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Hospitality In Homer's The Odyssey

410 Words2 Pages

Hospitality is a common theme in The Odyssey and is essential to the story’s plot. During this time period, the Greeks showed hospitality to common people. Throughout the story, this virtue is valued by many, but some chose not to obey the laws of hospitality. Due to this, hospitality demonstrated a separation between people worthy of reward or punishment. For example, Penelope’s suitors lacked hospitality. They housed themselves into Odysseus’s home without invitation and ate all his food. Furthermore, they tried to seduce Penelope numerous times but she has denied all of their advances, which demonstrates her loyalty to Odysseus. When Odysseus came disguised as an old beggar, they were less than kind to him. The leader of the suitors, Antinoos stated, “Good gods, what evil wind blew in this pest? Get away from me!,”(Hinds 180). Their shortage of kindness was punished later on in the epic as they were all killed by Odysseus. …show more content…

Odysseus and his men came across an island and went into Polyphemus’s house, which stored sheep, wine and cheese. The men ate this food without acknowledgement of hospitality. Polyphemus entered and was appalled to see the men consume his food. He blocked them from leaving the cave by putting a large boulder that could only be moved by him. Both Odyssey and Polyphemus did not show hospitality in this story. Odysseus ate the Cyclop’s food without permission, similar to what Penelope’s suitors did. Polyphemus was rude to the men and did not accept them into their house. Odysseus was later punished by the gods for his wrongdoings while nothing happened to Polyphemus due to the fact that his father was

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