Nestor of Gerenia (Ancient Greek: Νέστωρ Γερήνιος) was the legendary king of Pylos, son of Neleus and Chloris, and a prominent secondary figure in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Already old at Troy, he leads the Pylians, advises the Achaean chiefs, and is remembered for longevity, horsemanship, and honey-sweet speech — though Homer also tempers admiration with humour at his boastful hospitality. The Mycenaean palace at Pylos is conventionally called the Palace of Nestor.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Nestor (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Description and family
Dares the Phrygian illustrates Nestor as large, broad and fair, with a long hooked nose, and as a wise adviser. He was son of King Neleus of Pylos and Chloris, daughter of Amphion of Orchomenus; otherwise his mother is called Polymede. Some accounts identify this Chloris as a Niobid and say Apollo granted Nestor the years taken from her slain siblings.
His wife is either Eurydice or Anaxibia. Their children include Peisistratus, Thrasymedes, Pisidice, Polycaste, Perseus, Stratichus, Aretus, Echephron, and Antilochus. A late tradition gives him a daughter Epicaste who bore Polycaste by Telemachus.
II.Early adventures
Originally associated with Gerenia, Nestor sailed with the Argonauts, fought the centaurs, and joined the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. He became king of Pylos after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's brothers. By favour of Apollo he was said to have lived through three generations.
III.In the Iliad
With his sons Antilochus and Thrasymedes he fights for the Achaeans at Troy. Though too old for the front line, he leads the Pylian troops from his chariot — Homer's epithet is "the Gerenian horseman" — and once loses a horse to an arrow of Paris. He carries a solid gold shield and repeatedly urges Agamemnon and Achilles toward reconciliation.
At the funeral games of Patroclus he coaches Antilochus for the chariot race. His counsel is always respectfully heard, yet often framed with humour at his expense: he rarely advises without first recounting his own youthful exploits at length. Modern readers have also noted darker undertones — above all in Book 11, when he persuades Patroclus to enter the fight in Achilles' armour, advice that leads toward Patroclus's death.
Homer presents him as a man of "sweet words" and a "clear-voiced orator" whose voice "flows sweeter than honey," the qualities that define a good counsellor in the poem's own terms, even when the outcomes of his advice prove mixed.
IV.In the Odyssey
Nestor and his contingent return safely to Pylos after leaving Troy at once rather than lingering with Agamemnon to appease Athena for Greek sacrilege at the sack. Telemachus comes seeking news of Odysseus; Nestor receives him kindly and entertains him lavishly but can tell him little, sending him on to Menelaus in Sparta with Peisistratus.
Also present are Nestor's wife Eurydice and surviving sons Echephron, Stratichus, Aretus, Thrasymedes, and Peisistratus. Homer again mixes honour with humour: after visiting Helen and Menelaus, Telemachus begs Peisistratus to let him sail home at once rather than face another round of Nestor's overwhelming hospitality — and Peisistratus agrees, though his father will be furious.