preview

Hospitality In Homer's The Odyssey

Decent Essays
Open Document

In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, hospitality to a guest or a stranger that comes to their home was considered very crucial. The Greek considered the hospitality as a very important and natural behavior because they thought the stranger might be one of the gods who wants to test them. Throughout this epic poem, hospitality was shown numerous times in different situation and usually gave the guest or the stranger nice bath, food, drink, and place to sleep. However, not every person or a kyklop in the poem gives a nice greetings to his guests. Eumaios, a responsible swineherd, gives a great hospitality to “a beggar”, and Polyphemos, Poseidon’s son who’s a kyklop, fails to treat his guests nicely.
First, Eumaios, a responsible and loyal …show more content…

When Odysseus and his crews, sailing from the Lotos Eaters, finds Kyklopes’ island, they made themselves at home at Polyphemos’ cave. It is a little rude to break into somebody else’s home and eat, but Polyphemos not only not provide them food or drink, but also eats Odysseus’ crews. “Strangers...who are you? And where from? What brings you here by sea ways--a fair traffic? Or are you wandering rogues, who cast your lives like dice, and ravage other folk by sea?... Then he dismembered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion--everything: innards, flesh, and marrow bones... he caught another brace of men to make his breakfast” (p. 152- 154). Rather than giving Odysseus and his crews food and drink, Polyphemos asks where Odysseus and his crews are from, eats crews men, and locks them in his cave to eat the rest later. Due to his harsh, brutal, and unmerciful treatment toward his guests, he loses his only eye. “So with our brand we bored that great eye socket while blood ran out around the red hot bar. Eyelid and lash were seared; the pierced ball hissed broiling, and the roots popped… eyeball hissed around the spike” (p. 156). Odysseus gives Polyphemus gods’ wine, ambrosia, and when he’s drunk, Odysseus pokes Polyphemos’ eyeball out. If Polyphemos had given a warm hospitality along food and drink, he wouldn’t have lost his only

Get Access