In addition to a large repertoire of formulaic expressions and epithets, the oral poet is able to utilise stock ‘type-scenes.’ While the details vary, these scenes, which tend to revolve around actions that are central in the society of the epic, contain a consistent sequence of actions. Anyone who has read the Iliad will have noticed the great similarities between different arming and battle-scenes.
In the Odyssey, the most prominent kind of type-scene is the hospitality scene, in which the guest enters the presence of the host, is given a seat, fed, and then asked to reveal his name, and tell the host of his purpose and his reasons for being in that land. After the tale has been told, the guest is provided with bedding. In the morning, the guest, should he wish to leave, is provided with gifts.
Examples of this can be found in the first (Athene in Ithaka), third (Telemachus at Pylos), fourth (Telemachus at Sparta), seventh through to the thirteenth (Odysseus in Phaeacia) and fourteenth (Odysseus in the hut of Eumenes) books of the Odyssey. Much of the first half of the poem is thus given structure through these extended hospitality-scenes, providing a setting for the long stories told both by the two travellers, and by their hosts, in particular, Nestor and Menelaus.
There are also many examples of non-standard hospitality scenes, featuring a bad host: Circe, the suitors, Polyphemus, and so on. In these episodes, the contrast with the standard hospitality type-scene shows the wickedness of the host.
Further Reading:
Shelmerdine, C., 'The Pattern of Guest-Welcome in the Odyssey' CJ 65 (1969) 124f.
Edwards, M., 'Type-Scenes and Homeric Hospitality' TAPA 105 (1975) 51-72
Gainsford, P. (2003), 'Formal Analysis of Recognition Scenes in the Odyssey' JHS 123: 41-49 – more accessible than the title suggests.
Forsyth, N., 'The Allurement Scene: a Typical Pattern in Greek Oral Epic' Classical Antiquity 12 (1979) 101 – interesting not least because it draws upon both the Homeric Hymns and the Iliad in addition to the Odyssey for its examples.
Fenik, B., Typical Battle Scenes in the Iliad, Steiner, Wiesbaden 1968 – Not really necessary reading for a student of the Odyssey, but as the most exhaustive analysis of any one group of type-scenes, it’s worth a quick flick through if time allows.