Zeus’s law

Like so many others, I recently went to see Christopher Nolan’s three-hour marathon of a movie, The Odyssey.

I checked out some reviews beforehand. While most film critics loved it, some literary critics questioned Nolan’s twists on Homer’s original.

For the record, I loved the film. As Odysseus fought the Trojan War, then battled storms and monsters on his long trek home, those three hours flew by.

One of the movie’s themes has captured my attention—Zeus’s Law. In the film, Odysseus explains it as the idea we should show hospitality to strangers because they could be gods in disguise.

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The theme is repeatedly broken in the saga, like when Odysseus stumbles into the Cyclops’ cave and isn’t shown hospitality but hostility when the giant eats some of his men.

Odysseus has a troubled conscience because of his own violation of Zeus’s Law—he’d offered Troy the Trojan Horse as a gift, then cunningly used it to attack them.

In Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey, showing hospitality to strangers is seen as the right thing to do. But here’s what raised those literary critic’s eyebrows.

In Homer’s tale, Odysseus doesn’t feel guilty about the Trojan Horse, but proud. And in ancient Greece, you didn’t show hospitality to strangers out of kindness, but because if they were a god in disguise, they might strike you with lightning for offending them!

When Odysseus explains Zeus’s Law in the film, he isn’t quoting Homer but paraphrasing the Bible, which says to show hospitality to strangers because we too know what it’s like to be in need. One motive serves the stranger out of self-interest, the other out of empathy.

This is a good prompt to reflect on our own motives for serving strangers (or indeed anyone). While we might not fear lightening bolts from the gods, how else can self-interest slip in?

Perhaps to feel good about ourselves, to shows others we’re kind, or just to get the ‘helpers high’ psychologists talk about. The most loving people I know ignore all of this and just serve people, seeing any personal benefit as secondary.

In one of my favourite gospel stories, two friends are trekking home when they’re joined by a stranger, whose words make their hearts beat fast. When they reach their town, they invite him in for a meal—and discover the stranger has been Jesus.

So, yeah, I want to show hospitality to strangers—not for the helper’s high but because it’s the right thing to do. Who knows, that stranger may turn into a friend—or even be the Divine in disguise.