Recently, an approach of researchers to problems of the Homeric epic has changed significantly. In the field of their view, new problems are increasingly emerging. One of the widely discussed topics is a theme of hospitality in the “Odyssey”. From our perspective, this is one of the keys and cross-cutting subjects for a story about returning.
Exemplification
In Homer's poem, there are a lot of episodes that can be interpreted in terms of the guest-friendship. These include an appearance of Athena in Odysseus’s place, a visit of Nestor and Menelaus by Telemachus, the protagonist’s attendance of faeries, etc. Everywhere principal hero of a plot is checked by the true meaning of welcome. He is allowed to eat at the same table with the owners, to wash in the baths and sleep in their homes. Frequently, strangers enjoyed superiority over close people. In Ancient Greece, such attitude demonstrated, firstly, a civility of a settlement and respect for the gods.
But a scene of a meeting between Polyphemus and Odyssey team is one of the most significant since it describes “hospitality on the contrary”. Through this act, an author indicates laws of welcoming get-together and conditions under which they cease to operate. On a plea of the main character to accept them as required by custom, Cyclops declares its intention to eat his guests. The giant is not afraid of Zeus's anger, arguing that he has more power than a thunderer. Ultimately, Polyphem is deprived of a single eye as a punishment for his ignorance and stubbornness.
In a similar way, a son of Penelope, Telemachus, shows friendship toward uninvited visitors. Although contenders for the hand of his mother brought gifts, he openly declares that no one is waiting for them here. It is worth remembering that Telemachus himself awaited a royal appeal when he arrived at the palaces of Nestor and Menelaus. But the wife of Odysseus observes rules of Zeus, therefore feeds and entertains her guests during the Poseidon celebration. The people of Pylos observe tact and courtesy, which makes them ideal models for imitation. The motives for their presence are not taken into account. The main thing is an external observance of decency.
Thus, a theme of hospitality, for all its seeming simplicity, acquires complexity through simultaneous deployment in several planes. On the one hand, we are dealing with ideas of Odysseus about human morality as the behavior of Polyphemus and Telemachus, on the other hand, we know about the position of the gods to this question. A motive of welcome becomes plot-forming, linking many episodes of the poem and creating a single thread of narration.
Author: Arnold Campbell