Odyssey 16-20

Homer continues exploring how the extension of, and reaction to,xenia, or hospitality, reflects various characters’ concerns. Nestor’s insistence that Telemachus stay and feast with him in Pylos before returning to Ithaca confirms that he is an honorable man. Telemachus’s eagerness to avoid this social commitment may seem a breach of social appropriateness. His evasion is justified by his prioritizing of practical considerations the need to return home quicklyover decorum and other formal considerations. Besides, Telemachus’s warm reception of Theoclymenus, in addition to the genuine urgency of the moment, takes some of the edge off of his apparent inconsiderateness.

Homer uses minor characters of low rank to great effect in Books 17and 18. These charcters seem to function as foils—characters whose traits or attitudes contrast with and thereby accentuate those of other characters. Melanthius’s disrespectful treatment of Odysseus stands in stark contrast to Eumaeus’s unflinching loyalty to his master. Similarly, in contrast to the devoted Eurycleia, Melantho proves the embodiment of ingratitude toward Penelope: though Penelope raised her like her own child, Melantho shows no concern for Penelope’s grief. Additionally, Irus’s mingled bravado and cowardice provide a good foil for Odysseus’s prudence and courage. Homer also uses Irus to foreshadow the ultimate downfall of the suitors. Disguised as a beggar, Odysseus cuts down an impudent beggar, leaving little doubt as to what he will do to the impudent nobles when he reassumes his noble form.

Even though Amphinomus shows some kindness toward the seeming beggar, Odysseus pities him. Nothing can save him from the punishment that Athena has planned for him. In fact, Athena doesn’t even take his kindness into consideration. Homer explains that “even then Athena had bound him fast to death / at the hands of Prince Telemachus and his spear” (18.178–179). Athena condemns Amphinomus to the same fate as the most worthless suitors of the bunch.In Book 17 Homer gives us the most critical depiction yet of Antinous, who disgusts even the other suitors with his abuse of the disguised Odysseus. Whereas other suitors at least give the beggar food, Antinous displays nothing but contempt for the man’s apparent low breeding and physically assails him. Penelope thus labels Antinous “the worst of all . . . black death itself” (17.554). Homer portrays Antinous as a dishonorable noble. 

The explanation for the contempt in which the others hold Antinous for mistreating Odysseus lies in the feudal structure of Homeric society, which was bound together by reciprocal obligations and responsibilities among people of different social classes. While it would be a mistake to think that the Greeks considered mistreatment of the poor an automatic sign of evil or moral deficiency, we definitely get the sense that Antinous is abusing his rank when he beats the seemingly helpless beggar. Antinous is guilty not of evil but of arrogance.The insults hurled at him accuse him not of straying from some moral code but of straying from the expectations of his noble birth.