Watch & Listen

Short narrated introductions to the texts. Each one ends with the original passage read aloud and translated word by word.

Homer · Ancient Greek

The Iliad — Opening

The wrath of Achilles. The host sets the scene, then reads "Μῆνιν ἄειδε" aloud with a word-by-word translation.

Iliad, Book XXII · Ancient Greek

Achilles runs Hector down beneath the walls of Troy — the duel that ends the war's greatest defender, read aloud in the original Greek.

Homer · Ancient Greek

The man of many turns. The opening invocation "Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα" read aloud and broken down word by word.

Odyssey, Book IX · Ancient Greek

Trapped in the cave of Polyphemus, cunning is the only way out — ending with "Οὖτις" ("Nobody") read aloud in the original Greek.

Virgil · Latin

Meet Virgil's epic. The host sets the scene, then reads the opening lines aloud with a word-by-word translation.

Aeneid, Book 2 · Latin

Trust no Trojan horse. A short tale ending with "Equo ne credite, Teucri" read aloud and broken down word by word.

Anonymous · Old English

A hero, a hall, and the monster Grendel — the oldest epic in English, read aloud in the original Old English.

Anonymous · Old French

Charlemagne, betrayal, and a hero's last stand at Roncevaux — France's first great epic, read in Old French.

Dante Alighieri · Italian

Dante wakes lost in a dark wood and the descent into Hell begins — the poem that shaped modern Italian.

Anonymous · Middle High German

Dragon's gold, a hero's murder, and a queen's revenge — Germany's great medieval epic, in Middle High German.

Miguel de Cervantes · Spanish

A gentleman reads too many tales of chivalry and rides out as a knight — the first modern novel, in Spanish.

Alexander Pushkin · Russian

Pushkin's sparkling novel in verse — and the birth of modern Russian, read aloud in the original.

Murasaki Shikibu · Japanese

A lady of the Heian court wrote what many call the world's first novel — read in classical Japanese.

Torah · Biblical Hebrew

The opening words of the Hebrew Bible — read right to left in the original Hebrew.