Essay On Hospitality In The Odyssey

Throughout the Odyssey, hospitality was shown as an important aspect. It shared many instances where strangers treated strangers like family. As the story focused on the travels of Telemachus and Odysseus, I noticed many times where people treated them well and welcomed them with gifts. Compared to modern times, hospitality was very useful within society, people were treated with kindness and generosity because of the fear towards the gods, they did this through welcoming one another into each other’s homes, and in most cases, in this time period, Greek hospitality was considered a key aspect in society. Society today, is not like this. We have become a society that does not trust each other. This has happened because of the reoccurring violence and crime that goes on within cities and towns around us. The Odyssey focused on hospitality as it helped Telemachus and Odysseus travel from city to city and acted as a basic root in the story.
In the Odyssey, when it came to hospitality, most people were trustworthy. Greek hospitality seemed somewhat unbelievable; that one would allow a stranger in their home and warmly welcome them. Strangers were treated like family friends; they were greated into one another’s …show more content…
People welcomed strangers into their homes, as read while both Telemachus and Odysseus encounter many times where they entered someone’s home and were given food and shelter. This was done out of fear that the mortals had towards the gods, for they believed punishment would be the consequence if hospitably was not shown to strangers. In many, almost all cases in this story, people are very hospitable. The only cases where this is untrue is when the antagonists of the story are supposed to be providing the food and shelter. In all other cases Greek hospitality is well-respected and treated like one of the norms within the