Generalizations and associations seem to permeate the culture of every human society. If this were not the case, the sociological study of ethnocentricity would not be necessary. Homer's Odyssey strongly displays this quality of judging cultures and other peoples based on criteria defined by his own ancient Greek civilization. We can thus draw a parallel between ancient China and ancient Greece. The Chinese once considered their country to be the center of the universe; their values, beliefs, and customs were the standards against which they measured everything and everyone. In The Odyssey, one can detect a similar methodology in the way the Greeks assessed the level of sophistication of other cultures by using their own familiar conventions as universal standards for defining humanity. Throughout The Odyssey, we can isolate three main methods used by the Greeks in their cultural classifications: hospitality, storytelling and food. However, in order to fully appreciate the importance of these standards of comparison, it is necessary to examine the context in which each criterion was used. Since Homer does not directly list each criterion one by one, it may be necessary to quickly examine the attributes of each civilization Odysseus encountered, as well as the different impressions the Greeks had upon encountering them, in order to formulate a definition of base. understanding of how hospitality, storytelling and food relate to each other and to the general concept of humanity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Hospitality is one of the most important recurring themes of The Odyssey. By examining how Nestor welcomes Telemachus into his home, we can see a good model of how a host should treat his guests. Even before Nestor identifies Telemachus as Odysseus' son, he and his family kindly escort Telemachus and his companions into their house, inviting them to dine with the others (The Odyssey, Book III, 34-44). Nestor only asks the strangers to identify themselves after Telemachus and his companions have finished their meal (III, 69-74). Although we may find this custom of "eat first, ask later" quite strange today, the ancient Greeks commonly used this concept of hospitality as a method of assessing the level of grace and refinement of a person. a particular people. Storytelling is also another integral part of ancient Greek culture to which the characters in The Odyssey attached great value and excellence. For example, because of Odysseus' astonishing tales of his travels, the Phaiakian listeners were all "struck by silence, captivated by the story through the dark chambers" (XI, 333-334). Therefore, the Phaiakians showered Odysseus with more gifts, in order to compensate him for his suffering and to show their appreciation for his well-told stories (XI, 336-341). Overall, I found the ancient Greek concept of hospitality and the high value attached to storytelling to be quite interesting, although a bit foreign to my own understanding of the culture. However, I was able to identify with most of their values ​​regarding food and culinary refinement, including the assumptions about the nature and quality of a culture associated with these ethics. For example, we can refer to the way Odysseus describes the Cyclops Polyphemus: "his mind was lawless, / and indeed he was a monstrous marvel made to be seen, not / as a man, an eater of bread, but more like a wooded forest. / summit of a highmountain seen apart from the others” (IX, 189-192). Despite the fact that Cyclops was portrayed as monstrous, lawless, and primitive, it is worth noting the direct comparison to humans that Odysseus made in order to help his listeners better understand Polyphemus' morally depraved nature. In short, the Cyclops didn't eat bread like normal humans. First, the expression “bread eater” acts as a metaphor for non-anthropophagy. Given that Cyclops and Odysseus spoke the same language and could communicate coherently, the idea of ​​one sentient being knowingly devouring another sentient being seemed barbaric and repugnant, almost cannibalistic. So I cringed when reading how Polyphemus killed two of Odysseus' companions by crushing them "like puppies", then ate them raw (IX, 287-295). I suppose that since I share this same aversion to cannibalism as the ancient Greeks, I have bridged some of that cultural gap that prevents me from fully understanding their concept of humanity and refined civilization. If we try to adopt the same level of fervor toward Greek hospitality and storytelling as we might in rejecting cannibalism, we might better understand the way in which the Greeks of The Odyssey evaluated different cultures, classifying some as barbaric and others as more superior. For example, the first concepts that come to mind when I think of the word "cannibal" are primitive, cruel, uncivilized, violent and uncultured. Therefore, by associating the word “cannibal” with Cyclops, the vices of such adjectives linger in my mind, along with a negative impression of individual surfaces. We can then hypothesize that this formulation of an image of a particularly barbaric race was exactly the effect that Odysseus wanted to convey to his listeners at the time. However, while someone might argue that nothing prevents Odysseus from manipulating concepts of hospitality, history- in such a way as to evoke an extremely negative impression of a particular foreign culture, one might suggest that the Greeks of l Antiquity simply had concrete examples to describe barbaric cultures, where inhospitality and cannibalism were only associations given to such crude civilizations. For example, we could compare Polyphemus to the Lestrygonians. Like the Cyclops, the Laistrygonians were much larger and stronger than humans (X, 112-113). This race of giants also displayed murderous cruelty by throwing giant rocks at Odysseus' ships, so that all but his own were destroyed (X, 121-132). However, the biggest similarity between the Cyclops and the Laistrygonians is that they both eat human flesh. Two of Odysseus' men were immediately captured and prepared for dinner in the house of one of these giants (X, 116), while others were speared like fish and taken away to be eaten (X, 124- 125). Therefore, an ancient Greek could then create hypotheses about different cultures by generalizing about the concepts of diet, hospitality, etc. and associating them with the apparently barbaric nature of the civilizations described. For example, the fact that Cyclops and Laistrygonians are flesh eaters may imply that they are also cruel, inhospitable, and dangerous. Likewise, if Odysseus encounters a third race that seems ruthless, inhospitable, and primitively aggressive, it would not be unreasonable to assume that such a race might also be devours of human flesh, not eaters of bread like man. , one can also establish a correlation between the values ​​of ancient Greek culture and their theological beliefs. By..