In Greek mythology, Nestor of Ger�nia was the son of Neleus, the King of Pylos, and Chloris. He became king after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's brothers and sisters.

Biography

Nestor was an Argonaut, helped fight the centaurs, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. He and his sons Antilochus and Thrasymedes fought on the side of Greece in the Trojan War. Though Nestor was already very old when the war began, he was noted for his bravery and speaking abilities. In the Iliad he often gives advice to the younger warriors, and advises Agamemnon and Achilles to reconcile. He is too old to engage in combat himself, but he leads the Pylian troops, and one of his horses is killed by an arrow shot by Paris. He also had a solid gold shield. Homer frequently calls him by the epithet "the Gerenian horseman." At the funeral games of Patroclus Nestor advises Antilochus on how to win the chariot race. Antilochus was later killed in battle by Memnon.

Although Homer clearly intends his readers to perceive Nestor as an "elder statesman"-type figure worthy of respect, there are occasional flashes of humor at Nestor's expense in the Iliad, as any advice he gives to the other combattants typically serves as a pretext for his first providing his listeners with a long-winded exposititon of his own past glorious feats in similar circumstances.

In the Odyssey, Nestor has safely returned to Pylos, and Odysseus' son Telemachus travels there to inquire about the fate of his father. Nestor does not know his fate but allows Telemachus to stay in his house as a guest. Nestor's wife Eurydice and their remaining living sons appear in the Odyssey as well—Echephron, Stratius, Perseus, Aretus, Thrasymedes, and Pisistratus. They also had a daughter, Polycaste.

In James Joyce's Ulysses, Nestor is represented by the figure of the schoolmaster Garret Deasy.

References

• Iliad I, 248; II, 370; IV, 293.
• Odyssey III, 157, 343.

fr:Nestor it:Nestore uk:Нестор nl:Nestor