Laestrygonians
49
MENTIONS
18
EPISODES
18
PODCASTS
Search complete. 49 mentions across 18 episodes found for "Laestrygonians".
Sep 15, 2026
Wendy HollowayHOST
And one of the darkest episodes of the entire Odyssey has been associated with the area around Gaeta and Formia.
Wendy HollowayHOST
Now, on to the land of the Laestrygonians.
Wendy HollowayHOST
After leaving the island of Aeolus, Ulysses and his fleet eventually arrive at a place Homer called Telepylos, the land of the Laestrygonians At first, the harbor seems almost ideal.
Wendy HollowayHOST
It's enclosed by steep cliffs with a narrow entrance from the sea.
Wendy HollowayHOST
And Ulysses, characteristically cautious, keeps his own ship outside while the rest of the fleet enters the protected harbor.
Wendy HollowayHOST
And that decision saves his life.
Wendy HollowayHOST
Ulysses sends three men inland to investigate, and they encounter a young woman drawing water at a spring called Artacia.
Wendy HollowayHOST
She turns out to be the daughter of king of the Laestrygonians, and she directs them toward her father's house.
Chuck BryantHOST
And Odysseus blinds Polyphemus to get everyone out of there, uh, out of the cave, and they are able to flee the Cyclops, uh, and then suffer another attack by a tribe of giant cannibals called ...
Josh ClarkHOST
The Laestrygonians.
Chuck BryantHOST
Yeah, nice work.
Josh ClarkHOST
So I just wanna go back to, um, is it Polyphemus, Po- or Polyphemus? Polyphemus?
Chuck BryantHOST
I can't remember.
Josh ClarkHOST
Okay, but either way, I read that it wasn't just completely one-sided, that, that Polyphemus was wronged first.
Josh ClarkHOST
At any rate, um, after they escape the Le- uh, Laestrygonians, this is, which is another tribe of giants, but I believe they're more human-like, right?
Chuck BryantHOST
Uh, they're not in the movie either.
Laura Jenkinson BrownGUEST
But I thought what would be really fun is to just take the main storyline, the bit that, that people mostly might be interested in listening to, and presenting that to them in a different way where it's the second-person narrative, but I've, I've played with the sound effects.
Laura Jenkinson BrownGUEST
So now everything is soundscape, so it's more immersive and if you close your eyes, you can really hear the Laestrygonians eating your men and the ships all sinking.
Laura Jenkinson BrownGUEST
It's quite harrowing, actually.
Fiona RadfordHOST
[laughs]
23 MINS LATER
Laura Jenkinson BrownGUEST
Is it the-
Fiona RadfordHOST
[laughs]
Laura Jenkinson BrownGUEST
... daughter of the Laestrygonians? Is it Athene in disguise? Is it just a girl? And I like those visual signposts, and I try to include those 'cause they, they, they really stick out all of a sudden.
Laura Jenkinson BrownGUEST
Uh, I try to include those in the, in the text and in the, the audiobook podcast-y thing so that you, you hopefully will hear that and go, "Oh, wait, I've heard that before." Like, hopefully in the text you would have been originally the, the audience listening to the poet and go, "Oh.
Angela WeislGUEST
work-You know, that, that Arete does in the poem.
Angela WeislGUEST
But it's just such a lovely section, and I thought they had to put in the stupid scene with the Laestrygonians instead of this-
Liz SchmermundGUEST
Mm-hmm
Angela WeislGUEST
... you know, which just felt completely gratuitous.
Angela WeislGUEST
Like, if you could cut anything from The Odyssey it would be the Laestrygonians, right?
Liz SchmermundGUEST
Mm-hmm.
Angela WeislGUEST
But no, we suddenly had to have these guys running, giants running around in Renaissance armor.
44 MINS LATER
Andrew RimbyHOST
Yeah.
Larry WilsonNARRATOR
His wonder world, though real, lies far away.
Larry WilsonNARRATOR
Odysseus, he makes us feel, has only to get back to Ithaca, and he has no more chance of encountering a Cyclops or a Lestrigon than you or I have.
Larry WilsonNARRATOR
For Pindar, on the contrary, all Hellas is enchanted ground.
Larry WilsonNARRATOR
It was in Arcadia, in Argos, in his own Thebes, that men of old fought uncanny monsters, entertained divinity unawares, and learnt earth's secrets from talking beasts and birds.
IzzyHOST
So, I mean, the Cyclops isn't the first, um, of... isn't the first monster that they encounter.
IzzyHOST
They end up at, landing on another island, um, where there are, like, giants called the Laestrygonians, um, that end up killing, like, two-thirds of Odysseus' crew.
IzzyHOST
Um, they're reasonably terrifying.
HalHOST
But, but these-
Monique SkidmoreGUEST
So one of the wildest, least visited areas of Italy, but one of my favorite areas.
Monique SkidmoreGUEST
The land of the Laestrygonians.
Monique SkidmoreGUEST
So you wouldn't actually wanna go there if you thought you were gonna meet these race of giant cannibals.
Monique SkidmoreGUEST
But when he leaves Aeolia, before Odysseus gets to Circe, he actually, um, had all of his ships except his... oh, there's a spoiler alert, crushed by the Laestrygonians.
Monique SkidmoreGUEST
So one of the possible places [laughs] for this mythological island is the north part of Sardinia, near the Strait of Bonifacio, so facing out to Corsica.
Monique SkidmoreGUEST
Homer says it, he calls it Telepylus.
Monique SkidmoreGUEST
So in he goes.
Monique SkidmoreGUEST
In he goes with 11 remaining ships into the harbor.
Tamler SommersHOST
You get Circe, the goddess Circe.
Tamler SommersHOST
You get-- Although I always forget about them every time I revisit The Odyssey, I was like, "Oh, yeah, the Laestrygonians, those big mountain people."
David PizarroHOST
Right.
Tamler SommersHOST
And, you know, maybe most tragically, we'll see Odysseus get so, so close to Ithaca that he can see people burning fires on the land, only to be blown back out to sea for another nine and a half years or whatever.
39 MINS LATER
Tamler SommersHOST
So then they go to the place I always forget, uh, the Laestrygonia.
David PizarroHOST
Right.
Tamler SommersHOST
Laestrygonians, I don't have a ton to say about.
Tamler SommersHOST
They're more huge giants that don't like-- like, they're the size of mountains.
Benedict WhalenSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Now, this dispiriting episode where we see disorder between Odysseus and his men is immediately followed by a catastrophe.
Benedict WhalenSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Odysseus and his fleet of 12 ships sail to another island, the island of the Laestrygonians.
Benedict WhalenSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
These are unknown to Odysseus and his men, but it turns out that they are very violent and hostile giants.
Benedict WhalenSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Now, the Laestrygonians' island is shaped in a way that there's a large cove where 11 of Odysseus's ships enter, and Odysseus with his ship stays outside of that cove.
Benedict WhalenSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Now, when Odysseus's men encounter the Laestrygonians, they're hostile giants, and they come out and they surround the fleet, uh, that's anchored there in the cove, and they hurl rocks down on it, and they sink all of the 11 ships there, and only Odysseus and his ship are able to sail away.
Benedict WhalenSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Now, the king of the Laestrygonians, his name is Antiphates, uh, which means anti-renowned or anti-fame, and this is reflected in this episode where Odysseus nearly loses everything by encountering anti-renowned or anti-fame.
Benedict WhalenSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
We have to wonder, and we're encouraged by the text to wonder, what renown could a leader have who loses the men he leads? Homer's narration here is quite simple and brief.
Benedict WhalenSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It's very straightforward, and Odysseus just suddenly loses almost all of the men in his command.
Benedict WhalenGUEST
Now, this dispiriting episode where we see disorder between Odysseus and his men is immediately followed by a catastrophe.
Benedict WhalenGUEST
Odysseus and his fleet of 12 ships sail to another island, the island of the Laestrygonians.
Benedict WhalenGUEST
These are unknown to Odysseus and his men, but it turns out that they are very violent and hostile giants.
Benedict WhalenGUEST
Now, the Laestrygonians' island is shaped in a way that there's a large cove where 11 of Odysseus' ships enter, and Odysseus with his ship stays outside of that cove.
Benedict WhalenGUEST
Now, when Odysseus' men encounter the Laestrygonians, they're hostile giants, and they come out and they surround the fleet, uh, that's anchored there in the cove, and they hurl rocks down on it, and they sink all of the 11 ships there, and only Odysseus and his ship are able to sail away.
Benedict WhalenGUEST
Now, the king of the Laestrygonians, his name is Antiphates, uh, which means anti-renowned or anti-fame, and this is reflected in this episode where Odysseus nearly loses everything by encountering anti-renowned or anti-fame.
Benedict WhalenGUEST
We have to wonder, and we're encouraged by the text to wonder, what renown could a leader have who loses the men he leads? Homer's narration here is quite simple and brief.
Benedict WhalenGUEST
It's very straightforward, and Odysseus just suddenly loses almost all of the men in his command.
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