Hospitality

Hello again, mortals. I have to say, I must congratulate you on your outstanding sense ofr hospitality. No matter where I visit with young Telemachus on his quest to find information about Odysseus, we are treated with the warmest regards. All over Greece, your kings treat us with courtesy, feeding us and entertaining us before even asking our names. As a goddess, I’m used to all the reverence, showering of gifts, blah blah blah. But being treated with respect and warmth even when I’m disguised as an ambiguous, nameless mortal traveler is impressive, to say the least. King Nestor was the first act of boundless hospitality I encountered; he treated Telemachus just as he would Odysseus. I was surprised though, that he extended the same courtesy to me, a complete stranger, no kin of his friend and partner in battle. He even offered me a place to stay in his castle(which I turned down to sleep in the ship…but hey, it’s the thought that counts). My favorite part was his shock when I turned into an eagle and flew away from him at the end of our visit; he truly had no idea he was in the presence of a goddess. Even after I left, he opened an eleven-year old bottle of wine in my honor. King Menelaus, our next visit, was equally hospitable. Upon our arrival, he fed our horses (that were a gift from Nestor!) and welcomed us into his feast without asking any questions. As a matter of fact, Telemachus or Odysseus were immediately invited into every feast they encountered, even though sometimes Odysseus had half a crew with him. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t have a minor(okay, major) role in some of the welcomes extended to him, but I was just…ENCOURAGING traditional Greek hospitality at times it would have not been so available.

                I must also say, though, that the instances of inhospitality seem much worse in comparison to the norm of Greek values. Calypso was overbearing in her hospitality, to the point of making it a hostage situation. Not going to lie though, as much as Odysseus wept for his wife and anguished over her fidelity, he got pretty comfortable there too. And Circe…that chick is a whole new level of crazy. Turning her guests to pigs? Really? That’s only slightly worse than Queen Helen drugging everyone at her feast just because they were tearing up a bit. I understand the good intention, but another effective solution would have been to change the discussion topic away from fallen comrades and bloody carnage in war. The hosts are not always at fault for an abuse of hospitality, though. A prime example can be made of the suitors wasting away Odysseus’s palace. Come uninvited, eat and drink inconsequentially, and treat the hand-maids like dirt; they are more like swine than the actual pigs trapped in Circe’s halls. I suppose being a goddess does give me an upper hand in the whole ‘hospitality’ game, but I do have to give the Greeks credit for consistency in my encounters. Five stars, guys.