Mr. Wu
Year 9 English phase 5
2015 May 27
Ancient customs found in The Odyssey
The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer, telling a story about the adventurous Odysseus' homecoming. Through his journey, various of Greek Ancient customs are observed from Odysseus and his surrounding settings. The story's background 'Ancient Greece' in The Odyssey provides a lot of information of Greek's cultural studies which can be a good opportunity for us to know deeply about hospitality, sacrifice and a representative meaning of a gift.
Firstly, hospitality means to treat people in a hospitable way. This is clearly demonstrated in the attitude of Telemakhos and Penelope towards the suitors. Due to the suitor's position as a guest, Telemakhos and Penelope had to serve them their livestock continuously to act the custom of hospitality even though the suitors were slaughtering one man's food and paid nothing which can be considered as a rapine. "How arrogant they seem, these gluttons, making free here in your house!"(Book Ⅰ, line 265-266) "It's easy for these man to like these things, harping and song; they have an easy life, scot free, eating the livestock of another"(Book Ⅰ, line 191-193) These two quotes were said by the grey-eyed goddess Athena and it shows that the suitors are making free and slaughtering the livestock of Telemakhos's. As Telemakhos and Penelope can't easily refuse them to stop, it seems that the hospitality custom is wide-spreaded and smeared deeply into the Ancient Greek culture.
Hospitality is also found in Book Ⅵ through Nausikaa's sympathetic behavior towards Odysseus. Although Nausikaa saw him as a stranger, she determined to give him some food and drink without hesitating. "Strangers and beggars come from Zeus: a small gift, then, is friendly. Give our new guest some food and drink, and take him into the river, out of the wind, to bathe."(Book Ⅵ, line 219-220). Through Nausikaa's reply, the information is shown that the strangers and beggars come from Zeus were believed as a small gift which can be considered as a one cultural feature in hospitality.
Secondly, the custom of sacrifice in the Ancient Greek culture is illustrated in Book Ⅲ. When Telemakhos embarks on the island where Nestor lives, he first sees the procedure of sacrifice to the Lord Poseidon. "Led out nine bulls apiece to sacrifice, taking the stripes to eat, while on their altars thighbones in fat lay burning for the god."(Book Ⅲ, line 11-13) Through this quote, 9 bulls were generally sacrificed towards the gods. Also it's shown that they operate the sacrifice to the gods to thank they are safe from a risky situation. As sacrifice is held in Ancient Greece often, it can is that they were dependent to the gods.
Thirdly, representative meaning of a gift is well-shown in this epic poem. In Book Ⅰ, Telemakhos tries to give a gift to the grey-eyed Athena as a purpose of remembering each other. "Do not delay me, for I love the sea ways. As for the gift your heart is set on giving, let me accept it on my passage home, and you shall have a choice gift exchange." (Book Ⅰ, line 355-359) From this inclination, they exchanged gifts to express their thankfulness and desired it to become a memorable material. This custom is also shown in BookⅩ in Hermies's response. "Send him home with gifts of garments, gold and bronze." (Book Ⅹ, line 41-43) It's clearly demonstrated that when they send the customers home, they should provide them gifts in order to thankful them.
Through The Odyssey, we could observe 3 kinds of Ancient Greek cultures which were commonly used in the past. These days, in some countries, sacrifice, hospitality and giving a gift to remember each other still take places. This can be assumed that generally most of the cultures we face today are derived from the Ancient custom which were held frequently and significantly.