Xenos means both 'guest' and 'host' in ancient Greece and is the "regulated tie of 'guest-friendship' between stranger and householder. This was not just a question of polite rules between people, but an essential functioning of ancient society. "The condition of a man in a foreign country or city, away from his friends and own family, was one of considerable risk...The man away from his Oikos, without rights, was without all protection and without any means of livelihood. The appeal to xenia was his only manner of proceeding, and a tie of xenia was passed on between families throughout generations."

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