Food in "The Odyssey"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Homer's "Odyssey" is superimposed on the backdrop of a typical ancient Greek society. It looks at how the main character, Odysseus, and his companions travel from place to place on their way to their hometown of Ithaka. Many people host them in a show of hospitality common to ancient Greece; a large part of this hospitality involves the preparation of feasts and giving each guest an ample amount of food. It shows how, although food is positively associated with the Greek tradition of hospitality, Homer uses it negatively in the "Odyssey" to represent the gluttony, lack of self-control, and lack of civility of various characters.

From the Paper:

"Upon landing their ship on an island of Lotus-eaters, Odysseus' own men engage in a gluttonous feast of lotus fruit, which causes them to neglect their duties to Odysseus. They are so hypnotized by the delicious taste that "any of them who ate the honey-sweet fruit was unwilling to take any message back, or to go away, but they wanted to stay there with the lotus-eating people, feeding on lotus, and forget the way home" (IX:94-97). Odysseus, the leader of the group and at this point the only man in full possession of his faculties, finally takes them back "weeping, by force, to the ships" under the rowing benches and tied them fast, then gave the order to embark on the ships in haste, for fear someone else might taste of the lotus and forget the way home?" "

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