The Importance Of A Good Host In The Odyssey

In the Odyssey, Homer uses many different hosts to tell the reader what traits a good host must possess. Homer shows several types of hosts throughout the book: hosts who want to eat their guests, hosts who want their guests to eat, hosts who want to talk to their guest, and hosts who want their guest to talk. Most of the hosts seen in this book show themselves to be cruel or bad hosts, by either killing their guests or keeping them against their will. Only a select few show themselves as truly good hosts. When a host made a positive impact on a guest, this guest would leave the host’s kingdom and relate their positive attributes to other lands and peoples, thus increasing the host’s kleos. Thus, a host aspired to possess good attributes simply for his own gain. Throughout the Odyssey, Homer shows that a truly good host must give a guest three things: good food and entertainment, good gifts, and the decision of when to leave; the host who does so gains kleos as the fame of his hosting spreads. Throughout the Odyssey there are several hosts who serve good food. At every stop along his journey, Odysseus and his men search for someone who will supply them with food. Food is extremely important to a journeying guest because it both …show more content…
He has examples of bad hosts, who receive dishonor through the story, and good hosts, who receive great honor through the story. Homer’s book would inspire every Greek man to take in as many travelers as possible, so that he might gain more kleos. When a man took in a guest, there was mutual gain between the host and guest. The guest would gain food and gifts, without any charge to himself, while the host would gain honor. Because honor was the most coveted attainment, every guest would find himself well taken care of and every host would find that his honor would increase greatly. This epitomized the most brilliant exchange in the Greek