Nestor

Also known as: Neleus' son / son of Neleus / the son of Neleus · Family: The Greeks · Role: father and warrior · First appears: Book II · Part 2

In Book II, Memnon stopped Nestor from rushing into battle, sparing him out of respect for his age. After Antilochus was slain, Nestor withdrew from his son’s body, then killed Meneclus with his spear and urged Achilles to recover the body and its armour. In Book III, he counselled Agamemnon to end the lament for the day and have Achilles’ body washed and laid on a couch; later, he mourned Antilochus among the fallen.

In Book IV, Nestor gave horses to his comrades and stopped Aias and Diomedes from continuing their wrestling match. In Book V, he proposed that Trojan captives judge the contest between Aias and Odysseus. At Troy in Book VIII, he urged the Argives to withdraw to their ships while Zeus aided the Trojans, and they heeded his counsel before carrying and burying their dead.

In Book VII, Nestor recalled that Antilochus had died saving him, and comforted Podaleirius, lifting him from the grave where he mourned Machaon and leading him to the ships. In Book XII, Nestor’s son Thrasymedes entered the Horse with the Greek heroes, while Nestor and Agamemnon led the Greeks who sailed to Tenedos and waited there.