Acts of kindness have come to define

the coronavirus pandemic, whether

that’s tales of Italians singing in
unison on their balconies
or communities applauding the
medical professionals on the
frontline. These stories have the ability
to make us feel that we’re bigger than
just this crisis, and that together we
can overcome our fears.

That’s why BBC Travel is celebrating

those places around the world that
already have a long tradition of
generosity and helping one another.
From the ancient Greek concept of
hospitality to the Persian poets
espousing kindness, these traditions
will shine a light on the goodness that
already exists across the planet, as
well as give us new ideas of how to
live our best lives going forward.

In Greece, guests are typically treated like guests of honour,

with a simple dinner invitation usually translating to a veritable
feast at which the visitor’s wine glass is kept topped up by the
attentive host. While this is characteristic of many cultures
today, the cradle of Western civilisation is widely thought to
In Ancient Greece,
have invented the tradition.
the proper provision of hospitality was
considered a commandment of the
gods, specifically Zeus Xenios, the
god of foreigners or strangers. Should
a weary traveller arrive on one’s
doorstep, the host was obliged to
welcome them with food and shelter
before asking any questions, whether
they knew the guest or not. In return,
the guest was obliged to show respect
to the host via gestures such as
staying only as long as necessary. For
either party to fail in their obligation
was considered an offense worthy of
Zeus Xenios’ divine wrath.

Read more: The European city that

loves strangers

Taken from the Greek

words xenia (stranger) and philo (care
for), the concept became known
as philoxenia, or love of strangers
(and later hospitum, or hospitality),
scenes of which are found throughout
the works of Homer. The Odyssey, for
example, recounts its protagonist’s
tireless search for hospitality on his
journey home to Ithaca, while
the Iliad recalls the Greeks’ reaction to
a blatant violation of the proper host-
guest conduct during the Trojan War,
which occurred when Paris, leaving
Sparta, “stole” his host’s wife, Helen of
Sparta.

Along with being particularly gracious

in their hospitality, this tradition of
kindness is kept alive today through
small gestures such as offering a
friendly smile to a stranger, or
escorting a lost traveller to their
destination rather than simply
providing directions.