The Role Of Hospitality In Homer's Odyssey

Hospitality in Ancient Greece was as integral a practice as the home was central to their culture. This concept of hospitality was so deeply-woven into the fabric of Greek civilization that it was depicted in folklore and attributed as a commandment from the gods. Even in Homer’s
Iliad, a breach of hospitality was a factor that “precipitated the Trojan war.”3 In his return from
2 Barbara Harrington, Colloquy.
3 Annette Lucia Giesecke, “Mapping Utopia: Homer’s Politics and the Birth of the Polis,” College
Literature 34 no. 2 (Spring 2007), 199, accessed February 9, 2018, http://0-search.proquest.com.patris. apu.edu/docview/229650019?accountid=8459. Diaz 3 the Trojan war, Odysseus, the wanderer-warrior of the Odyssey, finds himself receiving the

Ironically, Odysseus’ best experience of hospitality is on his own property. Odysseus finally finds good rest in the home of his swineherd who, though he does not recognize his old master, cares for Odysseus in Odysseus’ honor. This hospitality is expensive for Eumaeus, who shares his own dinner of “scrawny pork” and gives up his coat so that his guest can sleep warmly while he sleeps out with the hogs.4
These provisions of food and comfort are not only personally costly to the swineherd, but they are also an expression of his trust in his guest. For the Ancient Greeks, “the hearth represented and ensured physical security.” By inviting Odysseus into his home, Eumaeus exposes the few things that he owns to the treatment of a guest. Home was the ultimate 5 sanctuary, the monument erected in honor of a man’s independence, right to