Nestor

Nestor was the son of Neleus and Chloris in Greek mythology, and king of the city of Pylos. He was the oldest and wisest of the Greek leaders at Troy, and the Iliad calls him the “Gerenian horseman.” In Homer, Nestor is a speaker whose words are sweeter than honey, an adviser to Agamemnon, Achilles, and Patroclus, and the host who receives Telemachus in the Odyssey.

Family

Nestor was the son of Neleus, the founder of Pylos, and Chloris, the youngest daughter of Amphion. Homer lists their children as Nestor, Chromius, and the proud Periclymenus (Homer, Odyssey 11.281–286), and Apollodorus adds a daughter Pero and many more sons (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.9). Nestor’s wife is Eurydice, the eldest daughter of Clymenus, in the Odyssey (3.452), but Apollodorus names her as Anaxibia, daughter of Cratieus. His daughters were Pisidice and Polycaste, and his sons were Perseus, Stratichus, Aretus, Echephron, Pisistratus, Antilochus and Thrasymedes (Library 1.9.9; compare Odyssey 3.413–415, where Homer lists the sons at Pylos). Antilochus and Thrasymedes went with him to Troy; Pisistratus is the young man who accompanies Telemachus in the Odyssey.

Youth and the Fall of Pylos

Nestor himself tells how Heracles came and ill-treated Pylos, killing the best of its men: Neleus had twelve sons, and only Nestor was left, all the others being killed (Iliad 11.690–693). Apollodorus adds that Nestor survived because he was a youth being brought up among the Gerenians (Apollodorus, Library 2.7.3); in Homer he is regularly called the “Gerenian horseman” (Iliad 2.336, 2.601). Diodorus gives a reason for the attack: when Heracles, after killing Iphitus, asked Neleus to purify him, all of Neleus’ sons except Nestor, the youngest, advised their father to refuse (Diodorus Siculus 4.31.4). In the Iliad, Nestor remembers raiding the cattle of the Eleans in his youth, when he killed Itymoneus, and driving the cattle back to Pylos at night (Iliad 11.670–684). He also recalls having fought beside Peirithous, Dryas, Caeneus, Exadius, Polyphemus, and Theseus against the Centaurs (Iliad 1.260–273). Ovid names Nestor among the hunters of the Calydonian Boar and says he escaped the boar only by vaulting with his spear into a nearby tree (Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.313, 8.365–368).

Nestor in the Trojan War

By the time of the Trojan War, two generations of men had passed away who had grown up with Nestor in sacred Pylos, and he was ruling among the third (Iliad 1.250–252). He led the Pylians to Troy with ninety ships (Iliad 2.601–602), and in marshalling chariots and men only he could rival Menestheus, because he was older (Iliad 2.553–555).

When Agamemnon and Achilles quarreled, Nestor stood up and tried to reconcile them, speaking of the better men he had known, but neither listened (Iliad 1.247–284). He spoke in the council after Agamemnon told of his deceptive dream (Iliad 2.76–83), advised Agamemnon to array the army by tribes and clans (Iliad 2.336–368), and he advised the Greeks to build the wall around the ships (Iliad 7.323–344). On the night of the council, he advised sending an embassy to Achilles and chose its members (Iliad 9.93–113, 9.162–179). Nestor also fought, driving a chariot: in Book 8, one of his horses was struck by an arrow of Paris, and Diomedes took him up into his own chariot, with Nestor holding the reins (Iliad 8.80–116).

It was Nestor who told Patroclus, in a long speech about his own youth, that if Achilles would not fight, he should send Patroclus out at the head of the Myrmidons, wearing Achilles’ armor, so that the Trojans might mistake him for Achilles and give the Greeks a breathing space (Iliad 11.790–803). Patroclus later put on the armor and was killed in it. At the funeral games for Patroclus, Nestor told his son Antilochus how to drive in the chariot race (Iliad 23.306–350) and received a prize himself from Achilles (Iliad 23.615–650).

Return and Telemachus

After Troy, Nestor sailed home without trouble. In the Odyssey, he tells Telemachus how the Greeks quarreled over the departure, how he put out to sea with Diomedes and others, and how they came safely to port (Odyssey 3.130–200). When Telemachus came to Pylos in search of news of his father, he found the Pylians sacrificing black bulls to Poseidon on the shore (Odyssey 3.4–8). Nestor, with his sons, welcomed him and Athena, who was disguised as Mentor, to the feast. He could tell Telemachus only what he knew about the homecomings of Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Orestes, and sent him on by chariot with Pisistratus to Sparta (Odyssey 3.253–312, 3.474–497).

Death and Tomb

Homer does not narrate Nestor’s death. Pausanias writes that Nestor died after his return from Troy (Pausanias 4.3.3). He saw a house called the house of Nestor at Pylos on the promontory of Coryphasium, with a painting of him in it, Nestor’s tomb inside the city, and a cave said to have held the cattle of Nestor and of Neleus before him (Pausanias 4.36.1–2). Nestor was also painted in Polygnotus’ picture of the sack of Troy at Delphi, with a cap on his head and a spear in his hand (Pausanias 10.25.11).

Nestor Sources

Homer, Iliad 1.247–284, 2.76–83, 2.336–368, 2.555, 2.601–602, 7.323–344, 8.80–116, 9.93–179, 11.670–693, 11.790–803, 23.306–350, 23.615–650; Homer, Odyssey 3 (esp. 3.4–8, 3.130–200, 3.413–415, 3.452, 3.474–497) and 11.281–286; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.9 and 2.7.3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.313 and 8.365–368; Diodorus Siculus 4.31.4; Pausanias 4.3.3, 4.36.1–2 and 10.25.11.

See Also: Chloris, Neleus, Calydonian Boar, Trojan War, Achaeans, Agamemnon, Achilles, Telemachus, Odysseus, Patroclus, Heracles