Greek Hospitality

In The Odyssey, Greeks are naturally expected to show great hospitality (It’s a big part of their culture). So, when a herd of suitors show up and live in her house for a very long time, Penelope is expected to just let them get away with it. The suitors take advantage of this, and completely plunder her house. They drink the wine, kill and eat the livestock, dine in the dining hall, play sports in the backyard, wrestle, and converse in the living room. This is, very clearly, taking advantage of the sacred rules of hospitality laid out by the gods. But the suitors didn’t care. Most all of them were cruel and twisted people, plotting to kill Telemachus just because he asked them to leave (Telemachus realized they were taking advantage of the hospitality rule and got sick of it) . They roared with laughter when one of their comrades was wrestling with Odysseus and Odysseus punched him in the neck so hard that he crushed a bone.

So, the suitors likely thought that everything would go their way (except getting Penelope as a wife, that offer expired LONG ago). In The Odyssey, Greeks are naturally expected to show great hospitality (It’s a big part of their culture). So, when a herd of suitors show up and live in her house for a very long time, Penelope is expected to just let them get away with it. The suitors take advantage of this, and completely plunder her house. They drink the wine, kill and eat the livestock, dine in the dining hall, play sports in the backyard, wrestle, and converse in the living room. This is, very clearly, taking advantage of the sacred rules of hospitality laid out by the gods. But the suitors didn’t care. Most all of them were cruel and twisted people, plotting to kill Telemachus just because he asked them to leave (Telemachus realized they were taking advantage of the hospitality rule and got sick of it) . They roared with laughter when one of their comrades was wrestling with Odysseus and Odysseus punched him in the neck so hard that he crushed a bone. So, the suitors likely thought that everything would go their way (except getting Penelope as a wife, that offer expired LONG ago).

Well, the suitors were wrong. Their plottings of murder, plundering of riches, and cruelty had attracted fate. Little did they know that, while they were enjoying their luxury, Odysseus was taking a long and painful journey back home. He was enraged at the suitors. Athena disguised him as a beggar so he could scout out which among them were cruel men and which weren't so bad. After that, Odysseus and Telemachus got their spears, teamed up, and killed the suitors.

So, godly judgment did come, and as a conclusion to my essay, the gods (and Odysseus) like to keep hospitality a sacred value, definitely not something to be messed with (sorry, that was one of my grimmer essays, the next one will be more enthusiastic).