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2. First, there was Helen, and Menelaos, then Paris...then there was war.

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2. First, there was Helen, and Menelaos, then Paris...then there was war.

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The Iliad by Homer

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Currently on view at: Getty Villa, Gallery 104, Archaic & Classical Greek

Place:

Athens, Greece (Place created)

As these two figures gaze longingly at each other and the couple falls in love, the fate of a generation of Greek and Trojan warriors is sealed. On this Athenian red-figure lekythos, the artist depicted the moment when Paris, the Trojan prince, meets Helen, the wife of his host Menelaos, the king of Sparta. Helen will run off with Paris, sparking the Trojan War. Paris and Helen meet in the palace at Sparta, whose lavish setting is indicated by the elaborate doors with raised relief knockers. Helen's companions frame the scene; one seems rather amazed to see a tiny version of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, blessing the union as she flies through the air in a chariot drawn by erotes. A lekythos was a container used for precious perfumed oils. Because it had a narrow neck, the oil poured out slowly and the cup-like mouth served as a funnel for filling the vessel.

by 1963 -

Charles Gillet, 1879 - 1972

-1991

Private Collection, by exchange to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991.

Ancient Art from the Permanent Collection (March 16, 1999 to May 23, 2004)

The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), March 16, 1999 to May 23, 2004

The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases (June 8 to September 4, 2006)

The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa (Malibu), June 8 to September 4, 2006

Aphrodite and the Gods of Love (March 28, 2012 to May 26, 2013)

The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa (Malibu), March 28 to July 9, 2012

Beazley, J. D. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters. 2nd ed. Oxford: 1963, p. 1317, no. 3.

Delivorrias, Angelos, et al. "Aphrodite." Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae 1 (1984), p.117, no. 1192.

Burn, Lucilla. The Meidias Painter. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987), p. 101, no. F3.

"Acquisitions/1991." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 20 (1992), p. 146, no. 22.

Shapiro, H. Alan. Personifications in Greek Art: The Representation of Abstract Concepts 600-400 B.C. (Kilchberg: Akanthus, 1993), pp. 117n253, 203n474.
Towne Markus, Elana. Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Antiquities. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 47.
Sutton, Robert F., Jr. "Nuptial Eros: The Visual Discourse of Marriage in Classical Athens." The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 55/56 (1997/1998). pp. 27-48, p. 37: fig. 16.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Antiquities Collection (Los Angeles: 2002), p. 81.

Baggio, Monica "La Sera delle Nozze," in Colpo, I. et al (eds.) Iconografia 2001-Studi sull' Immagine (Edizione Quasar: Rome, 2002), pp. 189-97, figs. 1-4.

Sacks, David. Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World (New York: Facts on File, 2005), p. 147, ill.

Pointer, Sally. The Artifice of Beauty: A History and Practical Guide to Perfumes and Cosmetics (United Kingdom: Sutton Publishing, 2005), p. 34.
Cohen, Beth, ed. The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006), pp. 133-34, cat. no. 34, figs. 34.1-34.2.
Soldner, Magdalene. Bios Eudaimon: Zur Ikonographie des Menschen in der rotfigurigen Vasenmalerei Unteritaliens (Bibliopolis, 2007), pp. 223-25, Abb. 280-282.

Lezzi-Hafter, A. "Clay, Gold, and Craft: Special Techniques in Three Vases by the Eretria Painter and Their Apotheosis in Xenophantos." In Papers on Special Techniques on Athenian Vases. Edited by K. Lapatin (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2008), p. 176-177.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Antiquities Collection. Rev. ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010), p. 76.

Lezzi-Hafter, Adrienne. "The Xenophantos Chous from Kerch with Cypriot Themes." In Red-figure Pottery in its Ancient Setting. Stine Schierup and Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen, eds. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2012. 34-42, p. 41, n 14.

Green, J.R. "Two Phaedras: Euripides and Aristophanes?" In Ancient Comedy and Reception: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey Henderson. Olson, Stuart Douglas, ed. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014), p. 126, no. 8.

Lezzi-Hafter, Adrienne. "Athenaios Epoiesen." In Topfer-Maler-Schreiber. R. Wachter, ed. (Akanthus: Zurich, 2016), p. 80, footnote 1.

Audio: Attic Red-Figure Lekythos, feat. David Saunders (Exhibit: APHRODITE)

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Attic Red-Figure Lekythos (Getty Museum)

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ODYSSEAS - Ministry of Culture and Sports

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"Upgrading and Operating the ODYSSEUS Portal". The Project is included in the Operational Program of 'Information Society' of the 3rd Community Support Framework and is part-financed at 80% from the European Regional Development Fund and at 20% from National resources. B' Phase

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Write 10 divergent questions about war.  Attach to the back of the article. Annotate the article, looking up new vocabulary. Create a dialectical journal by choosing 5 quotations, and writing 5 sentence responses or more. Use citation. Due 4/26 (35 points)

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HELMAND, Afghanistan - The two worst parts of a deployment are the flights to and from theater. On the way there you're asking, "What the hell am I getting myself into?" And on the way back, you're hoping to God the plane doesn't crash after all you've made it through.

My assistant platoon sergeant finished the thought with a friendly smirk on his face, looking at me and undoubtedly thinking back to his first time, knowing it's mine. For him, our impending flight to Afghanistan would be the sixth such trip - the sixth "What the hell am I getting myself into?" after five past sighs of relief when he had felt rubber meet tarmac back on U.S. soil. You'd never know, of course, by looking at him, that such a thought was running through his head. He is what we in the Marine Corps call a "quiet professional"; his calm is contagious, his proficiency unquestioned, and his morning pack of smokes usually cashed by 10:30.

Thanks in part to my optimism, in part to my relentless self-assurances, but thanks mostly to my naïveté, the sergeant was only partially correct. Our flight overseas was without incident, and since the C-17 transport plane that delivered us to northern Helmand Province didn't have any windows, there was no landscape upon which to gaze; no wadis to imagine well-mined, no river valleys to mentally populate with insurgents, no hell to look down at and ask myself the sergeant's question. There were just the countless wires, air ducts and rigging anchors that line the naked interior of Air Force cargo aircraft. I'm a nervous flier in general, and usually try to keep tabs on a flight's return to earth by peering out the windows in a bid to determine whether we're in too steep a dive or too drastic a banking turn, as if I could gauge such a thing in the first place. This time, it was probably better that I couldn't witness our intentionally erratic plunge. The airspace around Camp Leatherneck, the Marine Corps' main logistical hub in Helmand and situated on an easy-to-defend patch of flat desert, hadn't recently been threatened by Taliban surface-to-air missiles. Just the same, our pilots were doing anything to avoid a predictable approach.

As we banked and dove, I looked at the faces of my Marines. Their emotionless visages were lit in a dim glow by the plane's green interior lighting and neatly situated in a row of sideways-facing seats that lined the portside fuselage. I could look down the whole rank as if they were formed for review, but at this moment it wasn't my survey of them that mattered - it was theirs of me. Most were asleep, or at least feigning unconsciousness, but had their eyes been open they'd have wandered from time to time to me. They'd have seen me sitting idly, slouched in my seat with my headphones in, tapping my fingers against the retractable buttstock of my M4 to the beat of a Goo Goo Dolls song. They wouldn't have seen my stomach drop each time the plane twisted. They wouldn't have known that I was imagining each of them screaming my callsign into their radios in a moment of crisis.

I thought about what was going through their minds. Several were leaving behind young families, and even more left eager new brides. My corpsman, an expecting father due in the spring, was surely dwelling on how his wife's second trimester would progress in his absence. The couple had planned to have their first child after he'd gotten home from an eventful first deployment with the infantry in Marjah nine months back, and his assignment to my unit and consequently this second tour had come as an untimely surprise. My sweep team leader, a corporal with a combat tour and severe back injury in recent memory who had volunteered for the unenviable job of finding IEDs with a mine detector outside the protective armor of our vehicles, handled a small picture of his four-month-old daughter. Several others slept underneath a favorite blanket from home or upon a pillow scented with a wife or girlfriend's perfume. I spotted one who had strapped a large stuffed animal version of Yoda to his camouflage assault pack, and grinned. Not exactly a Skywalker lookalike. It would be his second time over here.

Some, on the other hand, were going through divorces, in the middle of child custody battles or had recently checked a spouse into rehab. Others had ailing parents, struggled with bills, or were anxiously biding their time before college or a career change, sticking it out for one last pump. I had barely gotten permission to leave behind one of mine whose wife was due the afternoon we departed, determined to see through a healthy pregnancy after three previous miscarriages. He made it to the hospital without much time to spare, and welcomed a son into the world as we climbed eastward into the sunset.

Then, collectively, we had the rest of everything to consider: the war, and what ours would be like. We 43 Marines are a motor transport platoon, those within a combat logistics battalion responsible for directly resupplying the infantry at its small forward operating bases (FOBs) and combat outposts (COPs) with essentials like food, ammunition, fuel and construction materials. Our sole responsibility, one for which we'd trained for months, is running convoys through terrain that is deceiving and dangerous, whether by natural design or by human modification. Trucks aren't supposed to roll over and sink into what you thought was dry sand. Roads aren't supposed to explode.

Performing direct support to an infantry battalion can be a thankless task. For all its diversity, the Marine Corps is, by necessity, a very infantry-centric institution. By the numbers most Marines perform some type of support role, be it fixing computers or coordinating air strikes, but everything revolves around the central principle of giving "the 0311 on the ground" the support he needs, that number referring to the Military Occupational Specialty designation of a rifleman - the Corps' most fundamental asset. The health of the institution is derived from the culture of the infantry - call it bravado if you like, but the mud-and-blood tradition of the 'grunts' is as necessary to the success of the organization as air to breathe.

Every Marine is given a common denominator of infantry training during boot camp (for officers it's more extensive), but once assigned their respective areas of expertise, Marines are liable to adopt the culture of their disciplines. "Every Marine a Rifleman" still applies, but comes second to what is demanded each day by a non-infantry unit's primary mission.

These missions often include a large amount of preparatory and auxiliary tasks that are easily overlooked by an infantry riddled hardest by 10 years of messy war. Predictably, this injustice is often illogical. Recently after arriving in Afghanistan I would have a friend, a combat engineer, vent to me that an infantry captain had replied to an email by saying he didn't have time to hear about the engineers' "little projects" and that my friend would do well to remember who supported whom; the projects so flippantly dismissed by the captain were in fact the very patrol bases the infantry would require to advance north through the Sangin Valley, brought to life in berm and Hesco form by the engineers themselves.

"God bless the infantry," a major once told me. "But all they have to do is clean their rifles and practice tactics." The bind to which the major alluded was one in which a transportation support platoon like mine often finds itself - a lack of time. Motor transport is very maintenance heavy, and while specific companies and platoons within a logistics battalion are tasked with performing the more involved maintenance on our trucks, my Marines had spent a great deal of time themselves during our pre-deployment training performing basic maintenance-related tasks and remedial repairs. Most of them have a strange and wonderful fixation with diesel-powered internal combustion engines and have no problem getting their hands dirty, but the extra work meant that I had to compress the tactical training into an already busy schedule. Time was at a premium.

Between their support status and the countless hours they spent elbow-deep in diesel engines, I was concerned that my Marines had lost sight of their core competencies as riflemen first, motor transport specialists second. Despite spending much time sending a full third of my platoon to an advanced machine gunnery course to prepare them for duty in the turret, I would still routinely overhear complaints of "whatever, I'm not a grunt, I just drive trucks." This was a notion I strove to dispel through discussions and examples from battlefields we would soon roam.
Kelley Victor Gasper, 23, of Rhinebeck, N.Y., commands a motor transport platoon in a Marine Corps combat logistics battalion that delivers food, fuel and other essentials to forward operating bases and combat outposts in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He has been an active duty lieutenant for a year and a half, and is on his first deployment. This is his first At War post. As his deployment progresses, he will submit further contributions outlining his platoon's convoy operations and the trials they face outside the wire.
As with all posts in At War's "A Soldier Writes" series, the views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense or the United States government.
If you are a service member who has recently served in the Iraq or Afghan theaters and would like to submit a post, please send an e-mail to atwar@nytimes.com.

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united states defense and military forces

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HELMAND, Afghanistan - The two worst parts of a deployment are the flights to and from theater. On the way there you're asking, "What the hell am I getting myself into?" And on the way back, you're hoping to God the plane doesn't crash after all you've made it through.

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How it would appear today after excavation,and with additional "improvements".

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Troy Archaeological Site Pictures, Images & Photos. Turkey

GALLERY DESCRIPTION:

Pictures, images & photos of Troy Archaeological site, Turkey. Troy was the setting for one of the great Greek tragedies Ancient Greece. According to the legend the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite quarrelled over a golden apple known as the Apple of Discord which was to be given to the fairest goddess. Zeus sent the three goddesses to Paris to decide and he chose Aphrodite to be the fairest. In return she made Helen, wife of Menelaus fall in love with Paris and he eloped with her to...
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Troy Archaeological Site Pictures, Images & Photos. Turkey - Images | Photos Gallery

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Pictures, images & photos of Troy Archaeological site, Turkey. Troy was the setting for one of the great Greek tragedies Ancient Greece. According to the legend the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite quarrelled over a golden apple known as the Apple of Discord which was to be given to the fairest goddess.

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4. Illustration of Odysseus' ships - all were black ships - In the beginning, there were twelve.

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4. Illustration of Odysseus' ships - all were black ships - In the beginning, there were twelve.

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5. Illustration of Polyphemus - Part 1

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Cyclops (Polyphemus) Basic Research by Benjamin Sho

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TOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

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The pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Delphi, where the oracle of Apollo spoke, was the site of the omphalos, the 'navel of the world'. Blending harmoniously with the superb landscape and charged with sacred meaning, Delphi ...

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Cultural Significance
Read and take Cornell notes.

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The Value of Hospitality

Hospitality in Homers time was well shown through long travels such as Odysseus' in is the Greek relationship between two people from different regions.This allowed for the members of the relationship to safely travel into the other members territory and receive a place to stay and something to eat.Another possible explanation for the amount of hospitality shown is that the Greeks believed the gods wanted them to show hospitality to anyone who showed up at their homes.It was also believed that turning away someone and not providing them this hospitality would result in some form of punishment from the gods.Finally, hospitality could have been used to spread ones name and bring them a sense of fame if they would provide a high standard of hospitality to strangers.It also could have been a way to show how wealthy one was.These can be shown from this quote from The Odyssey as well as the guest-friend relationship, known as xenia.There are many possible reasons why hospitality was more prevalent in those times.Traveling in Homers time was much more extensive and lengthier than in modern times.The less advanced methods of transportation used in Homeric times, such as by boat or by foot, were much slower than modern forms of transportation.Because of this, many more nights were spent away from home in many different locations.Also, there were not hotels or inns where travelers could pay and stay the night.Even if there were, travelers probably could not afford to pay for every night they were gone.Because of this, travelers had to rely on the hospitality of others for shelter, food, and protection.There was, however, some payment for this hospitality in the form of a gift exchange.Another possible reason for this hospitality was the fact that there were not nations that would allow travelers to enter their territory safely.Without such hospitality, strangers could be captured or even killed for entering a foreign land.The Greek guest-friendship The Odyssey: xenia may have been formed from this. Xenia

Come, friend, and give me something; for you seem to be no lowly man among the Greeks, but their most noble lord-indeed a chief.So you should offer more than others can-Id make you famous then in endless lands.I, too, was once a man of means; my house was rich; I often gave to vagabonds, whoever they might be, who came in need (Homer, p. 351).

Is hospitality as customary now as it was in Homers time, and if not, why?It seems as though modern people do show hospitality towards others, but in a different way than those in Homeric times.It is not custom anymore to provide food, protection, and shelter to a stranger that arrives at someones door.This could be because there are hotels and restaurants almost anywhere one can go.There is no need to for someone to ask for these.Also, protection is not a large concern for most travelers, especially in the .Hospitality is still shown, however, in modern society. For example, when someones car breaks down most people would welcome them into their homes and help them in any way they can without even asking who they are.Also, most people know of someone, be it family or friend, in a different city that would welcome them and provide them with a place to stay and food, which is similar to the United States xenia in Homers time.Although the hospitality customs of Homers time are not still around, there are similarities to them and hospitality is still visible.

Throughout The Odyssey there are many ongoing themes, but one of the most important themes of this story is the tradition of Greek hospitality or xenia.This type of hospitality was very unique and it played an important role in the ancient Greek society.As a matter of fact, this kind of hospitality was so unique that it almost seems unbelievable, because very few societies have behaved in this manner towards their guests.From the very nature of this behavior, one can easily come to the conclusion that the people of ancient Greek society were truly hospitable.However, fear of the gods, rather than pure decency, is a possible cause of the actions of ancient Greeks towards their guests.

The hospitality of ancient Greek society is very clearly seen throughout the Odyssey.During the travels of both Odysseus and Telemacus, one can easily see how strangers were greeted and treated upon their arrival to a new place.It seems as if strangers were invited in for a feast, showered with gifts and luxuries, and then asked who they were and what their business was.As anyone can see, this type of hospitality is very unusual and distinctive.Not very many cultures would treat strangers in this manner.Therefore we are led to believe that there is some other reasoning behind all of this generosity.

The people of ancient Greek society did not show all of this hospitality solely out of the goodness of their hearts, but rather they did it for the gods.During this time, hospitality was treated as a test from the gods.In Book XIV on page 275 Eumaeus says: for it is Zeus who sends to us all beggars and strangers; and a gift, however small, means much when given by a man like meThis means that it is the god Zeus who demands magnificent hospitality upon all mortals.Since hosts had no way of knowing who their visitors were, they were forced to treat every visitor as if they were a god.By treating every guest like a god, there is no mistake of accidentally treating a god differently, just in case one was to show up at their door disguised as a stranger.This appears to be done through fear, not generosity.

The fear of the gods wrath is seen in many of Odysseus travels.Many of the hosts ask Odysseus to pray for their happiness to the gods in return for their hospitality.This leads us to believe that they only shower him with gifts and feed him because it is what the gods want.There is, however, an adventure where Odysseus is not shown good hospitality.This adventure is the encounter with the Cyclops, Polyphemus.When entering the cave of Polyphemus , Odysseus relies on the expectation of hospitality and helps himself to food and shelter.When Polyphemus returns, however, we see that he does not follow the rules of Greek hospitality.The reason he does not abide by these rules is because his father is the god Poseidon.He does not fear the wrath of the gods because he feels his father will protect him.

As anyone can see, the people from ancient were very hospitable. It is possible, however, that this Greek hospitality comes from the fear of the gods, and not only from pure politeness.Not only can this be seen in the story of Greece The Odyssey, but it can be seen in other ancient Greek stories as well.

There are many things in life that come unwanted, and there are also things in life that we must do unwillingly.In The Odyssey, providing hospitality often fell into these unwanted areas.There were instances in this epic poem where Odysseus was offered and/or provided hospitality that he did not necessarily want, and there was also one major illustration of characters that felt obligated to provide hospitality that they did not want to provide.

The fact that Odysseus wanted to get home to his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus, is undisputable.When speaking with Alcinous, he once said, For if a man is far from his own home and parents, then even if he is housed in opulence within that foreign land, no thing he finds can be more sweet than what he left behind (Homer, p. 170).This statement proves how Odysseus felt about the hospitality he had been offered and/or provided, and how he much more longed to be home.Calypso, a fair goddess, had wanted to keep Odysseus in her cavern as her husband, but he refused.Crce also tried to keep Odysseus in her halls and keep him there as her mate, but her attempts failed as well.Although both of these women had fine homes and fine things to offer him, their hospitality was too much for Odysseus.He instead left each with the goal of returning to Ithaca and reclaiming his family and his home.

Another case where hospitality came in an unwanted abundance was when Telemachus encountered Nestor.It was here that Telemachus found himself more welcome than he wanted.Nestor seemed to enjoy Telemachus company and entertained him by telling him many stories.While Telemachus appreciated all the hospitality in this instance as well, he just wanted to continue his journey and learn about his fathers whereabouts.

Throughout his journey, Odysseus also begins to reject hospitality when he finds himself encountering troubles at each place he comes to.Eventually he is the only man left alive.When he first wakes up on the island of Schera , he says, What misery is mine?What mortals must I meet in this new land that I now touch? (Homer, p. 119)The hospitality he is offered is unwanted because he has begun to question the motives of the people he meets.He starts to wonder if they are actually kind or if they are only trying to please the gods with their hospitality.

On the opposite side, back at home, Telemachus and Penelope found themselves feeling obligated to provide hospitality when they did not necessarily want to.The suitors came to their home and expected proper hospitality to be offered to them.Because of the importance of hospitality back in those times, most people assumed it.In the case of the suitors, however, there was a larger assumption made on their part.When the suitors first showed up at the doors of the palace, Penelope and Telemachus intended for them to stay for a feast or two.The suitors more or less intruded and welcomed themselves far more than Penelope and Telemachus had wanted them to.Even after the prophecy of Halithrses, who said: Odysseuswont stay away from those he holds most dear; he is already near; and he has planted the seed of death and slaughter for the suitors (Homer, p. 28), the suitors remained in the palace and continued to feast and try to impress Penelope until Odysseus returned and slaughtered them.

Hospitality in todays world has become little more than being friendly and considerate to your guest.There are no universal rules for the conduct of the host or the guest; much less a threat of violence if a person does not behave in a certain manner. The Odyssey, takes its reader to a very different world of rules and manners.In the story, the importance of hospitality goes beyond being a gracious host; there is a threat of violence if the host or guest does not fulfill their responsibilities.

When Odysseus arrives on Kirks island, his men are being turned into animals and he goes to confront the witch.On his way to met with her Hermes advises him on how to deal with the witch.The ways in which Odysseus must deal with Kirk is by threatening her with his sword.There are a few factors that may have motivated Hermes to help Odysseus confront Kirk.One very important reason is that the goddess was violating the code of conduct between host and guest and not even a goddess can violate the rules.From her confrontation with Odysseus, Kirk was taught a lesson by the other gods so that she would become more hospitable.

The meeting with the Cyclops, Polyphemos, is another violent example of what happens with there is a violation between host/guest relations.When the Cyclops decides to eat rather than welcome Odysseus and his crew, the men poke his eye out.This event does not bother the gods at all. The father of the Cyclops, Poseidon, is only upset by the event because it was his son who was hurt.Zeus even praises Odysseus after the event by claiming that, There is no mortal half so wise (Homer, p. 3).This statement proves that violence was an acceptable answer when a host was not gracious.

The most violent reaction to the disregard of the responsibilities between a host and his guests occurs when the suitors are killed. These men were not only killed with the gods permission, but they were killed with the help of the gods.Even when Odysseus wants to warn Amphnomos, the only suitor with honest intentions, he is bound to the palace by Athena.

Violent penalties for not respecting the rules of hospitality are not only found in the world of the ancient Greeks.In the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorra three angels search in the city for someone who will welcome them into their home. When they do not find anyone inside the city, they travel to the home of Abraham.According to the story, Abraham was recovering from a circumcision and in a great deal of pain when he saw the strangers.Even with his pain he welcomed the strangers and was saved from the destruction of the city.

In both the Bible and The Odyssey violent penalties are given as a threat to anyone who is not hospitable and accommodating to their guest.Because of this, it is not difficult to see that hospitality was one of the most important aspects to both societies.

As we have seen, hospitality plays a major part in the Odyssey, but the actual hospitality is not as important as the way that that hospitality is received, and the consequences of that reception.For our first example we will look at how the suitors respond to the hospitality given to them at the house of Odysseus.Throughout the duration of Odysseus absence, the suitors are treated well, and in response to this, they refuse to leave when asked.The suitors are fed and housed, and after a number of years they overstay their welcome.In response to this Telemachus, prompted by Athena, informs the suitors that his father is returning home and they are all to vacate Odysseus home.The suitors, in turn, ignore him and continue to eat drink and be merry, at the cost of Telemachus and Penelopes household.What are the consequences of these actions taken by the suitors?Although the primary consequence is their death, they also lose the hand of Penelope.None of them are able to pass the test of stringing the bow of Odysseus except Odysseus himself.This is followed by the main consequence of the suitors execution at the hands of Odysseus and Telemachus.By not respecting the hospitality given by Penelope, they set the stage for their own deaths.

Our next instance of hospitality occurs on the island of the Cyclops.The Cyclops meets Odysseus and his crew with undesirable hospitality.Although not without cause the Cyclops reaction and subsequent actions against Odysseus and his crew ultimately resulted in an attack on him.Although the hospitality of the Cyclops was objectionable the reaction of Odysseus, in the form of blinding the Cyclops, brings only more trouble onto himself.Since the Cyclops was Poseidons son Poseidon was angered and brought about more problems for Odysseus and his crew.Just like with the suitors, undesirable hospitality and a bad reception of that hospitality ultimately results in a break in the sacred guest host relationship.

Next we shall look at Odysseus stay on the island of Calypso .Here he is met with exceptional hospitality.Odysseus received this hospitality well and continued to please Calypso.Only at the end did he ever try to refuse her hospitality and leave, and even this caused no serious problems.Here we have an example of the guest-host relationship working well.Calypso is provided with a companion, even if it was not permanent, and Odysseus was provided with shelter, provisions, and protection for his men.In the end it proves to be a beneficial situation for them both.

We have examined only a few instances of how the reception of hospitality is pivotal to the plot of Homers Odyssey.The suitors reception of the hospitality provided by Penelope and Telemachus was negative; therefore the consequences of that reception were not what the suitors had wanted.On the island of the Cyclops, Odysseus reaction, although somewhat warranted, resulted in only more complications for both the guest and the host.The final example showed how a healthy guest-host relationship resulted in an advantageous situation for both parties involved.All of these situations are excellent examples of the repercussions of not providing good hospitality, and how the consequences of this affected the story of The Odyssey.

Images (in order of appearance):

Odysseus and Calypso, http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Calypso3.html. This image depicts Odysseus with Calypso, who held Odysseus on her island while he was in exile. This image also shows how the rules of hospitality apply even when holding someone captive.

Polyphum. http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Polyphemus2.html. Polyphemus was a Cyclops and the son of Poseidon. In The Odyssey, Polyphemus disregards traditional hospitality towards Odysseus and Odysseus blinds him.

Odysseus Meets Nausicaa, This image shoes the scene for http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Nausicaa.html . The Odyssey where Odysseus meets nausicaa. It also shows how the Greeks would show hospitality towards any stranger.

The Hospitality of Abraham, http://www.greekorthodoxicons.net/byz/philoxeniatall.htm This is a painting showing Abraham being treated with much hospitality, which was discussed above.

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C101 Links:

If you would like to learn more about some of the hidden themes throughout Layers of Meaning in The Odyssey The Odyssey, such as spiritual growth, loyalty, perseverance, and hospitality, take a look at this site. We discussed one of these themes, hospitality, and the other themes on this webpage are very interesting as well.

This page also discusses hospitality and gives greater insight to how it was shown to Telemachus in the first four books of Telemacheia The Odyssey. The page also focuses on other issues Telemachus dealt with.

The Diseased Household in The Odyssey Check out this page to read more about how hospitality was shown and abused in Odysseus own home. This page also covers other fascinating topics such as bad service, authority and marriage and how they take place in Odysseus household.
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Other Links:

This link is an essay that goes into more detail about how the theme of hospitality was used throughoutThe Odyssey.
http://www.stormshock.com/history/docs/0012.php
This website deals with the hospitality industry today. Here you will find a great deal of current issues and news relating to hospitality.
This website discusses how hospitality is important to have a better life and healthier relationships.
This is a great essay discussing the need for hospitality and what could happen if society resorts to hostility instead of hospitality.

This webpage talks about Odysseus as a stranger and how various characters throughoutThe Odyssey show hospitality towards him.
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa092298.htm?once=true&
http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm/aame/aame0352.htm
http://www.newlifeministries-nlm.org/sem-hosp-sp.htm
http://www.hospitalitynet.org/home.html

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References:

Allen, Mandlebaum(trans.), The Odyssey of Homer, Bantam, 1991.

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Images C101 Links Other Links References The Value of Hospitality Hospitality in Homers time was well shown through long travels such as Odysseus' in is the Greek relationship between two people from different regions.This allowed for the members of the relationship to safely travel into the other members territory and