Greek Australian actor Thaao Penghlis, known for his role as Tony DiMera and the villainous Andre DiMera in the soap opera Days of our Lives, has joined the podcast world with his new series The Lost Treasures.
The podcast is described as a detective story exploring Greece’s biggest contributions to the world of literature, the works of Homer, both the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Lost Treasures explores these epic poems through the life of German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered their real-life locations and treasures.
In an interview, Penghlis shared that the idea of capturing this topic came about back in 1975, when he gave Schliemann’s biography to director Milton Katselas to adapt to film.
“I told him to do a movie on that, and then, he didn’t do anything about it,’ he said.
“I read the book three times and then I went to Troy. That got me interested in going to the library in Athens, where there are 60,000 pages in there, and I went through those for a few weeks. From there, I went to the Palace of Ilion, and we went in and it was amazing, because now it is the Numismatic Museum of Athens.”
The Lost Treasures. The treasures of Troy begins my exploration thru many years of adventures. It’s romancing the audience, inspiring them with the notion that Gods of men did once walk the lands of their ancestors. #History #Podcast #treasures #magic #gold #masks #Greece pic.twitter.com/Ef6DX4HZdE
— Thaao Penghlis (@ThaaoPenghlis) August 24, 2023
Across four episodes, that feature special effects and narration from the 77-year-old, the series draws on his exclusive access to 60,000 pages of long-hidden documents. It covers Schliemann finding Troy in 1873 and the treasures below.
Penghlis said that despite the time it took to research and the obstacles he faced, he was persistent to tell this story.
“For over two decades, my interest in this subject never waned. Two visits to Troy, five to Greece, I completed the journey, and I’m still wanting more.”
“In the fourth episode…. I talk about where they were trying to kidnap me by the pyramids when I was 26, when Hezbollah pulled me out of my car in Lebanon when they thought I was an Israeli spy, so they surrounded me, and they thought I was terrorist. Thank God, there was a fan who recognized me.”
Episode one of Lost Treasures releases on September 5 and will release the remaining three every two weeks until October 17.
You can find the podcast on all major streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and iHeartRadio.
