Theme Of Xenia In Homer's Odyssey

Xenia, Greek for guest-friendship, is essentially the allowing of strangers into one’s home and treating them as honored guests. Originating from one of the many names for the Greek god Zeus, Zeus Xenios, because of his role as a protector of travelers, the Greeks adopted the word to mean hospitality. Without means of modern transportation or inns, traveling was not only a long and tiresome journey, but a dangerous one, which meant that “travelers had to rely on the hospitality of others

In both the odyssey and anicent gesture the character develop grief according to alexander and millay grief is a universal theme grief survival and hope are all found in 100th of these literature pieces

     Ancient Greece is known for its beautiful theaters and its skilled poets. One of the most famous ones at that time and famous even now is Homer. Nobody knows who he actually is but the works that he has created are far more than magnificent. The Odyssey and The Iliad are two poems that turned into myths, have actually been accepted as part of the history of the Greeks. The Odyssey is a story about a hero from the Trojan War who struggles to get home to his family and when he finally does he faces the suitors who he fights and defeats with the help of the gods and his son who he hasn't seen for around twenty years. The gradual development of the plot, the actual, end of the book is

According to the Greeks, the suitors plot to kill Telemachus is not an acceptable part of the Greek culture. The Odyssey, written by Homer, tells the story of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who leaves for war and is constantly fighting with the gods in order to return home. Meanwhile, while he is gone, over 100 suitors fill his house, who all believe he is dead and wish to take his wife, Penelope, for themselves. After 20 years, Odysseus is finally able to return home, to find his country split between those loyal to him and those loyal to the suitors, and he must reorder his home and his kingdom. Throughout the story, a common theme of the importance of Xenia, or hospitality, to the Greeks appears many times, where it is either upheld or

Human themes that dominate Homer’s The Odyssey is hubris. During his adventure with the Cyclops, Odysseus cleverly blinded the beast with a stake in his eye. He even went as far as saying that his name was Nobody so when the Cyclops would scream in pain and try to get help, nobody would help him for he would say “Nobody is hurting me”. However, Odysseus went to far when he escaped by not only yelling out his actual name but saying exactly who he is and where he can be located. I find this quite funny for Odysseus was not obligated to say anything to the beast and if he did, just saying his name ‘Odysseus’ is enough. But our hero proclaims;

Basically, what this means is: the events in the Odyssey couldn’t have happened the way they did without the Greek custom of Xenia. Now, what is Xenia? It would appear that Xenia started long before the setting of the Odyssey. Originally, the custom was adopted, "As early as 55,000 B.C.E., [by] nomadic humans... (Sienkewicz).

the men go to search for the Ciconians. When they find the Ciconians they slaughter all of them, and plunder the city. The crew eventually winds up on the Island of the Lotus Eaters. The appearance of the island is dazzling, but if a Lotus Flower is eaten they “never cared to report, nor to return: they longed to stay forever”(375). At last they arrive on a safe island, or so they thought. The island was home to cyclops’! Odysseus being the hero, attempts to befriend the beast, but the Cyclops refuses to let them go. Sadly, the cyclops eats some men, but that gave Odysseus time to think of an escape plan.

One of the sub-themes in travel within the narrative of The Odyssey that pertains to Odysseus strongly is the concept of xenia. Xenia is one of the prime examples of Greek culture because it shows how the Greeks valued religion in the sense that their gods could take on human form to test the hospitality of a certain house, so they were careful to entertain with good food and drink every person that came asking for lodgings. It also played an important part in the social circles of the Greeks because Greeks not only valued the hospitality of another’s house, but they also desired the guest-friendship gifts one might receive from invoking the rite of xenia. Odysseus travels to locations such as the Isle of Dawn, Isle of the Sirens, and the borders of Hades itself to flesh out the human experience in an allegorical manner within the travel-fiction mode. In this, the human struggles with temptations such as lust are showcased (although not necessarily overcome by the protagonist), as well as points where the human experiences with sorrow and longing are also shown when Odysseus longs to be back in Ithaca.

Xenia is a Greek concept with a broad of meaning and a rather interesting history behind it. Xenia can easily be defined as guest-host reciprocity but that would not be enough to tell its history, enunciate it’s meaning and warn of the retribution that comes along with breaching of Xenia. Xenia is an institution as important as any other in the culture of a community, is empowered by the Greek god, Zeus, the protector of travellers. Along with the respect of the god, Zeus and fear of angering him by turning away a traveller, comes some cautionary tales told by the Greeks. These are tales of punishment that may be received and the rewards that may be lost if the traveller that is turned away is a god or goddess in disguise. Xenia is established by exchange of both material and non-material services and goods such as food, shelter and protection. Breeching of Xenia has played a very important role in history and myths of the Greeks. One of the most important is the Trojan War, which was caused when Paris breached the Xenia in the house of Menelaus and abducted his wife Helen. Paris ignored the mutualistic respect that is supposed to be observed between parties involved and he stole from his host

Homer’s Odyssey makes use of its epic qualities to narrate the lives of three men. The tale begins with Telemachus, a young prince who leaves his homeland to learn about his father and about himself at the same time. Through the use of this initial event, Homer creates a chronological structure that is further observed through the introduction of the story’s main character, Odysseus, the king of Ithaca and the father of Telemachus. Both father and son long to see each other after a decade of separation, and develop an increasingly complex relationship that bears unique attributes in the Homerian tradition. Similarly, once Odysseus returns home from Troy, he also visits his father, Laertes, and again the author elucidates upon the

In book 7-8 of the odyssey written by homer...just homer it talks about odyessus, Penelope, Athena, and a lot more other characters. through these books the author expresses a lot of grief and survival and through my essay I will compare and contrast these different themes using the AECECE method.

Appearances vs. Reality The themes in Odyssey plays a significant obligation especially because they form the moral and ethical constitution of most of the characters in the epic. Any individual who is concerned in reading the epic is able to understand the characters through the influence of the themes in any epic. The complication of the character is much dependent on the engagement of the major themes in the epic (Clay and Strauss, p. 23) Therefore, the most influent and complication of the character in Odyssey approximately embodies each the many themes to one degree or another.

There are usually many themes to be considered in older text, immeasurably more so in ancient Greek texts. Literature during that time was built around lessons or morals and was meant to instill ideals into the listener or reader.The works of Homer are no exception to this standard so extensively neither is the Odyssey. The Odyssey has many themes that mirror throughout most Greek texts but none is more prevalent than the concept of fate, that one has an inescapable destiny set forth by God(s). One of the major themes that is found throughout Homers works including the Odyssey is fate; which is supported by the character dialogue and Intervention of the gods in the stories, as well as the religion in the authors period and location.

For over 2 millenniums, people around the world have read Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. The story is about a young Prince named Telemachus who sets sail in an attempt to find information about his father, Odysseus who has been missing for 20 years. Little did he know that his father was on his way back home to the land of Ithaca. Once Odysseus returned, he encountered many problems that he had to learn to conquer. At Cherry Hill High School East, the teachers debate on whether it should be kept in the English curriculum. Since it teaches students important life lessons, creates allusions that are found in our everyday lives and contains modernly relevant themes, The

Homers epic poem, The Odyssey, tells the tale of the Greek hero, Odysseus’s 10-year struggle to reach home after the Trojan war. While this book mentions many mythological themes, Homer includes factual information about ancient Greeks and their way of life. He details their culture though the characters and plot of the story. He uses his skill as a poet and philosopher to inform readers about the achievements, values and culture of the Greeks. Religion, xenia and loyalty all play a large part in the poem and happen to be very important to real Greeks during that time.