Modern hospitality: lessons from the past

This article presents a summary of findings from a continuing investigation into the historical origins of hospitality in the ancient and classical worlds, focusing mainly on the Greek and Roman civilisations. After considering the etymology of hospitality, the article goes on to explore hospitality and mythology, hospitality and the household, public hospitality, commercial hospitality and hospitality in contemporaneous religious writings. The evaluation of the outcomes leads to the identification of five dimensions of hospitality (honourable tradition, fundamental to human existence, stratified, diversified and central to human endeavour) that have been evolving from the beginning of human history.