Nicole Kovalcik’s Blog Post
Today in class we briefly discussed Xenia- the old greek word for hospitality. Xenia is an important cultural value of the Greeks. We all laughed about the idea of hospitality happening here in NYC. Imagine that? Letting strangers into your home and being their host? When the word hospitality comes to mind, we picture a hotel or airbnb.
This was not the case in Ancient Greece. Xenia was a guest-host relationship that came with a set of rules and customs to follow. Some of these rules included: the guest cannot insult the host and vice versa, the guest cannot make demands, the host cannot fail to meet hospitable standards, and the host must protect the guest. Ideally, guests searched for homes that fit within their social class.
Few trust issues arose from this xenia relationship- both sides had to rely on custom in regards to personal safety. The host always wanted to provide proper xenia, for they never knew whether their guest might be a god in disguise to come test their hospitality, as we have seen in the Odyssey. Providing good hospitality would result in a reward from the Gods, whereas the opposite would bring wrath and fury from them.
Consider this quote,
This poor man comes here as a wanderer, And we must take care of him now. All strangers, All beggars, are under the protection of Zeus, And even small gifts are welcome. So let’s feed This stranger, give him something to drink, And bathe him in the river, out of the wind. (Lines 211-216).
All travelers were seen as sent by Zeus, so guests would provide proper xenia as a way to honor and respect the Gods. There was good and bad xenia. Good xenia was seen in The Odyssey when Nausicaa and her maids took care of Odysseus by providing oil to rub on his skin, washing his clothes and offering food and drink. Odysseus tried to seek her aid without insulting her. Bad xenia was displayed at Odysseus’ own home- suitors offering Penelope a hand in marriage. They imposed themselves on the household, insulted the host and drank the wine, seated themselves “on the hides of oxen they themselves had slaughtered” (line 115-118). This resulted in punishment of the suitors through Zeus.
Which leaves us to think- how might have xenia had an impact on Ancient Greek culture/civilization? Why might hospitality have been more significant in Homer’s time than today? What other cultures do you know of that display this kind of gratitude today?
Hi Collin,
I really enjoyed your post about the friendship of Enkidu and Gilgamesh. You talked about one of the significant parts in this epic FRIENDSHIP. In my opinion the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu are equal. They are both sincere, honest and could sacrifice own lives to each other. We can clearly see in the epic that Gilgamesh cares about Enkidu and could sacrifice his life for him. When they went to kill Humbaba, Gilgamesh wishes to go first to fight with him. Even though, Humbaba could kill Gilgamesh. If Gilgamesh knew that Enkidu would die because they killed Humbaba, I think Gilgamesh would never done this. He would have chosen his friend to be alive…
In class on Thursday we were discussing the hospitality nowadays. Nicole mentioned about the airbnb that helps to draw a picture of our world now. It should be said that it shows xenia right now, where people trust random people. I know another website Couch Surfing it is hospitality service where couchsurfers(owners) share their homes, cities for free. What is more, I know couple of websites where you can live abroad for free if you give some help in return. For example owners of apartments give you keys to their apartments if you are going to take care of cats or water plants. Sounds good? My friend actually travelled to France using these services. In Odyssey, the Odysseus receives care from Calypso, Athena and Nauseca, where the Zeus also make sure to protect him. They give him food, but what are they planning to get in return? I think that when you give to a guest food and rest, he tends to be more relaxed, where homeowner wants to receive some stories from the wanderer. In that situation, you can tell more than you expected to tell, because of being grateful to the homeowner. Maybe greek gods and goddesses were hoping to receive a piece of information from the Odysseus. I believe that culturally in Greece hospitality is important, whether it is bad xenia or good xenia, It shows respect to a person, even for an enemy. Moreover, in small and poor countries people are eager to help the strangers/travelers more than in big countries. It sounds paradoxical that poor people are willing to help you more. Why is that? In big cities there are more violence and people are scared to bring strangers to home. However, I travelled this summer a lot, especially in Southern Europe (Greece, Serbia and Croatia) and people are very open to help us. It is consider to be normal if you offer a cup of coffee or ask if he/she/they have a place to sleep over.
Hi Nicole,
I really enjoyed your post and I think that you brought up some interesting points about Xenia. I think that Xenia definitely plays a big role in Ancient Greek culture. I thought maybe it might tie into religion or some other sort of belief. Also, I thought maybe the Ancient Greeks thought of it as a superstition so if they didn’t abide by it something bad might happen. I found some more examples in the Odyssey where Xenia was tested. For example, Penelope must entertain the entire house of suitors and it seemed like the suitors abused Xenia because they thought that Odysseus was dead. Another example is how certain Gods protect people like Odysseus. I understand that it is believed that guests should be treated as if they were a God, therefore it seems like Xenia is very respected in Ancient Greek culture.