Good Xenia In The Odyssey

Xenia is the generosity and hospitality the Greek give to their guest when people come over to their home. Hospitality plays a major role in Greek society. In American society, today hospitality is not a priority. The most we do is let guest in to sit and offer maybe food and water. In the Odyssey Homer shows in Greek culture that hospitality is very important several times in the text and should treat everyone as royalty.

The concept of guest hospitality is extremely important in ancient Greece. Hospitality, or Xenia, is so essential in Greek society that Zeus, in addition to being the king of the Gods, is also the God of travelers (Wikipedia). This created an obligation for the host to be hospitable to their guests, and conversely, the guests had their own responsibilities as well. If either the host or the guest was to break any rule set by Xenia, there would be severe penalties dealt by Zeus and also by society (Wikipedia). In The Odyssey, Xenia is a theme which is shown repeatedly throughout the book: Nestor and Menelaos take in Telemakhos warmly as a guest and Eumaios plays an excellent host to Odysseus, while Odysseus is disguised as a wandering

When people think of a hero, they think of a tall, handsome, loyal, brave, and a type of man that could do no wrong. The “hero” that is portrayed in the Odyssey is a man named Odysseus. This “hero” may be tall and handsome, but he is often arrogant, disrespectful, conceited, and rude. Odysseus consists of positive and negative characteristics that is shown in the text by Homer. These characteristics impact the characters day to day, or in the book’s case, the quests. In the Odyssey, Homer values the characteristics hospitality and cunning, but he objects bad leadership.

In the Epic, “The Odyssey", spoken by Homer, conveys a heroic tale of an epic hero named, Odysseus, who faces many challenges as he sails to get home. One of the tasks Odysseus faces is, "The Sirens", who challenge Odysseus 's will power. Another challenge Odysseus encounters is, “The Cyclops", who torments and slaughters some of Odysseus 's men due to his curiosity. One of the hardest threats he had to confront was, “The Land of Dead" which tested his self-restraint, and revealed his human weaknesses of sorrow. The Epic Hero, Odysseus, struggles with many challenges such as, the taunting Sirens, the brutish and cruel Cyclops, and one of the arduous territories Odysseus has ever crossed, The Land of the Dead.

Xenia is an obligatory, socially- regulated hospitality shown to suppliants and strangers by god-fearing hosts. This notion can be broken into two aspects: conduct and food and libations. When welcomed in to a residence, hosts are expected to treat a guest respectfully and amicably- this then transitions to the food and libations portion of xenia. This facet revolves less on entertainment, but rather is symbolic of a host opening their home as a place for a suppliant to rest and find asylum from the woes of travel. It is the recipient’s responsibility to treat the host with respect, as they are visitors. I assert that xenia has a direct effect on a relationship and its ensuing trajectory because respect is the foundation of xenia; these effects can be seen throughout The Iliad and The Odyssey, particularly in the interactions of

Germany is allowing open borders to the refuges of Syria, an estimate of 800,000 people in 2015 alone, as an amazing display of hospitality, or as the Greeks call it, xenia. Xenia is an important feature in The Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer in the 8th century B.C. Homer effectively uses xenia as a way to show that the gods need to be respected. He emphasizes the need for respect by showing what will happen if xenia is broken. If one breaks xenia, the gods will punish the offenders by striking them down or cursing them, as shown in the Cyclops and The Cattle of the Sun God.

In the Odyssey, Xenia is also shown to be one of the hallmarks of a civilised society, allowing us to judge the societies that Odysseus visits by their attitudes to xenia. For example, the Cyclopes are well informed about Xenia, yet disregard it because they have no fear of the God’s retribution. This tells us that the Cyclopes live in a formidable and amoral society. Even the Gods are shown to respect Xenia rules, for example in Book 5 when Calypso gives hospitality to Hermes. Good xenia is shown to have good repercussions for both the guest and the host: for example, Odysseus’ stay on the island of Calypso, where he is met with exceptional hospitality. Odysseus received this hospitality well and continued to please Calypso. Only at the end did he ever try to refuse her hospitality and leave, and even this caused no serious problems. Here we have an example of the guest-host relationship working well. Calypso is provided with a companion, even if it was not permanent, and Odysseus was provided with shelter, provisions, and protection for his men. In the end it proves to be a beneficial situation for them both.

In Book IX of the Odyssey, Homer uses imagery and foreshadow to illustrate how the cyclopes’ loneliness can significantly reveal how Odysseus and his men gets involved in a conflict with the cyclopes later on in the book. Homer uses foreshadow to develop the plot and build suspense. For example, Homer uses imagery to show what it was like when Odysseus encounters the land of the Cyclopes. Using imagery, readers can interpret the Cyclopes’ living conditions as well as their personality. The phrases “screened with laurel”, “cavern yawning”, “A prodigious man slept in this cave alone”, and “he seemed rather a shaggy mountain reared in solitude” shows that the Cyclopes are living in an isolated society and are very lonely on their island. Also,

Xenia is the ancient Greek concept of hospitality, the generosity shown to those who are far from home. Xenia is an important theme in the Odyssey – it is shown in the numerous characters, whether royal or monstrous, that Telemachus and Odysseus encounter, and could be shown as willingly given and wanted hospitality, unwanted/overwhelming, or unwillingly given; these encounters can also show lack of hospitality. This essay will discuss what xenia was to the ancient Greeks, and how this virtue was portrayed in the Odyssey.

Throughout Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus the main character in the story is tested with the true meaning of hospitality. In the heroic age, hospitality was viewed as punishment or acceptance of a stranger. While Odysseus longed for his return to home, he faced the two different kinds of hospitality offered within the heroic age. My theory is that Odysseus was provided with good hospitality when he would enter a town that allowed him to eat at their table, bathed within their baths, and sleep within their homes. The townspeople and their king often provided superior hospitality for strangers without questioning them first. It's thought that maybe the wonderful hospitality was provided in return of viewing the stranger as a

Offering a hot beverage, food, the safety of your home, or entertainment are all examples of presenting good xenia to guests. xenia is commonly used to portray hospitality or a guest/host relationship. xenia, is important in Ancient Greek society. Zeus is the God of travelers, in addition to being the king of the Gods. This forces for the host to feel obliged to treat their guests with much hospitality, and vice versa with guests, serving with high responsibility. Zeus would severely punish those who break the fine rules of xenia and hospitality. In the epic,“The Odyssey” by Homer, there are multiple examples of good and bad xenia. The group of 108 men who slouch around Penelope show poor xenia and are eventually stricken with their bitter death. Conversely, Eumaios presented great xenia when taking Odysseus in, even while he was disguised as a beggar. Xenia is a prevalent theme in the book and holds a central place in The Odyssey.

The Greeks have been known for their hospitality and politeness, especially when treating guests- whether strangers or not. This is demonstrated near the beginning of the Odyssey when Telemachus went to Pylos to visit Nestor. Nestor, not knowing who he was taking into his home as guests, treated them with great honor and respect. "Now is the time," he said, "for a few questions, now that our young guests have enjoyed their dinner. Who are you, strangers? Where are you sailing from, and where to, down the highways of sea water (p 299)?" If ever Greeks were to serve themselves before their guests or even a little better than them, then they were breaking the most basic of all Greek customs,

Odysseus holds many characteristics of an epic hero. These appear throughout The Odyssey, and become a basis for why he is an epic hero. For example, Odysseus has hubris, the trait of excessive pride in oneself. During Odysseus’s talk with Alcinous, it is revealed that he believes that he is very famous, and that his “‘fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim’” (Homer 2). With what he feels is a strong argument, Odysseus tries to convince Alcinous to give him supplies, ships and men, to help him get back to his homeland, Ithaca. Odysseus feels entitled to these, because of how he believes others esteem (4) him. Odysseus extols (2) himself, and has a clear case of hubris, which goes along with all of his other “epic hero” traits. Along with having hubris, Odysseus also has a deep love for his homeland, a characteristic of other epic heroes. When describing who he is to Alcinous, Odysseus mentions that his “‘home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca...being most lofty in that coastal sea’” (Homer 4-8). How “The Raider of Cities” describes Ithaca to Alcinous, shows how proud he is of his homeland, and

The final aspect of positive hospitality that is shown in the Odyssey, is by Eumaus, the old swineherd of Odysseus. Eumaus uses his very appropriate upbringing (he was kidnapped royalty) in order to provide help to Odysseys (in disguise as a beggar) all the help and wealth he can afford to share, in his meager setting. Odysseus used

The role of hospitality is seen in many examples throughout the Odyssey. However, it is not always the same in every example that Odysseus encounters. When Odysseus comes across the Cyclops Polyphemus, the hospitality he receives is totally outside the norm of civilization, which is what he is used to. Instead, because of his ego, Odysseus receives a barbaric welcome instead of the hospitable welcome that he is accustomed to.