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
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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
Polyphemus is startled to see Odysseus and his men. Polyphemus snatches two men and makes his meal. Odysseus wants to take his sword to Polyphemus but knows if he kills him now he won’t be able to escape because of the giant boulder. The next day while Polyphemus is pasturing his sheep, Odysseus finds and hardens a wooden staff. When Polyphemus returns, Odysseus offered Polyphemus some wine. “‘Here, Cyclops, drink some wine after of human flesh, and see what sort of liquor our ship held. I brought it as an offering thinking that you might pity me and send me home. But you are mad past bearing. Reckless! How should a stranger come to you again from any people, when you have done this wicked deed?’ So I spoke; he took the cup and drank it off, and mighty pleased he was with the taste of the sweet liquor, and thus he asked me for it yet again:
In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew meet Polyphemus, a cyclops living on an island with his brothers. Polyphemus shows hospitality at first but he soon turns hostile. He eats two of Odysseus men on the spot. Then he imprisons Odysseus men and himself in a cave so he can eat them for later. In the movie, O Brother
There are many examples of Hospitality in The Odyssey. Hospitality is to accommodate someone as they could be one of the Gods in disguise. Hospitality was very important in Greek society and was all for the Gods. Hospitality is shown to Odysseus as he travels to many islands. Without respecting hospitality, the gods will not be happy, and many have been killed.
His men wanted to leave but Odysseus wanted to appeal to the laws of hospitality. When the cyclops returns to his cave with his flock of sheep he captures Odysseus and his men, and blocks the entrance of the cave with a boulder”but he,behind,reset the stone as one would cap a quiver”(Book 9, line 218-219). They get trapped, and Polyphemus eats two of his men anytime he was hungry. Odysseus shows his intelligence and comes up with a plan to get out. He gives Polyphemus some strong wine and Polyphemus becomes extremely drunk.
Odysseus man went to steal food from the Kyklops cave, but Polyphemus returns and ate two of Odysseus men. He keep all of the men including Odysseus hostage in his cave to eat later on. That same day Odysseus give wine to Polyphemus and tells him that his name was Nobody. Polyphemus became drunk and fell sleep, which allowed Odysseus and his men to stab him in the eye. When Polyphemus woke up he started screaming and he said that nobody did it, which made the Kyklops believe that it was a self-inflicted injury.
In Homer’s The Odyssey, Polyphemus is cruel when he kills and eats Odysseus’s men. In the passage it states “ Then he dismembered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion everything innards, flesh, and marrow bones”( 195-198, 1216). Polyphemus is chewing and killing Odysseus’s men into pieces. Polyphemus decides to eat them and doesn’t care that he’s eating them.
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
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,
In Homer's epic poem, "The Odyssey," hospitality plays a crucial role in shaping the narrative and characters' experiences. This essay will explore the significance of hospitality in the ancient Greek world as depicted in "The Odyssey," examining its role in both advancing the plot and revealing cultural values. Hospitality, or xenia, is a central theme in "The Odyssey" and serves as a moral code governing interactions between hosts and guests. Throughout the epic, characters such as Telemachus, Odysseus, and Penelope demonstrate both the expectation of hospitality as hosts and the reliance on it as guests. For instance, when Telemachus visits Nestor and Menelaus seeking news of his father, he is welcomed with open arms and provided with
The stark disparity between the benevolent generosity exhibited by characters like Nestor and the savage brutality of Polyphemus creates a profound dichotomy that permeates The Odyssey's exploration of hospitality. Nestor, the embodiment of the ideal host, contrasts sharply with the monstrous Cyclops, underscoring the extreme polarities within the spectrum of hospitality experiences. This dichotomy is encapsulated in the words of Odysseus, who recounts the events with a tone of lamentation: "His eye single, his eye single as the sun or moon. Single in a cave... we were all beaten, and, I weep to say, we were shamed.
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
Hospitality describes one's respect towards their peers when an invitation to a host’s house is involved, and can be expressed differently based on one's personality and actions. Through the Odyssey, characters display different examples of hospitality practices. How someone displays hospitality, determines the treatment the person obtains in return. As Odysseus and his crew encounter the cyclops, Circe, and the Swineherd, they receive hospitality as guests on a varied spectrum. The cyclops displayed poor examples of hospitality through his barbaric actions.
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.
In the epic, the way in which hosts receive strangers and offer hospitality demonstrates their Greek values. For example, when Odysseus arrives on the island of the Phaeacians, they immediately offer him hospitality as King Alcinous “rais[es] him up/… in a burnished chair, / displacing his own son, … /… the son he love[s] the most” (7: 200-204). Here, the Phaeacians are characterized as generous and kind
Throughout The Odyssey, there are many different themes that are extremely significant. The reader seems to learn about each character through specific themes that pertain to that character’s journey throughout the story. Hospitality is one of the strongest and most prevalent themes that Homer portrays in The Odyssey. Homer includes both positive and negative interpretations of hospitality in The Odyssey and gives many examples of how each one can shape characters, storylines, and outcomes.