Theme Of Hospitality In Homer's Odyssey

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Some people are very hospitable while others are not. In Homer’s “The Odyssey” Odysseus is returning home from a war as he is swept off course by Poseidon. Odysseus spends ten years drifting from island to island until he was able to return home. While away from home, Odysseus encounters some places were hospitability was key while some places hospitability was not as important. Therefore, Hospitality is a central motif of the Odyssey that focuses on the behavior of both hosts and their guests. Homer’s depicts several scenes of positive hospitality throughout the story of “The Odyssey “. For example, the scene with Telemachus treatment of Athena shows how a young man showered their female goddess with more than enough food, clothing, and gave the goddess the best seat in the house. In addition, to Telemachus scene with Athena, Nestor’s shows good hospitality towards Telemachus in Book III. “There found Nestor sitting with his sons. All around him were men preparing for the feast, Skewering meat on spits and roasting it. But when they saw the new arrivals, they all crowded around, clasping their hands in welcome and inviting them to sit down. Nestor’s son Peisistratus was first, taking the both by the hand and having sit down at the feast on soft fleeces spread on the sandy beach beside his father and Thrasymedes …show more content…

Cyclopes don’t care about Zeus or his aegis or the blessed gods, since we are much stronger. I wouldn’t spare you or your men out of fear of Zeus. I would spare them only if I myself wanted to (Homer 276).” ….”This brought no response from his pitiless heart but a sudden assault upon my men. His hands reached out, seized two of men, and smashed them to the ground like puppies. Their brains spattered out and oozed into the dirt. He tore them limb from limb to make his supper, gulping them down like a mountain lion, leaving nothing behind- guts, flesh, or marrowy bones (Homer

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