Greek hospitality: the feeling that lives with you forever

What is it that comes to mind when you think holidays in Greece?

Is it the sunshine? Greece’s unique light? Deep blue seas and sandy beaches? Islands big and small? Cities bustling with life? Forest-filled mountains? Culinary delights? Friendly smiles?

The Greek concept of hospitality, filoxenia (φιλοξενiα), is deeply rooted in rituals that are expressions of an authentic relationship between guest, and host based on generosity, courtesy, and friendship. An ancient Greek value which ranked at or near the top of the list of virtues, and still lives on today in modern Greece,

Written back in 8 A.D., Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses tells a story which embodies all that philoxenia was to ancient Greeks: 

Zeus and Hermes disguised themselves as poor travelers and knocked on the doors of villagers until someone finally let them stay the night. The elderly couple Baucis and Philemon served their guests food and wine. When Baucis went to refill their guests’ wine cups, she realized that there was a never-ending supply of wine, and that her guests must  in fact be gods. She then offered to kill their only goose for the gods to feast on. In return for the couple’s unselfish acts of kindness, Zeus turned their humble cottage into a beautiful stone temple and granted them their two greatest wishes. They became guardians of the temple, and died at the same time, staying together forever since they were turned into trees, one on either side of the temple’s door, guarding it for all of eternity.

According to legend, even an event as momentous as the Trojan War began because of a guest’s violation of xenia. The Trojan prince Paris was a guest of King Menelaus of Sparta when he abducted Menelaus’ wife, Helen. Both the Odyssey and the Iliad are filled with episodes in which xenia is either honored or ignored and the subsequent consequences are notable. For instance, when Odysseus sails to the island of the cyclops, the monster’s treatment of Odysseus and his sailors is a violation of the custom of xenia. The cyclops is punished for the transgression. Odysseus blinds his “host” and escapes. The cyclops episode depicts an abuse of xenia. In another story, Odysseus’ wife Penelope is forced by custom to entertain an entire household of suitors. The guests not only make unreasonable, burdensome requests that were impolite for guests but they do so with the assumption the host himself is no longer alive. The conclusion of the poem involves Odysseus’s slaughter of the suitors. This violent ending can be seen as retribution for an egregious abuse of xenia, or conversely, a violation of its very precepts.

Today, philoxenia is just as embedded into Greek culture as it was in ancient times. Greeks might not go to such extremes as Baucis and Philemon, but they do keep this cultural tradition alive on a daily basis. From a simple kind smile to a visitor, to when tourists ask locals for simple directions to a monument and the locals take it upon themselves to become self-appointed tour guides.