Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the text of Homer's "Odyssey". The paper suggests that a close reading of the text reveals that Homer favored guests who were well behaved and hosts who were willing to treat their guests with respect no matter their social standing. It uses this understanding of the text to demonstrate just how fickle the ancient Greek gods.

From the Paper:

"To say that Homer's Odyssey portrays different attitudes among gods and men would be an understatement. The suffering that Ulysses endures at the hands of several different gods--most notably Poseidon--is juxtaposed against helpfulness from other gods--including Athena and Hermes. Reading the Odyssey only serves to demonstrate just how fickle the ancient Greek gods were in the eyes of at least one traveling bard. Nowhere is this more evident than in the differing way that guests and hosts behave throughout the epic. It is also clear, given Homer's treatment of this behavior, that the author had his own preference for which kind of behaviors were more acceptable than others. A close reading of the text reveals that Homer favored guests who were well behaved and hosts who were willing to treat their guests with respect no matter their social standing."

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