"But since we’ve chanced on you, we’re at your knees
in hopes of a warm welcome, even a guest-gift,
the sort that hosts give strangers. That’s the custom.
Respect the gods, my friend. We’re suppliants – at your mercy!
Zeus of the Strangers guards all guests and suppliants:
strangers are sacred – Zeus will avenge their rights!"
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 300-305. Odysseus pleads with Polyphemus to honor the Greek custom of hospitality due to guests, so important to the gods. The god of hospitality Zeus avenges the rights of guests, Odysseus warns Polyphemus. However, Odysseus will soon learn that the Cyclops have little respect for or fear of the gods. Nor have they interest in being king and generous to strangers.