In class right now we are reading The Odyssey, and a common theme that keeps popping up is hospitality. In books three and four, King Nestor at Pylos and then King Menelaus welcome Telemachus into their homes and feed him and help him, a complete stranger, as much as they can. This also happens to Odysseus in book six and seven. First, Princess Nausicaa gave him clothes even though he was just a random naked dude who washed up on the beach. Then in the next book her parents, King Alcinous and Queen Arete, end up welcoming a random stranger, who just appeared out of nowhere might I add, to their feast. They then offer up their daughter for marriage without knowing anything about this dude -- not even his name. Still ignorant of the name of this complete stranger, they offer him a boat and other such things of value.
That's just kinda weird.
I don't know if that's how people actually were in Ancient Greece or if it's just a theme shown throughout the book to emphasize the way the swaggering suitors are being rude and taking advantage of Odysseus and Telemachus' home and valuables. Either way, this would not at all happen in current times. Nowadays, we are incredibly cautious and if I ran into a naked dude at the beach I would probably be really creeped out. If he asked for my help I'd give him a sweatshirt if he asked while calling the police so they could help him or be able to track my phone if he tried to kill me or something. And lets be honest here, if some random dude just appeared during dinner, I'd probably pull a Rapunzel and hit him over the head with a frying pan.
The theme of hospitality is common not only throughout the Odyssey, but also in many ancient Greek stories as the wealthy aspects of society had disposable income and little entertainment to spend it on, thus they always welcomed strangers to obtain information. Also, hospitality is generally a positive trait and the wealthy wanted to please the Gods by showing their generosity. As well as this, the Gods disguised themselves as humans, so that it was not known if a stranger was just a person or a God, thus it would benefit the hosts to be generous with anyone "just in case".
ReplyDeleteI can definitely agree, I would probably pull a Rapunzel as well.
ReplyDeleteBut we have to take into account the fact that today's society and Ancient Greece are two TOTALLY different time periods. People were a lot more trusting back then, because they worked together hand in hand, and people were more concerned about the well being of others, than about themselves.
Meanwhile, in America, it's everyone for themselves. It really just makes you think about how pitiful our society is, doesn't it?