04/06/2025
Xenia – The Foundation and Evolution of Hospitality from Homer to Hilton
Edward N. Eich Jr. HUM 1020 30206 Professor Anne Borella July 13, 2021
Hospitality in Homer's time was reported in epic travels such as Odysseus' in The Odyssey. In the Hellenic custom known as xenia (guest-friend relationship) people would welcome guests into their homes, feed and help them, without even asking their name.
The Greek god Zeus is referred to as Xenios and the Goddess Athene as Xenia in their roles as protectors of strangers. They embodied the moral obligation to be hospitable to guests &foreigners. (Homer 15)
The goal of this research paper will be to show the progression of hospitality as it has been represented in the arts and literature. I intend to demonstrate that hospitality is indeed part of and a major contributing component to the humanities.
The humanities are things that contribute to a person's well-being, to their verité & arête –to be the best you can be. If that can be done through art, music, literature, and sculpture; it can certainly be done with hospitality in the form of graciously welcoming guests to dining, lodging, and imbibing in beverages.
So, if food preparation is an art and baking is a science, doesn't that make the hospitality component of sharing food and beverage become one of the humanities? Perhaps the most important because it can combine the rest of the humanities. The earliest civilizations broke bread and documented these occasions in cave drawings and later in pottery and on walls, dioramas, frescoes, stained glass windows, and other ways of demonstrating societal ways; they also documented wars.
Hospitality is a concept, a mindset if you will; it is a way of treating your customers, clients, or patients as guests to make them feel good, wanted, and appreciated. It’s all about what memories, service, or experience you are providing to or for them – with a gracious smile!
Danny Meyer promotes Enlightened Hospitality – “People with Integrity who are kind, empathetic, optimistic, hard workers, with curious intelligence and confident self-awareness make the best” - Bobby Stuckey coined the word “Hospitalians”. (Meyer 22)
Mom said “Always treat people as you wish to be treated. Remember the Golden Rule!
Be Strong, Sincere, and Sensitive to the needs and wants of other people, especially your guests”.
The progression of Hospitality: I have seen Egyptian hieroglyphics & illustrations depicting pictures of service to guests. Cave drawings from earlier civilizations have been discovered that showed people entertaining each other in a serene sense of joviality – hospitality! Better than some that depicted violence. Some also depicted agricultural food gathering, domestication& production of animals, hunting & fishing to supply the core of hospitality – FOOD. Undoubtedly, these depictions influenced Homer & other subsequent documenters of human triumphs and failures.
In Greek literature by Homer like the Iliad and the Odyssey, descriptions of the characters Telemachus, Odysseus &Penelope reflect Xenia - the Greek word for hospitality. “Athena comes to Ithaca disguised as Mentes the hero, to convince Telemachus to go in search of news of Odysseus. The narrator makes it clear that Telemachus is the only one in the household to treat the guest with the proper respect: “Straight to the porch he went, mortified that a guest might still be standing at the doors…he clasped her right hand and relieving her at once of her long bronze spear, met her with winged words: “Greetings, stranger! Here in our house, you’ll find a royal welcome. Have supper first, then tell us what you have come for” (Homer 16)
Good hospitality is shown in The Odyssey: The Phaeacians host Odysseus when he washes ashore on their beach. In Book 6, Odysseus meets Princess Nausicaa. She welcomes him into her home to bathe, despite the danger of a strange man, the appearance of impropriety, fear of becoming scorned, or the subject of rumor. She offers him food and helps him reach the city of Scheria. Her parents, King Alcinous, and his Queen Arete, are equally hospitable. Even before asking Odysseus’s name, they provide him with food, beverages, entertainment, and lodging. Alcinous considers hospitality his most sacred duty to the gods, declaring: “Mix the wine in the bowl, pour rounds to all our banqueters in the house so we can pour out cups to Zeus who loves the lightning, champion of suppliants—suppliants’ rights are sacred.” Zeus decreed: “Those who wish the favor of the Gods must welcome foreign and domestic with hospitality. ... If a man isn't pure, then he doesn't show hospitality and Homer makes sure that man is put in his proper place through the vengeance of those he has wronged”(Homer 104)
Further references in Greek culture emanated from sanctuaries where locals of a Polis -city/state - could gather hospitably to discuss politics, art, and music.
Hospitality was important to the Romans. The God Jupiter was reputed to administer sternius hospitia (law of hospitality) throughout the Roman Empire. Violations were crimes. Roman baths continued these traditions by emulating the Greeks in all things culture. Most notably, construction, borrowing design, and mathematical equations, improving them, and building masterpieces of humanitarian assemblies. The Coliseum held 50,00 people who were “entertained” sometimes through fear, sometimes through drama or music but assembling crowds is Hospitality. The same applies to the ornate temples, public baths encouraging gathering & socializing, and the fabric that held Rome together for a while. There are even Biblical references to hospitality, such as when Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem for the census and were turned away at the inn because there was no room. That sounds like Cyclops-style. Hospitality to me and a Chamber/TDC dream come true with 100% occupancy.
Later, in literature, the story Beowulf talks about gatherings at mead halls and celebrating with songs and debauchery while their troops prepared for battle or huddled in fear. Is not the convivial imbibing in beverages like Mead hospitality?
In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the author chose to have his characters meet at a roadside inn, which was the hospitality center of the day.
Shakespeare spoke of both components of hospitality—host and guest requirements. He lauds the virtue of hospitality in As You Like It: “My master is its churlish disposition and little recks to find the way to heaven by doing deeds of hospitality” (Shakespeare 80).
In King Lear he admonishes, “I am your host; With robbers’ hands my hospitable favours you should not ruffle thus” (Shakespeare 39).
Medieval Monasteries served as hostels. A portion of the monastery served as a place for travelers to stay and have food and beverages. The hospitality extended to include stable quarters for their horses and attending servants, inside or outside the Abby gates.
Early European roadhouses sprung up along highways between developing countries, points of trade, and meccas of education, worship, and commerce.
Early Americans traveled the Post Road between Boston, New York. and Washington. Roadhouses sprung up along the way you can still find evidence of this and signs that say– “Washington slept here”. I grew up in New Rochelle, NY. Main Street was US Highway 1 “The Post Rd”. I was familiar with several of the landmark historical inns, pubs, and monuments that marked the progression of the highway. I developed an appreciation for the hospitality that was offered to those weary travelers. These combination pubs and sleeping quarters for guests provided rustic lodging for travelers and their horses. Amenities were practically nonexistent, other than a shared bathroom, perhaps a warm water bath with water heated on a stove. There was beer provided in the pub on the main floor, which also served to become the local meeting place for political rallies as people sought their independence, not very hospitable towards the British.
By the 1800’s rooms and shared baths, were standard and basic food was served in a “saloon”. Imagine Zane Grey extolling virtues of the Wild West and the frozen northern wilderness where the only respite from the frigid temperatures and brutal conditions was an occasional spot of hospitality and whatever you could find an igloo, a hut, a teepee, or a roadside inn. Anything for some human interaction and hospitality to create a memory and perhaps a lasting friendship, bond, or agreement for assistance. These are all the human components that tie us together and make us human - The humanities!
In the 1900s Conrad Hilton said,
“Think Big…Act Big…Dream Big…Be Honest” (Hilton 6).
Conrad Hilton set standards of excellence – private bath, good food with table service, radios TV’s AC, elevators, centralized management& advertising, national chain.
By 2000 Brands dominated the scene. Companies like Hilton and Marriott promote diversity in employment and types of accommodations and experience supplied. Hence the different tiers or price points depending on the level of service and opulence the guest requires or demands, from a one-night stay at a budget roadside property to a luxurious Ritz-Carlton! Diversity – sustainability - internet apps have challenged the hospitality experience. Guests can book reservations online, check in & leave without human interaction. So how will we document hospitality in post-COVID-19? Social distancing and masks do not promote hospitable encounters. So, we “Hospitalians” will reinvent with new gestures and interactions.
The future looks bright for Xenia! Elon Musk undoubtedly will host a Hospitality “event” on Mars in the next decade or two. Who will be the caterer to provide memorable Hospitality for those who attend in person or virtually, whatever it gets named – “Mars-Orama”?
Hospitality is more than just food & beverage for people; it is a way of life: “What is hospitality? Who is it addressed to? Hospitality aims at welcoming those who arrive; it demands giving space and time and sharing our resources with others. Given the current global migration crisis and during the social debates and a critique of the failure of affluent countries and Western democracies to respond in solidarity to those in need, this article attempts to re-consider the space for hospitality drawing from the ethical and political as the two fundamental pillars of social architecture” (Imperial 171).
Another aspect of the Hospitality Industry’s contribution to the humanities is the fervent, resolute professionals & leaders within the ranks that are “Ambassadors of The Hospitality Industry.” What does it mean to be an ambassador of our hospitality industry?
To be an ambassador of our hospitality industry means reflecting what is best about the hospitality industry to all persons with whom we encounter. Encourage enthusiasm, integrity, commitment, honesty, empathy, and curious intelligence. Extend a smiling warm & gracious welcome to all those with whom we come in contact. To be active in government, civic & industry trade organizations to influence legislation, and further industry best practices, objectives, growth, and improvements. Seek, attract, recruit, train, encourage & promote new Hospitalians. To make all guests, clients, and work partners feel welcome, comfortable, and included. Spread the word! Grow the business and destination.
Hospitality is an integral part of today's society and our global economy. I estimate the hospitality industry generates over $600 Billion in business throughout the world and employs over 250 million people. Continuing the essence of Xenia!
That is an effect on the humanities!
Eich 1
Works Cited
Hilton, Conrad, Be My Guest, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1994, pp. 6
Homer, Odyssey, translated by Samuel Butler, Barnes & Noble, NY, Book I, pp. 15,16, Book 6 104-108, 2021 Edition printed for Barnes and Noble, Inc. by Sterling Publishing Company., Inc.
Imperial, Miranda. “Hospitality and the Ethico-Political: Collective Gestures for Welcoming Others - Critique and Possibilities.” Approaching Religion, vol. 10, no. 2, Nov. 2020, pp. 171–186. EBSCOhost, doi:10.30664/ar.91581.
Meyer, Danny, Setting the Table, Harper, NY, 2008, Pg. 11
Shakespeare, William, as you like it, (C. 1599 - 1600), Act II, scene 4, line 80
Shakespeare, William, King Lear, (1608) Act III, scene 7, line 39
