Xenia
Xenia is a reciprocal agreement between host and guest. This code behaviour was seen as a law sacred to
Zeus. To harm your host or guest was to harm Zeus himself, and the consequences of violating were dire.
Book I: good xenia from Telemachus towards Athene; awful xenia from the Suitors – they are taking
advantage
Book V: good xenia from Calypso towards Hermes; bad xenia towards Odysseus because she keeps
him longer than he wants
Book VI: good xenia from both Odysseus and Nausicaa
Book VII: good xenia from Alcinous (apart from having to be reminded by Echeneus)
Book IX: bad xenia from Odysseus and the Cyclops
Book X: good xenia from Aeolus the first time, then refusal so as not to offend Zeus; bad xenia from
Laestrygonians; bad xenia from Circe, then very good xenia
Book XIII: very good xenia from Eumaeus
Book XVII: very good xenia from Telemachus; Antinous throws a stool at Odysseus in a perversion
of xenia
XVIII-XXI: good xenia from Penelope, very bad from Suitors
XXII: revenge for bad xenia!
Critics:
Urban: ‘The suitors vying for Penelope’s hand form a pivotal point in the plot and make the largest
infraction against xenia and the responsibilities of the guest.’
Chris Emlyn-Hones: ‘Much of the dramatic suspense in the Odyssey arises from the postponement
of autobiography inherent in the conventions of xenia (the guest is not questioned until after the
supper).’
Reece: ‘Antinous takes a footstool, an implement associated in normal circumstances with proper
hospitality and peaceful banqueting, and casts it at the beggar. This perversion of proper hospitality
by Antinous with its symbolic transformation of peace into war, of banquet into battle, links this
circuit inextricably to the third, the Suitors’ slaughter.’
Clarke: ‘This Epic exploits the themes of the guest host relationship and eating and drinking.’
Richard Jenkyns: ‘The touchstone is above all the treatment of strangers and beggars, who are
especially under the protection of Zeus. The test here is not for aristocrats only, but one by which
people of all kinds can be judged. The formulaic method brings out the social range of this
morality.’
Xenia is a reciprocal agreement between host and guest. This code behaviour was seen as a law sacred to
Zeus. To harm your host or guest was to harm Zeus himself, and the consequences of violating were dire.
Book I: good xenia from Telemachus towards Athene; awful xenia from the Suitors – they are taking
advantage
Book V: good xenia from Calypso towards Hermes; bad xenia towards Odysseus because she keeps
him longer than he wants
Book VI: good xenia from both Odysseus and Nausicaa
Book VII: good xenia from Alcinous (apart from having to be reminded by Echeneus)
Book IX: bad xenia from Odysseus and the Cyclops
Book X: good xenia from Aeolus the first time, then refusal so as not to offend Zeus; bad xenia from
Laestrygonians; bad xenia from Circe, then very good xenia
Book XIII: very good xenia from Eumaeus
Book XVII: very good xenia from Telemachus; Antinous throws a stool at Odysseus in a perversion
of xenia
XVIII-XXI: good xenia from Penelope, very bad from Suitors
XXII: revenge for bad xenia!
Critics:
Urban: ‘The suitors vying for Penelope’s hand form a pivotal point in the plot and make the largest
infraction against xenia and the responsibilities of the guest.’
Chris Emlyn-Hones: ‘Much of the dramatic suspense in the Odyssey arises from the postponement
of autobiography inherent in the conventions of xenia (the guest is not questioned until after the
supper).’
Reece: ‘Antinous takes a footstool, an implement associated in normal circumstances with proper
hospitality and peaceful banqueting, and casts it at the beggar. This perversion of proper hospitality
by Antinous with its symbolic transformation of peace into war, of banquet into battle, links this
circuit inextricably to the third, the Suitors’ slaughter.’
Clarke: ‘This Epic exploits the themes of the guest host relationship and eating and drinking.’
Richard Jenkyns: ‘The touchstone is above all the treatment of strangers and beggars, who are
especially under the protection of Zeus. The test here is not for aristocrats only, but one by which
people of all kinds can be judged. The formulaic method brings out the social range of this
morality.’
