Hospitality In Homer's The Odyssey

In the Odyssey, Homer uses juxtaposition to characterize Telemachus as a Greek ideal, imagery to connect to the cultural themes of disguise and hospitality, and repetition to enforce the idea that gods were a powerful force in everyday lives. When Athena first comes down to the mortal world and goes to Telemachus’ house, “first by far to see her was Prince Telemachus/sitting among the suitors, heart obsessed with grief.” This image contrasts the boisterous, rowdy crowd of suitors against the quiet, pensive and attentive host Telemachus. As the suitors take advantage of Telemachus’ hospitality and good grace, Telemachus continues to be a gracious host by noticing the stranger at the door and inviting her in, unaware that she was a god in disguise.

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

Hospitality goes two ways; Guest have responsibilities just like the host does. The suitors, who are actually unwelcomed, guest takes Odysseus’s wife hospitality for granted as they waste all the goods and try to get at her constantly. Also when Odysseus returns in the disguise of an old man, the suitors treat him with great inhospitality.

In the first five books of the epic, Telemachos is shown great hospitality by the kings, Nestor, and Menelaos. As Homer writes in description of Nestor’s reception of Telemachos and Athena, “These men, when they sighted the strangers, all came down together and gave them greeting with their hands and offered

The Odyssey is an epic poem attributed to the now-famous Greek poet, Homer, written approximately in the early sixth century B.C.E. The poem shares the tale of the wily adventuring solider, Odysseus', return from the Trojan war to his wife and home in Ithaca. The poem details his misadventures, the efforts of his son, Telemachus, to find him, and revenge on his wife's suitors. While many themes run through this poem, the most prevalent is that of hospitality. The Host-Guest relationship is significant in the Odyssey as it acts as one of the main thematic devices used by Homer and examples of good hospitality versus bad hospitality and their results serve as the main plot elements throughout the tale.

Homer’s epic poem, “The Odyssey” reveals many aspects of ancient Greek life and culture through character and plot. Through each of the tales circling the life of Odysseus and the Greek people, Homer depicts the history, legends, values, and merits of the ancient Greeks. Greek culture is known to be one of the most flavored and thorough in history, and each facet of it—from religion to ideology to mentalities and beliefs.

Traditions and customs make a group of people different from others. For example many families have different traditions when it comes to holidays, like fireworks for the 4th of July or making turkey for thanksgiving. All these types of traditions are important in daily life. In The Odyssey by Homer, many examples of Greece customs and

The hospitality is both wanted by the guest and willingly given by the host, and Menelaus fulfills all the “requirements” that are expected of a good host. Telemachus is bathed by the women of Menelaus’s palace, which is a recurring example of good hospitality in Homer’s works. The women “draw warm fleece and shirts around their shoulders” (Homer, 240), and Menelaus welcomes him with a grand feast. He tells Telemachus to “Help yourselves to food, and welcome! Once you’ve dined we’ll ask you who you are” (Homer, 240); here he demonstrates that he knows the proper “principles” of xenia, as he only asks questions after he serves his guests. “I’ll give you a princely send-off – shining gifts, three stallions and a chariot burnished bright- and I’ll add a gorgeous cup so you can pour libations out to the deathless gods on high and remember Menelaus all your days” (Homer, 253). The “three stallions and a chariot” included in his gifts to Telemachus are meant to serve as transportation. “…and remember Menelaus all your days” – as stated previously, hospitality could have been used to spread a person’s name if they would provide a high standard of it to strangers, and Menelaus would have wanted to be known for his hospitality. He also would have wanted for Telemachus, the son of the known Odysseus, to remember that Menelaus

In The Odyssey, with a sudden surge of awareness, Telemakhos approaches the Ithakans with a modest speech explaining his concern with the suitors being in his home. Not only does his concern have to do with his own discontent; it also concerns his recognition of his mother’s discontent. Telemakhos knows that in order to get through to his audience, he is going to have to have the proper approach. Knowing that the Ithakans can be strong minded and not willing to compromise, Telemakhos uses rhetoric techniques to make his point. Though he knows this may be a daunting task, he superbly uses logos, pathos, and ethos to go about his mission.

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

Hospitality(Xenia) is clearly shown here because Eurykleia has been taking care of Telemakos since he was a baby. Homer uses this metaphor to show how important hospitality(Xenia) is a sa Greek value because Eurykleia has been gracefully helping telemakos throughout his life. The use of the metaphor in book I of The Odyssey revel hospitality(Xenia), which is significant because Eurykleia loved and cared for telemakos and devoted most of her life to him. To sum up, Eurykleia has shown various amounts of hospitality(Xenia) by caring for Telemakos since he was an

Hospitality plays an important role in the first four chapters and without it, Telemachus could not have started to enter manhood. Telemachus shows great hospitality towards Athena in the beginning of the book: “‘Greetings, stranger! Here in our house you’ll find a royal welcome. Have supper first, then tell us what you need”’ (81. 144-147). By saying “‘you’ll find a royal welcome,”’ creates a warmer and more hospitable tone to the passage and lets the character know that they’re welcome. “‘Have supper first, then tell us what you need,”’ also gives off hospitable vibes, because Telemachus is not immediately questioning Athena, or acting in any way aggressively towards Athena. The second quote in which Athena expresses her concerns for Telemachus’s

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,

Taking the form of Mentis, Lord of the Typhons, Athena arrived at Telemachus’ house, and quickly the two became acquaintances. Athena advised Telemachus to venture out and find his father, and told him the places and people he must visit in order to gather information on his possible whereabouts. She then encouraged Telemachus to command the suitors to return home and leave his mother alone. According to Book One in The Odyssey, Athena “left his [Telemachus] spirit filled with nerve and courage, charged with his father’s memory more than ever now”(1.89.369-370). Because of the wise counsel Athena offered to Telemachus and her encouragement in his ability,

One of the most prominent codes demonstrated in the first half of The Odyssey is hospitality code. In ancient Greek culture, strangers were regarded as they were gods and to be treated as gods. In The Odyssey, a host must offer guests baths, food, drinks, lodging, clothing, and gifts before seeking information about the stranger. And in return guests must provide the host information of their origin, name, place they live and reason of their journey. There were several occasion in The Odyssey where hospitality code was followed like: Telemachus’ treatment of Athene (Book I), Nestor’s reception of Telemachus (Book III),Menelaus’ reception of Telemachus (Book IV), Odysseus among the Phaiakians (Books VI-VIII, XIII), Eumaios’ reception of Odyssey (Book XIV). The main reason behind following this code is that people do not know whether a stranger is a god in disguise, for