Odysseus & The Isle Of The Mists

The epic film “Clash of the Titans” is a must-see for anyone who loves a tale of heroes and monsters. Based on Homer’s Iliad, the movie follows Odysseus (played by Harry Hamlin) as he makes his long way home from the Trojan War, fighting many battles and enduring many trials along the way. In one particularly memorable scene, he encounters the goddess Persephone, who carries him down to Hades to consult with her father, Hades (Laurence Olivier). Persephone’s beauty is ethereal and otherworldly, but she is also a terrible and terrifying figure—in her hands are two writhing serpents that look more like flying eels than snakes, and instead of hair she has a writhing mass of snakes and scorpions that writhe over her head. The most striking thing about this image is probably the contrast between Persephone’s delicate features and her grotesque body. It’s both beautiful and unnerving at once—which is exactly what great fashion design should be.

Is everyone in the audience?

Good.

Now, if you’ll all turn to page 13 of your copies of The Odyssey, we can begin our discussion of Homer’s famous poem about Odysseus’ journey home from Troy.

Odysseus’ first stop on that journey is the realm of Hades, the god of death and ruler of the underworld. There, he meets the terrible goddess Persephone, who lives with her eternally-mourning mother Demeter. This meeting was not something that Odysseus foresaw before he set sail—his men had to drag him there screaming, as it was a place that no mortal man had ever returned from. The truth is, even though humans die and their bodies decay, the spirits of heroes live on forever in the halls of Hades. But here’s where things get interesting: while they are there, they are able to see what is happening on earth. In fact, they can watch themselves being mourned by those they love most dearly. And this is precisely how Odysseus must spend his time in Hades: suffering through an eternity spent watching as his wife Penelope struggles to find a way to move on after a decade without him and their son Telemachus assumes power over his