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The Stop
In ancient Greek legend, Procrustes was an ironsmith, thief, murderer and innkeeper who had a hostel somewhere along the road running between Athens and the sacred city of Eleusis. When travellers stopped in search for a bed for the night, he would offer the strangers hospitality for a price. Procrustes had an iron bed he claimed was a perfect fit for anyone who slept in it - and it was, though he didn’t adjust the bed for his guests. Instead, Procrustes adjusted the guest: if the guest was shorter than the bed, he stretched their body to fit; if the guest was longer, he would cut off their legs. Either way, the victim would die and Procrustes would make off with whatever valuables they’d had on them. In short, Procrustes was the archetype of the bad host.1
At the heart of the legend is the question of how to treat strangers or guests. In the ancient world travellers were dependent upon the kindness of strangers - to feed, shelter, and protect them. To be a good host was essential for the welfare of a traveller; to be a good guest was essential for the welfare of the host. In ancient Greek society, an elaborate understanding emerged to govern this essential interaction. A ‘foreigner or stranger’ was a xénos, but over time, rather than merely conveying a sense of ‘other’, the word began to imply a sort of relationship. After all, one can’t be a xénos without someone being a host, and eventually a social code (xenia) emerged. Xenia ‘dictated that the xénos would be cared for by his host, who, in return, would be praised’ and treated with kindness.
This relationship is important, as breaking it can result in catastrophe. In the Iliad, for instance, a ‘breach of xenia’ leads to the Trojan War when Paris, a guest, abducts Helen from his host’s home. The ethical logic of xenia also ‘runs throughout the Odyssey, where the exiled Odysseus struggle[s] to return to Ithaca, often without shelter, often in need.’ As he approaches the island of the one-eyed Cyclopes, he worries whether they are ‘friendly to [xénos] strangers.’ When the Cyclops Polyphemus eats six of his sailors, Odysseus has his answer - that this ‘monster was uninterested in such protocols.’2 Polyphemus suffers a horrible fate and Odysseus ends up being blown off-course around the Mediterranean for the next ten years.
In ancient Greece, the rules of xenia were not merely ‘social etiquette.’ Rather, they were of such importance that they were believed to have come from the gods - and ‘Zeus himself was the protector of travellers.’ This idea of treating guests (and conversely, hosts) correctly is also found in countless other social contracts including numerous Hebraic instructions on how to treat visitors, the Christian exhortation to ‘love one’s neighbour as oneself’, and also in literature, which, of course, reflects the social context at the time of its creation. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, for instance, the titular character runs through a list of reasons why he shouldn’t kill King Duncan who is staying the night in his home - one of which is that he is the king’s ‘host/who should against his murderer shut the door,/Not bear the knife myself’ (I.xii.1-16).
The Detour
Today’s Detour is to Iceland//Gusts from the Highlands, a short (2:15) video compilation by director Cody LaPlant using photography and drone footage from a winter trip to rural Iceland. A perfect, atmospheric start to the Christmas season for those of us in the northern hemisphere where it used to be cold. Iceland is one of my favourite places to visit - and, to continue the hospitality theme, we’ve always found a warm welcome.
Iceland//Gusts from the Highlands
The Recommendation
Today’s Recommendation is a first for The Bus - a repeat!3 However, given the Stop, I can’t think of a better one than George Makari’s Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia (2021). One of my favourite books of the last couple of years, it’s an in-depth exploration into how, despite appearing ancient in origin, xenophobia (or ‘fear of strangers’) was actually coined in the early 20th Century. It is an eye-opening, very readable account of how these debates continue to inform our politics and philosophies today - and, I personally think, an essential read.
From the inside flap: In recent years, it has been impossible to ignore the resurgence of xenophobia. Issues like the European migrant catastrophe and the crisis over the border between Mexico and the United States have placed Western advocates of globalisation on the defensive. The irrational hatred of others, a ‘New Xenophobia,’ seems to have gripped people around the world.
In this masterful and elegant study, psychiatrist and historian George Makari traces the story of xenophobia from its origins to the present day. Often perceived as an ancient term for a timeless problem, ‘xenophobia’ was in fact only coined a century ago, a product of heated and formative Western debates over nationalism, globalisation, race, and immigration.
From Richard Wright to Sigmund Freud, Frantz Fanon and Simone de Beauvoir, writers and thinkers have long grappled with this most dangerous of phobias. Drawing on their work, Makari demonstrates how we can better understand the problem that is so crucial to our troubled times.
Here are two reviews (the NYT one might be paywalled):
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is a selection of five tracks built around the theme of guests and visitors: ‘Who Can It Be Now?’ (Men at Work, 1981), ‘Karn Evil 9 1st Impression, Pt. 2’ (Emerson, Lake and Palmer, 1973), ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ (Black Uhuru, 1979), ‘Dream Police’ (Cheap Trick, 1979) and ‘Hello It’s Me’ (Todd Rundgren, 1972).4 Enjoy!
The Thought
Today’s Thought is from Benjamin Franklin:5
‘Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.’
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this Stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!
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Until the next Stop …
A son of the god Poseidon, Procrustes was killed by another son of Poseidon: Theseus. Mythical founder of Athens and hero of numerous exploits, Theseus was charged with completing the Six Labours - the last of which was killing Procrustes. He accomplished this task by tricking Procrustes into getting into his own bed, cutting off his legs and then decapitating him. Which, in the context of the story, means Theseus might just be the archetype of a bad guest, I guess. Sources for today’s Stop include Procrustes (Britannica) and Makari, George. Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia. New Haven: Yale UP, 2021.
Odysseus and his remaining sailors are continually treated badly as both strangers and guests with their interactions with Calypso and Circe. And to make matters worse, when Odysseus finally returns home after his ten year journey, he finds that a group of foreign guests (xénoi) have ‘taken up residence in his home and flagrantly pressed his wife to remarry.’ Needless to say, he gets his revenge on these badly behaved guests.
This book was first recommended in Issue 1.5 (21 April 2022) - ‘Pavlov’s Dogs’. At the time, five issues in, the contents weren’t arranged thematically - my idea being a topic followed by a collection of unrelated detours, recommendations and playlists. It didn’t take long to see the value - and, more accurately, the fun - in running a theme through each issue. And I think it’s working OK! Issue 1.5 is currently available only to paid subscribers, but that’s going to be changing in the new year.
These really are five great songs and each has a distinctive memory for me. In particular, I remember the family station wagon pulling into the driveway after church on a Sunday leaving just enough time for me to race upstairs to my room and record the Men at Work track (off the radio, using an old-school press-three-buttons tape recorder and hoping no one makes a noise) when Casey Kasem played it as part of the previous week’s Top Three. ‘Karn Evil’ is prog perfection in my mind, and I genuinely wonder why I don’t listen more to Cheap Trick whenever I play this song.
I originally planned to attribute this quote to my mother - who certainly adheres to its sentiment - but I thought I’d google it first and discovered it had quite a pedigreed origin.
Ben Franklin would be a great host for two days and as long as there was still beer in the house. I have been needing a new book to ask Santa to bring this Christmas so I called the wonderful little Highland Books to order this Bus' recommendation - and they have a copy! Love that place and owners!