Hospitality Displayed in Homer's “Iliad” and “Odyssey”

Introduction

“The Iliad” and “the Odyssey” were both written by Homer. The Odyssey was composed around 720 BC, not long after The Iliad, The Odyssey neatly complements its predecessor. It focuses upon peace, the household, ingenuity, and domestic love, rather than war, society, heroism, romantic and companionate love. Its fairyland symbols of universal peril and enchantment contrast with The Iliad's status symbols, the prizes of honour of this world. It is mythic and comic where The Iliad is tragic.

While, The Iliad was composed around 750 bc, probably the earliest surviving work of Western literature. The Iliad is astonishingly complex. The main plot, the wrath of Achilles, criss-crosses a number of sub-plots, such as the tragedy of Troy, and the quarrels and peace of the gods. The theme of heroism versus love is thereby extended beyond the context of Achilles' career, permitting the varieties of love to be set forth and exemplified, the quest for value to be located politically, and human aspirations glimpsed in the light of what heaven encourages, permits, and disallows. Value-conflicts occur within the psyche as well as between individuals and nations, and some characters are very subtly drawn. Hospitality is one of the leading virtues of heroic and ancient traditionss. This paper compares the extent and nature of the hospitality displayed in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

Thesis Statement

Hospitality displayed in “the Iliad” and “the Odyssey” is one of the chief virtues of ancient and heroic cultures.

Discussion “The true hero, the true subject, the center of the Iliad is force.” The first sentence of The Iliad thus proclaims Weil's principal thesis with a directness typical of her writing. Nearly everything that follows is evidence adduced to support the thesis. The piece is very lean in that sense. (Alden 55-56)

Similar to “the Iliad”, the Odyssey starts with an trace of the Muse:

 Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story

of that man skilled in all ways of contending,

the wanderer, harried for years on end,

after he plundered the stronghold

of the proud height of Troy.

The narrative of Odyssey begins in the 20th year after Odysseus departed for Troy; he is far from his home in Ithaca, perhaps dead, so far as his family knows. His wife Penelope and his son Telemachus are besieged by 108 suitors for her hand who spend each day in Odysseus' palace devouring its livestock and wine. Athena (goddess of self-realization), perceiving Telemachus' helplessness, descends to inspire him to move towards manhood, summon the assembly, urge the suitors to disperse, then travel to Nestor in Pylos and Menelaus in Sparta for news of Odysseus. Just before Telemachus' return, the narrative shifts to Odysseus, imprisoned amidst sensual delights on the nymph Calypso's island. He has turned down her offer of immortality, and longs to go home. Zeus, through Hermes the messenger, persuades Calypso to release him, and he crosses the sea to the Phaeacians, where Princess Nausicaa finds him and leads him to her father's palace. Received warmly, Odysseus ...