Well, I hope you enjoyed my last entry and now I will talk about Homer's "sequel" to the Illiad, "The Odyssey".The title is a kind of play on words because it has a two-fold meaning: first, it refers to Ulysses" 10-year odyssey or journey back home to his kingdom Ithica after the Trojan War ended and second, he is also known as Odysseus. He was a favorite mortal of his patron Athena, goddess of wisdom. Ulysses is known for his cunning wisdom which has gotten him out of tough spots like almost being eaten by Cyclops, and he virtually ended the Trojan war single-handedly by conceiving the idea of the Trojan Horse in the first place. He was so revered that the gods offered him a spot in the pantheon of deities but he refused. I guess he loved his wife and son so much he could not bear to be separated from them so one can only imagine his torment from being away from his family for 20 years!( actually, I guess he didn't suffer TOO much for being with the beautiful siren, Calypso, for seven of those years! lol Hermes, the god's messenger had to force her to let him go). Nikos Kazantzakis, author of "The Last Temptation of Christ' even wrote a sequel to "The Odyssey" chronicling the events after Ulysses' return to Ithica. Ulysses is my favorite Greek hero because of what he embodies: wisdom and patience. In tribute to "The Odyssey" I have named my String Trio that will play with me soon,the Odyssey String Trio. this is a part of my idea where I will use Classical players in lieu of some performances of my Pop songs. Eventually, I hope that the Trio will also grow into the Odyssey String Quartet for certain situations. I will talk more about them in the next blog. Till next time! BKT