Hospitium (Gr. ξενία, xenia, προξενία) is the ancient Greco-Roman concept of hospitality as a divine right of the guest
and a divine duty of the host. Similar or broadly
equivalent customs were and are also known in other cultures, though not always
by that name. Among the Greeks and Romans, hospitium was of a twofold
character: private and public.
In Homeric times, all
strangers, without exception, were regarded as being under the protection
of Zeus Xenios, the god of
strangers and suppliants, and had the right to hospitality. (It is doubtful whether, as is commonly assumed,[citation
needed] they were considered as ipso facto enemies; they were
rather guests.) Immediately on his arrival, the stranger was clothed and
entertained, and no inquiry was made as to his name or antecedents until the duties of
hospitality had been fulfilled. When the guest parted from his host he was
often presented with gifts (ξένια), and sometimes a die (ἀστράγαλος) was broken
between them. Each then took a part, a family connection was established, and
the broken die served as a symbol of recognition; thus the members of each
family found in the other hosts and protectors in case of need.
Violation by the host of the duties of hospitality was likely to provoke the wrath of the gods
Justification:
We decided to include this video in as it is part of our
answer to the Driving Question. Through the number of videos and sources we
found, we felt that this one explains much more thoroughly about past
hospitality. It is also an evidence to show that what they had in Classical
Rome is almost identical to what we have today. The massages, spa, serving
services, facilities that include Jacqui, hot spring and other which provides
hospitality services like the current one today. The things that we have now
are also much more technology advanced. Gestures and demands were how they
asked for service back then. In addition, the guest being served must accept
all hospitality services provided, but now it is the job of both parties. It is
a must to provide hospitality services as a host because it is based on a set
of religious rules that they believe back then which was called <Divine Duty>
and a guest to receive the service because it is a <Divine Right>.
This artefact has strengthened out stand in agreeing that it
is still between a guest and the host. However, this has broaden our original
response as we did not know that back in Classical Rome, there were spas and
other facilities which served different purposes like today.
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