Knights of the Round Table, the Sword in the Stone, and the wizard Merlin were usually considered mythical stories of medieval Britons. However, later historians, by comparing myths and history, discovered that in the 5th to 6th centuries AD, after the Roman Empire withdrew from Britain, a powerful Celtic military leader did indeed appear in British history. He led the Britons of that time to fight desperately against the Saxon invasion. The so-called legend of King Arthur may actually be referring to this defensive battle.

The discovery of the ancient city of Troy officially elevated mythological archaeology and historical mythology to prominence. Today, when we encounter absurd myths that have been passed down for thousands of years and seem like fantasy or science fiction, the task of scientists and historians is no longer to blindly deny them. Myths are never fairy tales. They are the soul imprints of ancient humans, recording natural disasters, man-made calamities, and even devastating world wars, passed down through oral tradition in the absence of written records, using all their imagination and packaging. What we who study myths today should do is to peel away the most fantastical and magical, supernatural outer layers of myths like peeling an onion. When you peel to the core, you will find that perhaps at the deepest level of all myths lies a true historical story.

If we extend this theory further, the stories of the fire god Zhurong and the water god Gonggong knocking down Mount Buzhou, Nuwa mending the sky with five-colored stones in Chinese mythology, and Moses bringing down the Ten Commandments stone tablet that could destroy Jericho on Mount Sinai, could these all be historical events packaged as myths? I will leave this for you to ponder.

As always, I must first thank the viewers who have supported me with their donations for Sydney water over the past two months. Due to the overwhelming response to my last UFO revelation video, my Sydney water supply has piled up in my entire house. I can directly drink Sydney water as if it were water. Thank you all very much for your support.

Actually, I have known about the Western literary work "The Odyssey" for a long time, but I have never carefully read it. I generally know the content of the story, but I may not be clear about the details. So, during the process of making this video, I reread the entire Trojan War cycle. Sometimes, making videos is not just about you discovering new knowledge; I also learn a lot of new knowledge by making videos. Sometimes, I wouldn't force myself to read these classics if it weren't for this. However, I actually didn't expect that ancient Western literature would have such "deathmatch" style combat, where one person wins a round. And if I have to comment, I may not be able to. But the Iliad, one of the two major chapters, is actually a bit less interesting than I imagined. I have only included the key points in the video. Many relatively bland or irrelevant plots have been cut by me. Instead, the prequel to the Iliad, the Cypriot Song, which tells how they instigated the Trojan War, and the sequel, the Trojan Horse, are very exciting. The Odyssey, another major chapter, may have more fantasy elements, which I like. On my list of Western literary works, I also have Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton's Paradise Lost, and the German heroic epic Nibelungenlied. I will discuss them with you in the same format as the Odyssey in the future.

Actually, my research into the occult began with dinosaurs. When I was four or five years old, I had several thick dinosaur books like "Wang Ye," and then I started researching myths from around the world. It all started with angels and demons, and then broadened to the occult, including all conspiracy theories and urban legends like UFOs. In the future, I will also sequentially discuss myths from other parts of the world, and I will also edit mythological figures and creatures into short videos to enrich my occult library.

Also, have you noticed that I have used a lot of AI images in this episode to construct the entire Trojan War story? My principle for making videos is to use real images. I use real images throughout. In my entire Trojan War cycle, I have used many Renaissance paintings to depict the scenes of the story I am telling. Since "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad" are famous Western works, there are already many ancient paintings that I can use. However, the Trojan War cycle has too many details, so some real images cannot cover all the plots. Therefore, for the parts without real images, I can only use AI to generate them. And this time, I generated these AI images one by one according to the plot of the story. It took me two weeks just to generate these images. And to generate these images, I had to subscribe to some paid AI services. So, the money you donate to me is not for my personal consumption like eating and drinking. I invest it back into this channel, perhaps by subscribing to services or buying hardware to facilitate my future video production. Therefore, every part of this video has been meticulously crafted with effort, time, and money, and these images are not generated by simply pasting text. Sometimes, the generated images do not match my requirements, some need to be modified, or some need to be filtered after generation. I only use those that best fit the story's plot. So, these images are all the result of my hard work.

Here's a little interlude. Before releasing this video, I had planned to release three or four more videos, namely movie reviews of "The Revelation Day," "Eye of the Fire," and "The Forbidden Zone of Corpse Killing." Unfortunately, I was disappointed with all three movies. First, "The Forbidden Zone of Corpse Killing." I highly suspect that the director was just lucky when he first filmed "Train to Busan," because his subsequent films, "Peninsula of Corpse Killing" and "The Forbidden Zone of Corpse Killing," are frankly very bad.

Next, "Eye of the Fire." I knew before entering the theater that its fight scenes were not my cup of tea. I prefer fights like those in "SPL: Sha Po Lang" and "Flash Point," which are clean, well-paced, and have well-designed moves. When one person attacks, you see how the other person counters their moves. So, the fight scenes in "Eye of the Fire" are not my aesthetic. Of course, I know that everyone now praises its fighting as good, but from my personal aesthetic, I don't like this kind of fighting. However, I believe that people who like Kowloon Walled City will like "Eye of the Fire." That's why I didn't make a video about Kowloon Walled City. I think the only thing worth praising is its final battle. The chaotic five-person melee was well-choreographed and complex, but it's still not my cup of tea.

Also, some people might ask why I didn't do a movie review of "The Revelation Day." Frankly, I had planned to. I even wrote a script of almost 50 pages, and some parts were already recorded. I found at least 30 plot points related to the occult in the entire movie. But why was the video not released in the end? Although I found at least 30 plot points related to the occult by the deadline, they were too scattered. And there wasn't enough depth for further research. Many plot points related to the occult only touched upon an urban legend, and that urban legend itself had nothing further to research. Unlike the Roswell incident or Area 51, which can be further researched and discussed, the UFO urban legends mentioned in the movie do not have such depth. Also, a large part of it was already covered in my previous UFO revelation video. I released the UFO revelation video in May, and I made my video in February, March, and April. But "The Revelation Day" was released in June. I don't know why my UFO revelation video at that time could include so much content from "The Revelation Day." If you rewatch my video and then rewatch the movie, you will find that much of the content overlaps. I can only explain this as synchronicity. However, in "The Revelation Day," all these contents are only briefly mentioned. There are no places or information that allow for further research, nor are there any additional materials for folk legends. Therefore, I feel that even if I talked about these topics, the result would be insufficient and imperfect. Because if I want to talk about something, I want to explore it to its extreme. So, if I have 30 topics but cannot fully explore them, it does not align with my usual work principles. I know that if I released a movie review of "The Revelation Day," it would easily get over 100,000 views. However, I would definitely not be satisfied with the final product. And I have always focused on quality over quantity. So, although the script was written and most of the audio was recorded, the final video was not edited. I also don't plan to release this video independently later. So, the research, recording, and scriptwriting took me almost a week, wasting almost a week. My time is very precious. If I really want to do something, I must really like it to have the motivation and willingness to spend time on it. So, in the case of the movie review of "The Revelation Day," I would rather spend some time on other research and make other videos. I think the information I found for this part, or the information in "The Revelation Day," may be incorporated into other videos in a different format, not as a movie review.

Also, since the Lunar New Year, I have not stopped making videos, including research, recording, finding pictures, writing scripts, and editing. Although you don't see many videos released, the length of each video is very long. So, basically, I start making videos every day after work and only take an hour of rest at 11 PM, and then go to bed quickly. The next day, I go to work. I cannot rest on Saturdays, Sundays, or even public holidays. I have to make videos as soon as I wake up. This situation has continued until I just finished this video. There might be one more video to be released after this one. So, after these two videos, I might slightly slow down my pace.

Also, I have been suffering from hoarseness. My vocal cords seemed to have improved a while ago, but recently they seem to have worsened. It's so bad that I have hoarseness even when I speak normally. I realize that if this problem is not resolved, it could become the biggest obstacle for this channel. Because besides myself, the most important thing for this channel is my voice. But please don't ask me to use AI voice to record videos anymore. Because if I use AI voice to record, it won't be me, and I will completely lose my personal characteristics. So, I will absolutely not consider using AI voice to record videos. Therefore, I will take a short break. I hope it won't be a long break. Also, I know that there will be many new games to play after September in the second half of the year, so I will take this opportunity to rest and not work too hard.

Also, the previous video, which was 4 hours long, was indeed crazy. After its release, it caused quite a stir. As I said before, it is very rare for a brand new video, not a compilation, to be 4 hours long. However, please don't assume that every video I make will be 4 hours long. It's just that the previous video had a lot of content suitable for that theme, so I put it all in at once. My goal when making videos is not length, but completeness. However, this video also seems to be over 4 hours long, or close to 4 hours. I don't know if anyone will listen to it all carefully. Because a large part of this video is about stories, epic stories. This time, I have truly become a storyteller. Let's see if you like listening to my stories.

Also, by the time this video is released, I should have surpassed 200,000 subscribers. Looking back, when I first started the channel, I only had a dozen subscribers. Now, with 200,000 subscribers, looking back, it feels like five or six years, which seems like a long time, but in reality, time passes very quickly. If you have watched my five-year anniversary video, I once said that when I started this channel, my ultimate goal was only 100,000 subscribers. As soon as I got the silver play button from YouTube, I planned to stop. At that time, I thought it would take me five to ten years to reach 100,000 subscribers. The slowest growth was indeed in the first three years. In the first three years combined, I only reached about 15,000 subscribers. But it only took 4 months to go from 15,000 to 100,000 subscribers. And it took two years to go from 100,000 subscribers to now 200,000 subscribers. Truly, from a small channel to one that is now recognized, because at least sometimes when I go out, I hear people talking about me.

I am also very fortunate that all the viewers among these 200,000 subscribers are genuine viewers, and each of them subscribed because they appreciate my work. The view counts of my videos are indeed commensurate with this number of subscribers. Also, I now have an ultimate subscriber goal. After reaching this number, I might become the number one mystery channel in Hong Kong. However, I am only halfway to this number. I still hope for your support to help me achieve this ultimate YouTube dream.

As for my other ultimate dream, it is to publish a book. In fact, publishers have approached me before. But frankly, with my current time, it is very difficult to free up more time to write a good work. You know that it takes me several months to make one video, which shows how busy I am. So, I have rejected many publishers who approached me before. With my personality, if I don't do it, I won't. If I do it, I will definitely do my best within my capabilities. So, I can only tell you that publishing a book is one item on my life's to-do list, but it may not be something that happens in the short term. I don't know if you will still want to read it when I have time to publish a book.

Indeed, after reaching 200,000 subscribers, I have reconsidered other possibilities for this channel. There are some things I have always wanted to do, and I am not resistant to doing them. However, there are currently many unstable factors that make me hesitant about these other possibilities. Moreover, my time is limited. If I don't develop these other possibilities now, I might not be able to develop them in a few years. So, for now, I can only say that I am waiting for guidance from higher-dimensional beings. I believe that at the appropriate time, there will be arrangements. If they do not guide me, then perhaps I am not suited for this path.

I have discovered this problem for a long time: many people watch my videos but do not subscribe to Dimension D. This makes the growth rate of Dimension D. extremely slow. I hope you can help. If you haven't subscribed yet, please click the subscribe button and see if you can help me break through 220,000 subscribers in 2026. I think you all agree that Dimension D. deserves more subscribers. You often say that "Di Da is not popular, it's against heavenly principles." Those who haven't subscribed yet, hurry up and subscribe to me, so I can achieve this short-term goal of 220,000. Because I have many plans later that require reaching a certain number of subscribers before I can proceed. Perhaps then you will have more things to watch, and you might even see "Di Da" publish a book or attend other events. So, remember to help me increase the number of subscribers.

Also, I noticed something. My IG follower count has finally exceeded 8,000, but my IG has been open for two years. Isn't this growth rate a bit slow? With my current YouTube subscriber count, it shouldn't be so low. I have also heard a theory that if your IG follower count is less than 10,000, you are not considered a formal KOL. Although I have never considered myself a KOL, it turns out that having so few followers on IG is a sign of being unqualified. So, can you please help me by following my IG? I currently have over 8,000 followers and am only 2,000 away from 10,000. Can you help "Di Da" become a qualified KOL?

"Di Da's" YouTube channel will still focus on mystery, movies, gaming, and anime. If you want to know about "Di Da's" daily life, such as where he went to play, where he traveled, and what good food he ate, remember to follow my IG. Also, please, can you help subscribe to my second channel? The second channel is basically a backup for Dimension D.'s main channel. You know that "Di Da" likes to talk about dead people, trash, aliens, and conspiracy theories. YouTube dislikes these things the most. If YouTube ever blocks my main channel, you will permanently lose Dimension D. Also, with my current subscriber count, only 3% of subscribers have subscribed to my second channel. Isn't that too low? It seems that everyone doesn't cherish Dimension D. very much.

Dimension D.'s second channel is not for me, but for you to have an insurance policy. Even if something happens to the main channel in the future, you will have a backup. At least if I have to make a comeback, I can do it on the second channel. If the second channel also has no viewers after the collapse, then I will just stop. You will then permanently lose Dimension D. and "Di Da." So, remember, if you haven't subscribed to the second channel, please help by subscribing to Dimension D.'s second channel. I will put the link in the description box below.

Also, I am almost at 200,000 subscribers, but there are still people who mispronounce my name. Either they call me "Da Da" (big big) or "DIDI." I can't believe it. With 200,000 subscribers almost here, can you please call me by my correct name? The first "Da" is "Di" from Dimension D., and the second "Da" is the "Da" of "Da Da." Please don't call me by the wrong name anymore.

So, that's it for this video. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.

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