Previously, we considered the Emperor Julian’s attempt to revive the pagan spirit by encouraging generosity and practicing virtue. His appeal to pagan priests included a reference to Homer’s Odyssey in which Eumaeus declares to the Stranger who has washed up on his shores:
Nay, stranger, it were not right for me, even though one meaner than thou were to come, to slight a stranger: for from Zeus are all strangers and beggars, and a gift, though small, is welcome from such as we.[1]
As a side note, if you are not familiar with the Odyssey (or have vague memories of from your school days), it is definitely a story worth becoming (re-)acquainted with.[2] Our interest at present, however, is in considering Julian’s use of the text as a model for hospitality.
Roman mosaic featuring Odysseus and the Sirens from the Bardo Museum in Tunisia.
After many toils and troubles in his return from fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus finally arrives back at his home in Ithaca after many years – the only surviving member of his expedition – dirty, disheveled, and unsure about the current state of affairs. How will he reclaim his family and his crown? In such a state, he stumbles into his swineherd and old friend, Eumaeus, who rescues him from a pack of aggressive guard dogs. Speaking to Odysseus, Eumaeus immediately offers the ‘stranger’ food and wine prior even to asking who the man is.
‘Let us go to the hut, old man, that when thou hast satisfied thy heart with food and wine, thou too mayest tell whence thou art, and all the woes thou hast endured.'[3]
Once Odysseus has had his fill, the swineherd refills his wine and begs his identity. Odysseus, uncertain regarding Eumaeus’ loyalties, chooses to keep his identity a secret, saying that he was from Crete. The swineherd then prepares a place for Odysseus to sleep:
Eumaeus sprang up and placed a bed for Odysseus near the fire, and cast upon it skins of sheep and goats. Here Odysseus lay down, and the swineherd threw over him a great thick cloak which he kept on hand for a change of clothing whenever a terrible storm should arise.[4]
Eumaeus’ actions were the paragon of Greek views of hospitality which involved an entire process of greeting strangers and providing them will food and drink. Only then would the host ask the stranger about himself and his business. The guest then might provide news or stories based on his travels or experiences. Finally, the host would supply the stranger with any needs (e.g., lodging or provisions to continue his journey). In such an interaction, both the host and the stranger express mutual respect.
Hospitality was a virtue – something to be strived after. Fear and distance rather than kindness and generosity are the primary reactions to strangers. What harm might the stranger do? Perhaps the host merely wants to take advantage of me? In many ways, encouraging hospitality was a way to prevent foreigners from being killed and mitigate the threat the foreigner posed to the host, perhaps even turning strangers into friends or even kin.
In fact, one of the major themes of both the Iliad (the story of the Trojan War and prequel to the Odyssey) and the Odyssey is hospitality. The Trojan War begins when a prince of Troy, Paris, while the guest of King Menelaus in Sparta, abducts his wife, Helen. All the Greeks, including the unlucky Odysseus are summoned to avenge this violation of hospitality, for, if the rules of hospitality were not enforced, then what would prevent future transgressions?
In addition, the Odyssey provides examples of transgressions of hospitality, the most infamous being the cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus and his men land on the island of Cyclopes and find shelter in Polyphemus’ cave. Rather than welcoming them, he locks them in his house as a prison. Instead of supplying their need for food and wine, he eats several of Odysseus’ men and plans to eat the rest later. Odysseus must resort to ingenuity and trickery to save himself and his remaining men.
Jumping forward a millennium or two, the virtue of hospitality continues to be praised in Dio Chrysostom’s story The Hunters of Euboea, written in the first century AD. Dio, called Chrysostom meaning ‘golden-mouthed’, was a rhetorician and writer. In one of his stories, he describes being shipwrecked in Euboea and abandoned by the crew. A hunter, however, finds him while tracking a deer and takes him into his house, showing Dio appropriate hospitality despite of the hunter’s poverty. The hunter relates how years before he was dragged to court by tax officials for making use of public lands without contributing any tax revenue. The hunter defended himself, describing his hospitality to those shipwrecked along the Euboean coastline. The cold courtroom prepares to punish the rustic hunter when the memories of one individual who stood up and recalled being rescued by the hunter, moved the judges to mercy. The hunter’s hospitality saved him, and his role was recognized by legislation.
Hospitality shown by those with few resources is also a theme in Ovid’s telling of ‘Baucis and Philemon’ which appears in his epic poem Metamorphoses or Transformations.[5] The Greek gods Zeus and Hermes don peasant garb and wander into the city of Tyana, seeking lodging for the night. Yet even the wealthiest citizens rejected the travelers, refusing them hospitality, and instead bolted their doors and shared unkind words. One elderly couple, Baucis and Philemon, do open their doors to the travelers, and in spite of their poverty, serve the disguised gods food and drink. Baucis eventually notices that no matter how much wine she serves her guests, it is never diminished, concluding that their guests are deity. Zeus and Hermes praise the couple and lead them to a nearby hill that overlooked the city, commanding them not to look back until they had safely arrived. When they reached the top, they turned back to a scene of destruction: a flood ravaged the city, completely destroying it apart from their tiny straw cottage which had become a magnificent temple. Zeus then offered them anything they desired. After a brief consultation, the couple requested to serve as priests in the temple, and that neither should die before the other.
Ovid’s ‘Baucis and Philemon’ introduces a new perspective on hospitality: the strangers whom you are to welcome and care for may themselves be divine.[6] This will neatly lead into a looking at hospitality in the Jewish Scriptures, beginning with the paradigmatic case of Abraham and the dishonorable, cyclops-esque hospitality shown in Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Homer, Odyssey 14. Trans. Murray.
- Odyssey free eBook: http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727; free audiobook: https://librivox.org/the-odyssey-by-homer/
- Odyssey 14.45f.
- Odyssey 14.518f.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII, 611-724.
- Hospitality to disguised gods and goddesses appears elsewhere too, including in the Odyssey.