Xenos (Greek)

Xenos (Greek: ξένος, "xénos", plural "xenoi") is a word used in ancient Greek from Homer onwards that has a wide gradient of meaning, signifying such divergent concepts as “enemy stranger” as well as “ritual friend”.

Meanings

Xenos can be translated to both foreigner (in the sense of a person from another Greek state) as well as a foreigner or traveler brought into a relationship of long distance friendship. Xenos can also be used simply to assert that someone is not a member of your community, that is simply foreigner and with no implication of reciprocity or relationship. Xenos generally refers to the variety of what a particular individual can be, specifically guest, host, stranger, friend, and, as previously mentioned, foreigner.

The ambiguity of the meaning of xenos is not a modern misunderstanding, but was in fact present in ancient Greece. Sophocles uses the vagueness of the word xenos in his tragedy " Philoctetes ", with Neoptolemus using the word exclusively for Philoctetes to indicate the uncertain relationship between the two characters. Xenos can be used to refer to guest-friends whose relationship is constructed under the ritual of xenia ("guest-friendship"). In this usage it is commonly translated as "guest-friend" to distinguish it from the Greek word "philos", which was used to refer to local friends and to relatives not strictly bound by xenia.

ee also

*lookfrom|Xeno
*Xenos (disambiguation)

References

*cite journal | last = Belfiore | first = Elizabeth | year = 1993 | title = Xenia in Sophocles' Philoctetes | journal = The Classical Journal | volume = 89 | issue = 2 | pages = 113–129 | url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-8353%28199312%2F199401%2989%3A2%3C113%3AXISP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V | accessdate = 2006-10-23 (subscription required)