Hospitality's Role in Homer's The Odyssey

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The Odyssey, one of Homer’s Greatest works, presents an ancient Greek society where righteous conducts of hospitality, or “xenia”, are strongly pursued. Various forms of hospitality, generous or callous, depict how civilized the person is. This concept of treating strangers with warmth was taken so seriously because they traveled frequently away from home and needed assistance along their journey to stay alive. Punishments for those who break the unwritten laws of this tradition are to be expected, as well as rewards for those who abide. Homer exaggerates the role of hospitality throughout the epic since it was one of the major customs that the Greeks depended upon to survive.
The news of Odysseus remains absent, but his son Telemachus is determined to find him, dead or alive. He goes to the island of Pylos to obtain information from King Nestor and is greeted with a feast accompanied with wine, which exemplifies generous hospitality. Homer describes the scene; “When they saw the strangers a hail went up, and all that crowd came forward calling out invitations to the feast” (p.36, lines 38-40). Then during his depart the next day, Nestor provides Telemachus with a chariot, a horse, and food to continue his journey. This shows how important it was for the ancient Greeks to treat their guests affectionately. From there on, his journey is given hope when he visits Nestor who gives him insight on the possibility of his father to be alive.
While Telemachus is on a mission to find his father, Odysseus is encountering some of his own obstacles. His crew and him are stranded on the land of the Cyclops. They come upon a cave but its inhabitant soon returns and imprisons Odysseus and the rest of his crew. Then he gorges down two men on the...

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...of ancient Greek society. The act of; providing strangers a meal, a place to sleep, and a welcoming spirit before they continue their journey, are strongly encouraged. The hosts don’t ask for the guests’ identity—to be polite—and treat them with courtesy. For instance, Nestor welcomes Telemachus to his island, and offers him to join a big feast without having the knowledge of where he came from or who he was. The guests are also expected to return the favor of kindness. On the other side of hospitality, the host-to-guest relationship isn’t as pleasant, and the gods strongly forbid the mistreatment of strangers. Going against their wishes will result in misfortunes. For example Cyclops got his eye blinded, and the suitors were deprived of existence. Thus, although the rules of hospitality aren’t written down, there are clear guidelines between generous and hostile.

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