Xenia (Greek)
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Xenia (Greek ξενία, xenía) is the Greek concept of hospitality and guest-host relations.
While the term Xenia is primarily ancient Greek, even today the Greek people are noted for their hospitality. The Greek god Zeus was sometimes referred to as Zeus Xenios meaning he was god of, among other things, travelers. This created a particular religious obligation to be hospitable to travelers, but guests also had responsibilities, beyond reciprocating hospitality.
The Trojan war described in the Iliad of Homer actually resulted from a violation of xenia. Paris was a guest of Menelaus but seriously transgressed the bounds of xenia by abducting his host's wife, Helen. Therefore the Achaeans were required by duty to Zeus to avenge this transgression (which as a violation of xenia was an insult to Zeus's authority) resulting in the war.
Xenia consists of three basic rules. The respect from host to guest, the respect from guest to host, and the parting gift from host to guest. The host must be hospitable to the guest and provide him with food and drink. It is not polite to ask questions until the guest has sated his desire. The guest must be courteous to his host and not be a burden. The parting gift is to show the host's honor at receiving the guest. This was especially important in the ancient times when men thought gods mingled amongst them. If you had played host to a deity (a concept known as theoxenia), and performed poorly, you would incur the wrath of a god. For example in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Mercury and Jupiter are traveling and are turned away by all but Baucis and Philemon; or in the Odyssey Antinous insults Odysseus who is disguised as a beggar, but is rebuked by the other suitors because 'he could be a god' and therefore mistreating him might result in a serious rebuke.
[edit] In the Odyssey
Xenia is an important theme in Homer's Odyssey. Every household in the epic is seen alongside xenia. Odysseus' house is inhabited by suitors with demands beyond the bounds of xenia. Menelaus and Nestor's houses are seen when Telemachos visits. There are a number of other households observed in the epic, including Polyphemos, Circe, Calypso, and the Phaeacians, although it must be noted that after Odysseus was indirectly responsible for Poseidon sinking one of their ships, the Phaecians resolved to be less trusting of travelers.
