Xenia

Question 1

1 example:

Answer 1

Athena disguises herself as Mentes to visit Telemachus on Ithaca.

Calypso keeps Odysseus on Ogygia, violating xenia

Question 2

1 quotes:

Answer 2

‘Welcome friend! You can tell us what has brought you here when you have had some food.’

Question 3

1 analysis:

Answer 3

• Despite Telemachus being distracted by his anger towards the Suitors, he still takes notice of the stranger at his door.
• The suitors ignore the presence of Mentes - could indicate an inherent disregard of xenia on their behalf.
• Calypso’s bad Xenia poses a threat to the success of the Odyssey, and could prevent Odysseus from obtaining his nostos

Question 4

1 scholarship on Telemachus’ xenia:

Answer 4

‘’He is well-bred, for he knows how to welcome a stranger, to give him food at once, and then to ask his name and errand’

S. Bassett

Question 5

1 scholarship on guests at the time:

Answer 5

‘His experience with guests can hardly have been conducive to feelings of hospitality’

• C. Tracy

Question 6

2 events:

Answer 6

Telemachus rebukes the suitors

Question 7

2 quotes:

Answer 7

If you think it a sounder scheme to destroy one man’s estate and not make restitution, then eat your fill, while I pray that Zeus will bring a day of reckoning’

Question 8

2 analysis:

Answer 8

• Reference to Zeus acts as a reminder of the divine enforcement of xenia- foreshadowing of divine vengeance.

Question 9

3 events:

Answer 9

Telemachus is welcomed by Nestor and Pisistratus at Pylos

Question 10

3 quote:

Answer 10

“When they saw strangers coming, they all stood up with open arms inviting them to join them.”

Question 11

3 analysis:

Answer 11

• This is different from other scenes of xenia because of the extensive display of prayer and other acts of piety
• Nestor and his family are a very good example of xenia, so this could suggest at how strongly piety and xenia are interlinked- to follow religion is to also follow xenia

Question 12

4 events:

Answer 12

Telemachus and Pisistratus are welcomed by Menelaus and Helen.

Helen drugs everyone

Question 13

4 analysis:

Answer 13

• Helen drugging the wine- xenia can be tinged with mistrust or manipulation

Question 14

5 events:

Answer 14

Calypso looking after Odysseus- but it’s against his will

Question 15

6 events:

Answer 15

Odysseus helped by Nausicaa

Question 16

6 scholarship:

Answer 16

‘Xenia was an essential functioning of ancient society, in the Odyssey it is a way of judging societies and individuals’
Goldhill

Question 17

7 events:

Answer 17

Disguised Athena explains that the Phaeacians aren’t very welcoming to strangers

Alcinous doesn’t immediately offer Odysseus hospitality- it’s only when a Phaeacian elder speaks up that he does.

Question 18

8 events:

Answer 18

Euryalus insults Odysseus

Gifts given to Odysseus

Question 19

8 analysis:

Answer 19

• Some of the younger Phaeacians such as Euryalus don’t seem to know how to properly treat a guest, as he’s disrespectful towards him when he suggests that Odysseus doesn’t have the physical strength to take part in their games.
• This could imply the rarity of guests in Scherie- either due to their geographical location, or because a lot of the people there don’t appear very hospitable.

Question 20

9 events:

Answer 20

Odysseus and his men enter Polyphemus’ cave and use his supplies without permission.

Polyphemus eats Odysseus’ men until they’re able to escape

Question 21

9 scholarship on Polyphemus:

Answer 21

‘They too [the suitors] had entered another man’s house unbidden and helped themselves to the property they found… these suitors are in Odysseus’ house as his guests just as much as Odysseus and his men were in Polyphemus’ cave’

• James Miller

Question 22

9 scholarship on Odysseus:

Answer 22

‘Odysseus emerges from the text of the Odyssey as a dual figure, both the opposite of the suitors and the monsters and at the same time very much one of them’

• James Miller

Question 23

10 events:

Answer 23

Circe turns her guests into pigs, until Odysseus is able to prove his strength to her- she then has a change of heart and demonstrates good xenia (Odysseus ends up not wanting to leave)

Question 24

11 quotes:

Answer 24

‘Insolent men eating up your livelihood, courting your royal wife… you will take revenge on these men for their misdeeds when you return home’

‘He invited me to the palace, he feasted me, and he killed me as a man fells an ox’

Question 25

12 quotes:

Answer 25

‘Draw near…and bring your ship to rest’ - Sirens ‘There she devoured them at her own door’ [Of Charybdis]

Question 26

12 analysis:

Answer 26

The sirens use language of welcome to lure men- using hospitality as a weapon Charybdis eats men at her ‘door’- a monstrous abuse of xenia

Question 27

13 quotes:

Answer 27

‘I propose to wreck that fine ship of the Phaeacians… to teach them once and for all to give up this habit of escorting travellers’ - Poseidon ‘It is I who made the Phaeacians take to you so kindly’ - Athena

Question 28

13 analysis:

Answer 28

- Despite the constant reinforcement of the importance of following xenia, the Phaeacians are punished for doing this duty. - Athena being the one who ensured the Phaeacians offered proper xenia to Odysseus could take away from how positively they’re viewed as a society, as it suggests that their treatment of Odysseus might have been different without her

Question 29

14 events:

Answer 29

Eumaeus explains his reasons for hospitality. Initially makes him seem quite uncaring but the pity aspect negates this

Question 30

14 quotes:

Answer 30

‘Because I fear Zeus, the patron of strangers, and pity you’

Question 31

15 quotes:

Answer 31

‘All his life a guest remembers the host who has treated him kindly’ ‘Save me from being kept at the palace against my will by your old father’s passion for hospitality

Question 32

15 analysis:

Answer 32

- Reinforces the idea that xenia must be freely entered into- and that manipulative hospitality does exist

Question 33

16 events:

Answer 33

Penelope mentions how xenia was offered to Antinous’ father by Odysseus

Question 34

16 quotes:

Answer 34

‘I would rather die by the sword in my own house then witness the perpetual repetition of these outrages

Question 35

16 analysis:

Answer 35

- Penelope appeals to the xenia Odysseus showed the suitor’s families, highlighting its reciprocal nature across generations

Question 36

17 events:

Answer 36

Antinous throws a stool at Odysseus Melanthius shouts abuse at Odysseus and attacks him- also suggests at him being a

Question 37

18 events:

Answer 37

Amphinomus shows some level of proper Xenia by offering bread to Odysseus, and speaking kindly with him.

Question 38

19 events:

Answer 38

Penelope welcomes Beggar Odysseus, and doesn’t allow any abuse towards him from the slaves Eurykleia washes Beggar Odysseus’ feet- it’s through this act of hospitality that she comes to recognise him

Question 39

19 quotes:

Answer 39

‘You bold creature, you shameless bitch’

Question 40

19 analysis:

Answer 40

Hospitality as a path to truth

Question 41

20 events:

Answer 41

Ctessipus throws the hoof at Odysseus Omens start to appear that suggest at the suitors imminent demise- shows the gods care about them not following Xenia

Question 42

20 quotes:

Answer 42

The walls and lovely alcoves are splashed with blood’

Question 43

20 analysis:

Answer 43

Symbolic degradation of xenia: throwing food at a guest is an inversion of hospitaliy

Question 44

20 scholarship:

Answer 44

‘By considering who laughs and how frequently, I find in most scenes that laughter… usually indicates some sort of weakness of character’ M. Colakis

Question 45

22 events:

Answer 45

Odysseus and Telemachus kill the suitors Presented as divinely justified punishment Disloyal servants are executed

Question 46

22 analysis:

Answer 46

Could have been seen as a violation of xenia if they didnt have the gods on their side- both Zeus and Athena were pleased with this turn of events. The slaves failed to uphold their duties within the household- slaves are essential for the functioning of xenia in many societies- links their failures with the suitor’s abuse of hospitality