00:00 The episode is about the fascination with the story of Troy, with the hosts discussing their personal connections to the topic and sharing some comments from previous episodes.

04:10 The story of the Trojan War involves the abduction of Helen by a Trojan prince, the Greeks sailing to Troy to get her back, a 10-year siege, heroic deeds, and the Greeks ultimately tricking the Trojans with a wooden horse to burn Troy down. The question of whether it actually happened and the dating of the war has been debated, but Heinrich Schleeman's archaeological discoveries in the 19th century provided evidence for its existence.

08:17 Archaeologists believe that the site of Hyselic is likely the location of Troy, as it was the place where the Greeks and Romans believed the battle had taken place, and even Alexander the Great visited what he thought was the Tomb of Achilles in Troy.

12:16 The Hittites, an empire in Anatolia, have provided clues about the Trojan War through deciphered royal correspondence that mentions a town called Willusa, which sounds like Troy, and a letter addressed to the king of Akiwawa, which sounds like Akiya, the name Homer used for the Greeks, but the significance of these connections is largely due to the enduring popularity of Homer's poetry about the Trojan War and its intriguing characters and unexpected storylines.

16:24 The Trojan War is a topic that has been discussed and questioned for centuries, even by Emperor Tiberius who held a pub quiz about it, and while the war may have been seen as heroic and inspiring by the Greeks, it is ultimately portrayed as pointless and destructive in Greek tragedy.

20:18 The Trojan War is portrayed as agonizingly pointless, with the history of war being intertwined with the history of rape, but the question of whether beauty can change the course of history is raised, with examples like Anne Boleyn and Cleopatra being discussed.

24:08 The film "Troy" is criticized for removing the gods and attempting to portray the Trojan War as historically grounded, despite the fact that it is all myth and never actually happened as portrayed by Homer.

28:08 The Romans identified themselves with the Trojans as a way to establish their own prestige and as a rationale for conquering Greece, while Mehmet II, the Ottoman ruler, also used the Trojan connection to justify his capture of Constantinople.

32:01 The suffering and victimhood of the losers in the Trojan War, as portrayed in Greek tragedy, lacks the redemptive quality found in Christianity, making it a bleak and devastating portrayal of war.