Which excerpt from the Odyssey best shows that the ancient Greeks greatly valued idea of home?

Like all epic poems, The Odyssey is a cultural document that embodies the values of the society that created it, providing insight into ideas of heroism and virtue during the poet’s day. The most important value at the core of The Odyssey is hospitality, a social custom common to nearly all pre-modern societies and essential to ancient Greek social structure. Hospitality, also called “guest-friendship,” was a social ritual expected of men in the Greek world. Under the rules of hospitality, men would be expected to host visitors, providing them with food, a bath, friendship gifts, the promise of safety for the night, and safe escorted travel to their next destination. In return, guests would be expected to pose no threat to the life or property of their hosts and to return the favor if their hosts should turn up at their homes in the future. This idea underlies nearly every section of Odysseus’s journey, from his encounter with the Cyclops to his stay among the Phaeacians to his defeat of the greedy suitors. The Odyssey can be thought of as a manual for a host of how to (and how not to) show hospitality to a guest and vice versa.

Telemachus, the focus of the first four books of The Odyssey, provides an early example of good hospitality as both a host and a guest. In Book 1, Athena comes to Ithaca in disguise as the hero Mentes to convince Telemachus to go in search of news of Odysseus. The narrator makes it clear that Telemachus is the only one in the household to treat the guest with the proper respect: “straight to the porch he went, mortified that a guest might still be standing at the doors…he clasped her right hand and relieving her at once of her long bronze spear, met her with winged words: ‘Greetings, stranger! Here in our house you’ll find a royal welcome. Have supper first, then tell us what you need.’” As is proper for hosts, Telemachus welcomes his guest and provides food and drink before even asking the guest’s identity. Telemachus’s behavior is especially notable because of the lack of attention paid by the rest of the household. Likewise, Telemachus displays proper behavior for a guest at the courts of Nestor and Menelaus in Pylos and Sparta, respecting his hosts’ households and treating them with honor.

The true exemplars of good hospitality in The Odyssey are the Phaeacians who host Odysseus when he washes ashore near their town. In Book 6, Odysseus meets Princess Nausicaa, who, despite the threat of a strange man and the possibility of becoming the subject of rumor, offers him food and help reaching the city of Scheria. Her parents, King Alcinous and Queen Arete, are similarly hospitable. Before asking Odysseus’s name, they provide him with food, entertainment, and lodging. Alcinous considers hospitality part of his sacred duty to the gods, declaring, “Mix the wine in the bowl, pour rounds to all our banqueters in the house so we can pour out cups to Zeus who loves the lightning, champion of suppliants—suppliants’ rights are sacred.” In Book 8, the king and queen even stop a performance of an epic poem when its subject matter, the Trojan War, causes Odysseus to burst into tears. After Odysseus reveals his identity and tells his story, the Phaeacians convey him to Ithaca and leave him on the shore with numerous precious gifts, the ultimate hospitable act.

Just as the Phaeacians are the pinnacle of good hospitality, the Cyclops represents the most extreme example of bad hospitality toward one’s guests. Whereas the Phaeacians do not ask Odysseus’s identity until after they have taken care of his physical needs, the first thing the Cyclops asks of his Greek visitors is their identities: “‘Strangers!’ he thundered out, ‘now who are you? Where did you sail from, over the running sea-lanes?’” Odysseus begs that the Cyclops respect the gods and the customs of hospitality, but the Cyclops claims not to care about the gods or their customs: “We Cyclops never blink at Zeus and Zeus’s shield of storm and thunder, or any other blessed god—we’ve got more force by far.” Next, instead of providing his guests with a meal, he makes a meal of them, snatching up two of the men and eating them raw. Finally, when Odysseus asks the Cyclops for a “guest-gift,” an official token of the guest-friend relationship, the Cyclops offers his sarcastic spin on the custom: he’ll eat Odysseus last.

In The Odyssey being a good guest is of equal importance to being a good host, and the suitors represent the worst possible behavior for guests entering the household of a stranger. Telemachus describes their behavior in Book 2: “They infest our palace day and night, they butcher our cattle, our sheep, our fat goats, feasting themselves sick, swilling our glowing wine as if there’s no tomorrow—all of it, squandered.” In Odysseus’s absence, the suitors take advantage of the lack of a male head of household to consume his entire livelihood in the hopes that Penelope will eventually agree to marry one of them. While normal guest-host bonds are about equal relationships, the suitors pervert this by taking advantage of the weakened household because there is no leader to stop them. This moral outrage, although somewhat less intense for modern readers, would have made the suitors’ deaths at the end of the poem a supremely satisfying conclusion for ancient Greek audiences.

“The world is full of wonders, but nothing is more wonderful than man.” This quote shows that the Greeks valued themselves, but also their intellect in which they know that the world about them is great. The Greeks valued beauty, art, intellect, honor, and truth; the list is long. Some of these values are shown through the story of the Odyssey, which tells of the adventures of Odysseus and his family. In order to understand Greek values and how they are portrayed in Greek society, one must examine how some values are portrayed in the Odyssey: hospitality, intellect, and beauty. In Greek society, hospitality is really important. The Greeks strongly believed in their gods, and they always wanted to be prepared if one came knocking at…show more content…
An example of a lack of hospitality was when Odysseus and his men came upon the Kyklopes’, and the one-eyed monsters treated them terribly. On first sight they tried to kill Odysseus and all his men. The Greeks also valued intelligence and intellect. Although there were certain areas in Greece that valued it more than others, such as Athens, the Greeks were generally an intelligent race of people. An example from the Odyssey is when Penelope (Odysseus’ wife, Telemakhos’ mother) tells her suitors that she needs to finish weaving a shroud for an old man before she marries. She proceeds to weave on her loom every day, but unravels it during the night, so that she will never have to marry. Another example is when Odysseus finally arrives home, and he disguises himself so he can question people about his home and the situation, all without being noticed. In this way he gained information without revealing himself. Another important Greek value is beauty. The Greeks strived for the idealistic form in everything they did: art, literature, beauty, and even in the sciences. The Odyssey portrays Penelope to be an older woman, but a beautiful older woman, having a hall full of suitors wanting to marry her. Another example is when Athena changes Odysseus’ appearance in certain situations, usually making Odysseus look young and less hardened by all his traveling. A more detailed description of this is when Odysseus

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Several excerpts prove the high value the ancient Greeks attributed to the idea of home in The Odyssey. The excerpt that best shows the sentiment is the following: “…[G]o on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home.” (The Odyssey, Book 9).

Detailed answer:

The central idea of The Odyssey is that of homecoming. Homer, the author of The Odyssey, details Odysseus’ return home, which takes many years. On his way home, Odysseus encounters many challenges represented by gods and other mythical creatures. The challenges delay his eventual return to his wife. One of his encounters is Calypso from the island of Ogygia. Odysseus remains there for several years. However, Odysseus’ desire to return home perseveres, so Calypso releases him. The strong desire to reunite with one’s family shows the transition from honor and glory to life and family in the Greek society of the time (The Transition in Greek Society). Thus, The Odyssey stands in opposition to The Iliad, in which the central idea was that of battles and glory.

The idea of longing for home spreads through the whole of The Odyssey. However, the story of Book 9 is the one that best highlights the idea. The background of the story is that Odysseus and his men meet Lotus-eaters. Once you eat a lotus, you lose the desire to return home and have the urge to stay with Lotus-eaters. Odysseus eventually forces those who ate the lotus back to the ship.

Looking for an inspiring idea for a paper on Odyssey? Take a look at our Odyssey Essay Topic Ideas & Examples to find the perfect one!

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IvyPanda. "Which excerpt from The Odyssey best shows that the ancient Greeks greatly valued the idea of home?" September 6, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/q/which-excerpt-from-the-odyssey-best-shows-that-the-ancient-greeks-greatly-valued-the-idea-of-home/.

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IvyPanda. 2022. "Which excerpt from The Odyssey best shows that the ancient Greeks greatly valued the idea of home?" September 6, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/q/which-excerpt-from-the-odyssey-best-shows-that-the-ancient-greeks-greatly-valued-the-idea-of-home/.

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IvyPanda. (2022) 'Which excerpt from The Odyssey best shows that the ancient Greeks greatly valued the idea of home'. 6 September.

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