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Xenia (Greek)

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ancient Greek concept of hospitality

This article is about the ancient Greek concept of hospitality. For other uses, see Xenia (disambiguation).

"Theoxenia" redirects here. The moth genus Theoxenia is considered a junior synonym of Ethmia.

Jupiter and Mercurius in the House of Philemon and Baucis (1630–33) by the workshop of Rubens: Zeus and Hermes, testing a village's practice of hospitality, were received only by Baucis and Philemon, who were rewarded while their neighbors were punished.<br>Xenia (Ancient Greek: ξενία [kse'ni.a]) is an ancient Greek concept of hospitality. It is almost always translated as 'guest-friendship' or 'ritualized friendship'.[1] It is an institutionalized relationship rooted in generosity, gift exchange, and reciprocity.[2] Historically, hospitality towards foreigners and guests was understood as a moral obligation, as well as a political imperative.[1][3] Hospitality towards foreigners honored Zeus Xenios (and Athene Xenia), patrons of foreigners.[4]

The rituals of hospitality created and expressed a reciprocal relationship between guest and host expressed in both material benefits (e.g. gifts, protection, shelter) as well as non-material ones (e.g. favors, certain normative rights).[4] The word is derived from xenos 'stranger'.

Overview<br>[edit]

Xenia consists of two basic rules:

The respect from hosts to guests. Hosts must be hospitable to guests and provide them with a bath, food, drink, gifts, and safe escort to their next destination. It is considered rude to ask guests questions, or even to ask who they are, before they have finished the meal provided to them.

The respect from guests to hosts. Guests must be courteous to their hosts and not be a threat or burden. Guests are expected to provide stories and news from the outside world. Most importantly, guests are expected to reciprocate if their hosts ever call upon them in their homes.[5]

A renaissance painting displaying traditional exchanges of gifts between gods. This represents the material and social exchanges involved with xenia.<br>Xenia was considered to be particularly important due to the belief that gods mingled among the people; if one had poorly played host to a stranger, there was the risk of incurring the wrath of a god disguised as the stranger. Notable among them is the Greek god Zeus, who is sometimes called Zeus Xenios in his role as a protector of strangers. This normalized theoxeny or theoxenia , wherein human beings demonstrate their virtue by extending hospitality to a humble stranger (xenos), who turns out to be a disguised deity (theos).[5]

These stories caution mortals that any guest should be treated as if potentially a disguised divinity, due to both a deity's capacity to instill punishment or grant reward for their behavior, who highly valued generosity and welcoming attitudes towards strangers.[1] A parallel caution occurs in the New Testament Book of Hebrews, which admonishes Christians, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."[6]

The term theoxenia also covered entertaining and hosting among the gods themselves, a popular subject in classical art, which was revived at the Renaissance in works depicting a Feast of the Gods. Deities were looked up to as symbols of virtue, and they were often depicted as performing theoxenia amongst themselves, reinforcing the established idea of xenia as a fundamental Greek custom.[7][8] While these practices of guest-friendship are centered on the gods, they would become common among the Greeks in incorporating xenia into their customs and manners. Indeed, xenia would become a standard practice throughout all of Greece as a custom in the affairs of humans interacting with humans as well as humans interacting with the gods, which was culturally reinforced through understandings of gods interacting with gods as well.

In politics<br>[edit]

Platonic philosophy<br>[edit]

The School of Athens 1509-1511 by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino depicts Plato discussing philosophy.<br>Plato describes four types of xenoi or strangers in need of hosting, in his work Laws:

"The first and inevitable immigrant is the one who chooses summer, as a rule, for his annual visits, in the fashion of migratory birds— and, like birds, the most of these cross the sea, just as if they had wings, for the sake of making gain by their trading, and fly over to foreign cities during the summer season; this stranger must be received, when he comes to the city, at the markets, harbors, and public buildings outside the city, by the officials in charge thereof; and they shall have a care lest any such strangers...