Nestor | King of Pylos

Nestor (Greek: Νέστωρ), in Greek mythology, was the son of Neleus, the king of Pilos, and of Cloris. Neleus was the son of Tyre and Posidon, Cloris was the daughter of Amphion and Niobe, and they had one daughter, Pero, and twelve sons, Taurus, Asterius, Pilaeon, Deimachus, Euribius, Epilaus, Phryasius, Eurymenes, Evagoras, Alastor, Nestor, and Periclimene.

Biography

Nestor became king of Pilos after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's brothers. He married Anaxibia with whom he had two daughters, Pisidice and Polychaetes, and seven sons, Perseus, Strathicus, Arethus, Ecephron, Pisistratus, Antilochus, and Trasymede. It was at a banquet in his palace that the decision came about for the Achaean kings to unite in a league to fight against Troy.

Nestor was an Argonaut, helped fight the centaurs and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar,with his son Antilochus and Trasymede. Although Nestor was quite old when the war began, he was famous for his courage and eloquence. Pilos sent forty ships to war.

In the Iliad, he often gives advice to younger warriors, and it is he who advises Achilles and Agamemnon to make peace. He was too old to fight, but he was the one leading the troops from Pilos, driving their chariot; one of his horses was killed by an arrow from Paris.

He also had a large gold shield. Homer often refers to Nestor with the epithet "knight of Generia." In the funeral games of Patroclus, Nestor advises Antiochus about how to win the chariot race.

In the Odyssey, Nestor returns safe and sound to Pilos, and Ulysses' son Telemachus travels there to learn of his father's fate. Nestor receives Telemachus with hospitality, but is unable to tell him of his father's whereabouts.

Generally, in both Homeric epics, Nestor has the role of the wise old man who gives advice to the young and brave soldiers. However, some admit that Nestor himself has some comic timing, due to the fact that he likes to brag about his exploits when he was young, in being Argonauts, the advice he gives is perhaps nothing more than pretexts to brag at will.