Qader 1

Malik Qader
Noyce
A4
12/15/15
Host and Guests
(In a dinner party or potluck there are hosts and guests.) In the book The Odyssey
by Homer there are many scenes of hosts and guests having a party and both groups
showing respect and responsibility. This is a very important Greek custom. The ancient
Greek thought at a dinner party the hosts and the guests had responsibilities and they
were to follow them. The hosts job was to always take in a traveler or stranger and show
them hospitality. The guests job was to be very grateful and respectful to the host.
There are two good examples of Hosts being very hospital and the guest not being
grateful and respectful. This will be proven in the parts of the Odyssey; my first piece of
evidence will be when Menelaus is taking in travelers and my second piece of evidence
will be when Odysseus is talking to his son about the suitors
Hosts should always be very hospitable. Here is an example of a host showing
hospitality to two men. When the servant had washed them and anointed them in oil,
they brought them woolen cloaks and shirts, and the two took their seats by the side of
Menelaus (Homer 38).This is how the host is expected to treat their guests with the best
luxuries the hosts can offer. The Greeks believe that if a host turns away a stranger or
traveler from their house they are consider being very rude. If you do turn away a
traveler you will have your fate decided by the gods and it is usually not good.

Qader 2
Guest should always be very respectful to the host and shouldnt be greedy. Here is
an example of guests being rude and ungrateful in Odysseuss house. I would rather die
by the sword in my own house than witness the perpetual repetition of these outrages,
the brutal treatment of visitors, men hauling the maids about for their foul purposes
wine running like water, and those rascals gorging themselves(Homer 167). These
suitors (the guests of Odysseuss house) are very rude and selfish. They dont have any
respect for Penelope (the host) and are just living in Odysseuss house and do whatever
they want to. This is very bad in Ancient Greek culture, and the gods are very angry at
the suitors so they will be punished.
In the book, The Odyssey, there are many encounters of hosts and guests. There
are instances in the book that show the guests always being respectful and not greedy
and the hosts who are hospitable and generous. The suitors are what the Greeks will
always try to avoid being and Menelaus who was a very good host is something that the
Greeks will always try to live up to.