book 3 - Pylos

• where does Telemachus travel to?

  Pylos
• who is he going to see in Pylos?

  old King Nestor
• what is he going to ask Nestor?

  if he knows anything about his father
• what is Telemachus aware of?

  that he is travelling with Athene, disguised as Mentor, an Ithaca elder
• what is Nestor impressed by?


  when Athene/Mentor changes into a vulture and flies away
• what can't Nestor tell Telemachus?

  where Odysseus is
• who accompanies Telemachus on his next stage of his journey?


  Nestor's son, Peisistratus
• what does Nestor tell Telemachus?


  about the final days of the Trojan war
• where does Nestor recommend a trip to?


  King Menelaus in Sparta, who has only just returned home
• how does Telemachus and Peisistratus travel to Sparta?

  by chariot
• what does everyone know about Telemachus now?


  that he has a patron goddess - Athene
• what does having a patron goddess do for Telemachus?

  increases his reputation (kleos)
• what does King Nestor give Telemachus the example of?


  Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who avenged his father's death by killing his mother (Clytaemnestra) and her lover
• Dawn finds Telemachus and the others at Pylos, in the kingdom of horse taming Nestor
• Nestor, at the age of 90, led a contingent in the Trojan War
• he is received with great xenia, fed, bathed, gifted and not quizzed
• Telemachus says who he is and asks the wise old king to tell him how and where his father died, for he cannot help but assume the worst
• in his reply, Nestor tells what he knows of the Greeks' return from Troy
• "It started out badly because of Athena's anger. She caused dissension between our leader Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus. Menelaus was for setting sail immediately, while Agamemnon insisted that a sacrifice be held first to pacify the goddess. In the end, half the army left while the others remained with Agamemnon. "Those of us who sailed with Menelaus made good speed at first, but then we were at each other's throats again. One group, under Odysseus, broke off and rejoined Agamemnon. I'm sure that even in Ithaca you've heard what eventually happened to him.”
• To Agamemnon? Yes," responds Telemachus. He knows that the great king's wife fell in love with another. Together they murdered Agamemnon upon his homecoming. Then, seven years later, he was avenged by his son, Orestes. You too must be a similar son and win everlasting fame, if only Athena would love you like she did Odysseus, the suitors would soon be killed”
• "But tell me, Nestor, if you will, why did fair-haired Menelaus not slay his brother's killer with his own hand and throw his body to the dogs?” 
• Nestor explains how the fair winds that brought that first party of Greeks safely home from Troy failed Menelaus.
• A storm blew him all the way to Egypt. 
• There he lingered, unable to return home until it was too late.
•  "Journey to Sparta," suggests Nestor. "Seek further news from Menelaus. I will loan you a chariot and one of my sons to accompany you." 
• And so in the morning, after participating in a sacrifice to Athena, Telemachus & Nestor’s son set out for the kingdom of Menelaus.