payment page
Nestor is the generous and wise king of Pylos and a former commander in the Trojan War. He is the first king that aids Telemachus on his journey to discover his father’s fate at the beginning of the epic. Unfortunately, Nestor does not have any information as to Odysseus’s whereabouts and has not heard from Odysseus since Nestor departed from Troy with Menelaus. However, he does welcome Telemachus into his court and even sends his son, Pisistratus, to accompany Telemachus on his journey.
Nestor has one key function in the text: he explains to Telemachus to the fate of Agamemnon. He is the first to recount Agamemnon’s tragic end at the hand of his wife and her lover and the first to venerate Orestes for killing Aegisthus, the interloper who usurped Agamemnon’s position, and ultimately avenging his father. This is a crucial moment for Telemachus’s narrative arc; the plight of Orestes clearly parallels his own, and the story serves as a cautionary tale. Nestor urges Telemachus to be gone from home too long, particularly with the suitors afoot. His evocation of Agamemnon and Orestes sets Telemachus off on his journey to oust the suitors, defend his mother, and honor his father.
