The scent of smoked pork wafts through the household as a feast is being prepared in the kitchen. In Odysseus' grand estate, food and drink is abundant. Feasts serve mostly as two motifs in Homer's The Odyssey. Firstly, food is served in the welcoming of guests and the Greek code of xenia. Feasts and banquets give the host an opportunity to show their hospitality and wealth. More explicitly, they pamper their guests in return of a future favor or to please a god or goddess in disguise. But, one must not forget that guests must also be polite. The second purpose food serves in The Odyssey is temptation. Throughout the epic, Odysseus and his men encounter food and their resulting temptations. His men are punished severely, mostly by death, while …show more content…
The suitors freeload on the food and supplies while they try wooing Penelope. Food and feast calls for celebration of life and guests in Greek society. The Greek code of xenia tested the hosts' hospitality, and was sometimes tested when gods came to visit. Hospitality was one of the most sacred bonds in Greek antiquity, forcing hosts to treat any guest with respect, and the guest had an obligation not to harm anyone as long as he or she was in the house. A great example would be of Helen and Menelaus and their food and silver utensils. Another example of food and xenia is when Telemachus meets King Nestor. "once they'd put aside desire for food and drink, / old Nestor the noble charioteer began, at last: / '... probe our guests and find out who they are. / Strangers— friends, who are you?'" (Homer 3.75-79). Nestor invites them to eat and settle down before actually asking who Telemachus is and what he wants. Even when Odysseus is seen alone and broken down, Nausicaa attempts to help him. "So, quick, my girls, / give our newfound friend some food and drink / and bathe the man in the river, / wherever you find shelter from the wind" (Homer 6. 229- 232). Everyone helps anyone who is in need of assistance in their society, including treating their guests with …show more content…
The notion can be seen in Odysseus' and Telemachus' altercation with the suitors. The suitors were freeloading on their wealth and supplies while Odysseus was away. Telemachus was too weak and could not turn them down either way because of xenia. This is best described in the book: "They infest our palace day and night, / they butcher our cattle, our sheep, our fat goats, feasting themselves sick, swilling our glowing wine / as if there's no tomorrow— all of it, squandered" (Homer 17. 394-398). The suitors eat the cattle and drink their wine and don't respect their host Telemachus. They don't expect to pay anything back and don't expect repercussions. But in the end, they all pay with their lives including the most rowdy of them all, Antinous. "Food showered across the floor, / the bread and meats soaked in a swirl of bloody filth. / The suitors burst into uproar all throughout the house / when they saw their leader down" (Homer 22.
In the Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus's main goal was to reach home. Even though all of his thoughts were turned towards his home and family, he learned many lessons along the way. Odysseus's greatest learning experiences were in his journey, not his destination.
Humans cannot survive without food, which is what the subsystem subsistence is all about. Subsistence includes any part of society or “actions relating to the distribution of food resources.” In the Odyssey, the issue of distributing food is primarily seen in Odysseus’s home of Ithaca. The suitors of Penelope according to Telemachus continue to “infest our palace day and night,/ they butcher our cattle, our sheep, our fat goats,/ feasting themselves sick, swilling our glowing wine/ as if there’s no tomorrow”. In this speech by Telemachus it is seen that the best his palace has to offer is being eaten and devoured by the suitors. As the suitors are “guests” in the house of Telemachus and Penelo...
Life or death situations often involve food in The Odyssey and Cold Mountain. In The Odyssey, food plays a key part in Odysseus’s journeys. When Odysseus and his men arrived at the island of the Phaeacians, Odysseus did not tell the Phaeacians his story until everyone had been fed: “There is no boon in life more sweet, I say, than when a summer joy holds all the realm, and banqueters sit listening to a harper in a great hall, by rows of tables heaped with bread and roast meat” (Homer 145). The men had been fed and Odysseus beings to tell his battle stories. Odysseus tells the story of when they plundered the island of Ismaros. One of the biggest concerns of the men was the food supply: “Sheep after sheep they butchered by the surf, and shambling cattle, feasting” (146). Food plays a key role in surviving during a war, without food there would be no hope of returning home. The Odyssey shows how people will go through great hardships to obtain the necessary nourishment.
Throughout the Odyssey there are many themes that Homer uses to portray different people and events. To name a few, there are the themes of Betrayal and Revenge,Greed and Glutony, Hospitality, Role of the Gods and Wealth (the amount of money one had determined the status he held in the greek society, and this explains Odysseus's love for plunder).
In the Odyssey the people of Ithaca are accustomed to hospitality. In Odysseus’s lengthy journey home he learns to maintain modesty. Odysseus’s family never give up on him throughout his entire 20 year journey, and they kept Ithaca for him when he came back. The Greek values of hospitality, humility, and loyalty are conveyed in The Odyssey.
The ancient Greek concept of xenia speaks volumes about the values of ancient Greeks and how they valued hospitality, generosity, and courtesy. Throughout the Odyssey, xenia is exhibited in many settings. The first point where ancient Greek values are revealed through xenia is when Athena, goddess, disguises as Menelaus, Odysseus’ friend, and visits Telemachus. Even though his home is overrun by suitors, Telemachus quickly welcomes her, stating “Greetings, stranger. You are welcome here / After you’ve had dinner, you can tell us what you need” (Homer 1.132-133). Before that, he is “Indignant that a guest had been made to wait so long” (1.129). Telemachus exhibits how ancient Greeks valued hospitality and courtesy. Even though Athena may be
The Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, is about the war hero Odysseus' ten year adventure to return home after the Trojan War. At one point in the epic poem, Odysseus is retelling his adventure at the land of the Kyklopês, in which he and his crew go to an island filled with these creatures. Through Odysseus, Homer uses contrasting connotation when speaking of the crew and the Kyklopês to convey that mankind is better than the Kyklopês using two different domains domains of society.
Throughout the Odyssey, there are many relationships that represent love between two people. These relationships show loyalty, compassion, and the wanting to be near one another. Two of these kinds of relationships are between Odysseus and Telemakhos, and Odysseus and Penelope.
The story is based around Odysseus’s journey around an unknown world. He develops the most guest-host relationships in the story based on the fact that on many occasions he must ask strangers for provisions in order for his journey to continue. “A grave housekeeper brought in the bread and served it to him adding many good things to it, generous with her provisions.”(Homer, Book 7) These provisions were needed in order for his journey home to continue. The housekeeper presented it in the act...
In The Odyssey, a Greek hero, Odysseus, journeys back home after the Trojan War. Throughout this long voyage, Odysseus meets many people who take him in out of their own courtesy and hospitality. Within this text, the re-occurring theme of hospitality has had much significance and has also made a presence in today’s society. Xenia was common in the Greek culture; however, changes throughout society have made this form of hospitality a smaller occurrence today. Xenia, or the concept of hospitality, is the main theme present in the Odyssey.
Being a work of importance in the western tradition of philosophy, The Odyssey is much more than some play written by Homer ages ago. Though The Odyssey certainly is a dramatic work and partially intended for entertainment, it also provides insight into the ways of thinking of the time it has been written in. Aside from illustrating the perspective of early Greek philosophy The Odyssey also raises certain questions pertaining to virtues and the morality of actions undertaken therein. Such questions and the pursuit of their answers may also lead to a better understanding of the actions taken in present-day society and the human condition in general. One of the virtues that is present throughout The Odyssey is temperance, or the lack thereof. In the course of Odysseus' journey, numerous events take place which are determined by the actions of Odysseus' himself, as well as those of his shipmates. In fact, the endeavor here is to portray how the delays and troubles encountered by Odysseus and his crew are due to their inability to exhibit proper self-restraint in conduct, expression, and indulgence of the appetites. This is undertaken in the proceeding text by an examination of two specific episodes from Homer's The Odyssey. The first episode being Book X of The Odyssey, entitled "The Grace of the Witch", containing Odysseus' encounter with the goddess Kirke. The second being Book V under the title of "Sweet Nymph and Open Sea," of how Odysseus departs the island of the nymph Kalypso. Both episodes are intended to demonstrate the importance of temperance in the journeys of Odysseus.
The Greeks have been known for their hospitality and politeness, especially when treating guests- whether strangers or not. This is demonstrated near the beginning of the Odyssey when Telemachus went to Pylos to visit Nestor. Nestor, not knowing who he was taking into his home as guests, treated them with great honor and respect. "Now is the time," he said, "for a few questions, now that our young guests have enjoyed their dinner. Who are you, strangers? Where are you sailing from, and where to, down the highways of sea water (p 299)?" If ever Greeks were to serve themselves before their guests or even a little better than them, then they were breaking the most basic of all Greek customs, for this tradition of hospitality was passed down from generation to generation, and breaking it would bring embarrassment and dishonor upon the home.
Xenia, the ancient Greek concept of hospitality, was one of the foremost forces in Homer’s Iliad. The Achaeans respect it above nearly all else, and failure to adhere to its strict customs could lead to the forfeiture of countless souls.
Death, humanity’s worst fear. Humans do everything they can to avoid it, yet it is inevitable. If one believes, as the Ancient Greeks did, that there is some sort of life after death that can be reached by the living, then one would be able to theoretically speak to one’s dead acquaintances. Most people believe that one grows wiser as one grows older; however one can wonder whether the dead are wiser than even the oldest of the living. Death, death occurs to many men in the Odyssey, but one can wonder at the amount of death in this epic poem. Epic poems were supposed to teach listeners on how to be good Greek citizens and they were supposed to teach life lessons, similar to fables in today’s time. This leads one to question why Homer, the author,
... hospitality should be given to a guest because of how they treat Telemachos. The Cyclops, Polyphemos, shows how xenia can be not given at all, by the way that he treats Odysseus and his men. How one disregards the rules of hospitality, and does it knowingly, is how the suitors behaved. Throughout the Odyssey, Homer writes about many different instances of good hospitality, like the people of Pylos. Homer also shows instances of bad hospitality, like how the suitors behave as guests and how Polyphemos treats his guests. No matter if it is a good or bad example of hospitality, the impression of how important xenia is to the Greeks is always present. All of the Greeks follow the rules of hospitality to the nines, for fear that they will be struck by Zeus’s lightning bolt.