Hospitality And Loyalty In Homer's The Odyssey

Many Greek stories are written with a purpose of either explaining something or teaching. For example, a myth is used to either explain a natural event or to teach a moral and an epic is written to tell of an historic or heroic event. The Odyssey is written with many morals of being an “ideal” Greek underlying each event but it also gives history of a war hero returning from the Trojan War. Homer wrote this story almost as a guide for the characteristics each Greek should possess. The epic poem explains the morals of kindness and loyalty in depth. The actions of loyalty are prevailed through Odysseus’s family’s actions and a few other characters. The “Law of Hospitality” weighs heavily in being kind. This law calls for people to be welcoming to any of their guests, even those in need, and for the guests to be grateful and respectful to their host. As displayed in the Odyssey, kindness and

These two morals are very closely connected with the simple fact that being loyal to somebody may result in kindness and being kind to somebody may result to loyalty from them. Eumaeus possess both of these Greek values, therefore he is referred to as the “ideal poor person.” He didn’t have a lot of riches but when he saw a beggar he immediately took him in and told him how eagerly he’s waiting for the return of his great king. Eumaeus gained Odysseus trust and loyalty by remaining faithful and kind to him. On the contrary, the rude suitors who were pestering Penelope in the idea of Odysseus being dead were killed for their insolence. These morals were important to the Greeks because they believed that by upsetting each other they upset the gods which they would get punished for. Religion being important to them propelled them to act fairly. These stories may add to their culture by making it easy to spread their ideas through oral tales, it gives them a sense of identity as