How and why is the “hospitality theme” in The Odyssey important?
In essence, many of the problems that befall people in the epic are due to violating hospitality. * Odysseus and his men land on the island of the Cyclops. They come into a cave, and eat the roasting sheep that is there – violating hospitality by going into someone’s home and eating their food without permission (or even asking). The resultant blinding of the Cyclops angers Poseidon, who blows Odysseus off course. * Circe invites Odysseus’ men to a feast, and turns them to swine – excepting Eurylochus who goes and warns Odysseus. Hermes intervenes and protects Odysseus from Circe’s magic – partially because she violated hospitality. * On Thrinacia, Odysseus and his men ignored the warnings of Tiresias and Circe, and hunted down the golden cattle of Helios – causing them to be shipwrecked, killing all but Odysseus, and resulting in him being enslaved by Calypso for seven years. * The suitors that seek Penelope’s hand violate hospitality by refusing to leave, and by continually feasting
