Mentor

Mentor was a trusted friend of Odysseus in Greek mythology and a minor but important figure in Homer’s Odyssey. When Odysseus sailed for Troy, he left his whole household in Mentor’s charge (Odyssey 2.225–227). Mentor himself speaks only a few times, but the goddess Athena often takes his form to guide Telemachus and to help Odysseus win back his house. Because of this, the name Mentor later came to mean a wise and trusted guide.

Who Was Mentor?

Family and Background

Mentor was the son of Alcimus. Homer gives this name when Athena, in Mentor’s shape, speaks of “Mentor, son of Alcimus” (Homer, Odyssey 22.235). He lived on Ithaca and was a man of Odysseus’ own age: Odysseus calls him his age-mate (Odyssey 22.209), and the household was told to obey him as “the old man” (Odyssey 2.226–227). No ancient source names his wife, children or ancestors beyond his father. Unlike many figures in Greek mythology, Mentor is not known for war, kingship, or divine ancestry. His importance comes from trust and his connection to the house of Odysseus.

Friend of Odysseus

Homer calls him a hetairos, a comrade, of blameless Odysseus (Odyssey 2.225). When Odysseus went off in the ships, he entrusted the whole house to him, so that everyone would obey the old man and he would keep everything safe (Odyssey 2.226–227). Mentor was therefore expected to watch over the household and its property while Telemachus, who was a baby at the breast when his father left (Odyssey 11.447–449), grew up.

Mentor and Ithaca

Mentor belongs to the Ithacan part of the Odyssey. His story is tied to the crisis in Odysseus’ house: Penelope is surrounded by suitors, Telemachus has grown up without his father, and the royal household is being eaten up by men who do not respect it. In Homer, Mentor is one of the old friends of Odysseus’ house who stay on Ithaca, together with Halitherses and Antiphus (Odyssey 2.253–254, 17.68). Telemachus sits with them when he comes back from his journey, avoiding the crowd of suitors (Odyssey 17.67–70).

Mentor and the Trojan War

Odysseus Leaves Ithaca

When Paris took Helen to Troy, the Greek kings were called to war by the oath that Helen’s suitors had sworn to Tyndareus (Apollodorus, Library 3.10.9). Odysseus did not want to go. According to the Epitome of Apollodorus, he pretended to be mad, but Palamedes snatched the infant Telemachus from Penelope’s bosom and drew his sword as if to kill him, and Odysseus, in fear for the child, admitted that he was sane (Apollodorus, Epitome 3.7). Before sailing, he placed his house in Mentor’s care.

Twenty Years of Absence

The Trojan War lasted ten years, and Odysseus’ journey home lasted another ten. The poem counts the twentieth year of his absence (Odyssey 2.175). By the time the Odyssey begins, Telemachus has grown into a young man without his father’s guidance, and the suitors have been in the palace for years.

The House Under Pressure

During Odysseus’ absence, the suitors of Penelope take over the palace. They feast on Odysseus’ wealth and press Penelope to choose a husband (Odyssey 1.245–251). Mentor had been left to keep the house safe, but one old man could do little against so many, and the assembly scene shows that he knew it.

Mentor in the Odyssey

The Assembly in Ithaca

In Book 2 Telemachus calls the people of Ithaca to an assembly and complains of the ruin of his father’s house. After the suitors have answered him, Mentor rises, introduced as the man whom Odysseus left in charge of everything (Odyssey 2.224–228). He says that no king should be kind and gentle any more, since nobody among the people remembers godlike Odysseus, though he ruled them and was gentle as a father (Odyssey 2.229–234). He does not blame the proud suitors so much as the people of Ithaca, who sit in silence and do not stop the few suitors, though they are many (Odyssey 2.235–241).

A Loyal Voice

Mentor’s speech matters because it shows that not everyone in Ithaca has forgotten Odysseus. The suitor Leocritus answers him roughly, calling him a foolish, mischievous “Mentor” for urging them to stop, and says that even Odysseus himself would meet an ugly death if he came back and tried to drive so many men from the hall (Odyssey 2.243–251). He then breaks up the assembly and says that Mentor and Halitherses will speed Telemachus on his way as friends of his father from of old, though he does not think the journey will ever happen (Odyssey 2.252–256).

Not the Same as Mentes

Mentor is often confused with Mentes. In Book 1 of the Odyssey, Athena first comes to Telemachus disguised as Mentes, the leader of the Taphians and son of Anchialus, who says he is an old guest-friend of Odysseus’ house (Odyssey 1.105, 1.180–188). In that disguise she tells Telemachus to call an assembly and to sail to Pylos and Sparta to ask for news of his father (Odyssey 1.272–296). Mentes is a different person from Mentor, and in Book 1 the real Mentor does not appear. Athena takes Mentor’s form later, from Book 2 onward, which is why the two names are so easily mixed up.

Athena as Mentor

A Divine Disguise

The most famous part of Mentor’s myth is not what Mentor himself does, but what Athena does in his form. When Telemachus prays after the assembly, Athena comes near “in the likeness of Mentor, in form and voice” (Homer, Odyssey 2.267–268). Homer uses the same line again several times (Odyssey 2.401, 22.206, 24.503, 24.548). The real Mentor remains a mortal man.

Guiding Telemachus

Athena, in Mentor’s shape, tells Telemachus that if he has any of his father’s spirit he will not be a coward or a fool, and that the journey he plans will not fail (Odyssey 2.270–280). She promises to prepare a swift ship for him, collect volunteers and go with him herself, as her pretended role of an old friend of his father (Odyssey 2.285–295). It is also Athena, not Mentor, who makes the voyage possible in practice: she goes through the town in the likeness of Telemachus, gathers a crew and asks Noemon son of Phronius for his swift ship (Odyssey 2.382–387). She then puts the suitors to sleep and, again as Mentor, calls Telemachus out to the ship (Odyssey 2.395–404).

The Ship and the Journey

Athena as Mentor sits in the stern next to Telemachus and sends a favourable west wind (Odyssey 2.416–421). When they land at Pylos, Telemachus is shy about questioning the old king Nestor, and Athena tells him that he will think of some words himself and that a god will put the rest in his mind (Odyssey 3.14–28). He addresses her as “Mentor” (Odyssey 3.22, 3.240). At Nestor’s feast she prays to Poseidon, and when she leaves, she changes into a sea eagle, which makes everyone marvel; Nestor then says that Telemachus has a god for his escort, and names Athena (Odyssey 3.371–379).

Mentor and Telemachus

A Fatherly Figure

Because Odysseus is absent, Mentor is often seen as a fatherly figure for Telemachus. The poem itself says only that Mentor was left in charge of the house; it is Athena in Mentor’s form who gives the active advice. Homer does not say that the real Mentor trained or taught Telemachus; the teaching of Telemachus in the poem is done by Athena, in the disguises of Mentes and Mentor.

Telemachus Comes of Age

Telemachus begins the Odyssey uncertain and powerless in his own house. After Athena’s visits he calls an assembly, travels to Pylos and Sparta, asks questions of Nestor and Menelaus, and comes back to Ithaca to stand beside his father. In Sparta he learns that Odysseus is alive, held by the nymph Calypso (Odyssey 4.555–560, where Menelaus tells what Proteus said).

Guidance Without Replacement

Mentor does not replace Odysseus as Telemachus’ father. He keeps the house while its master is away, and the guidance that matters comes from Athena under his name. The Odyssey is not only about Odysseus returning home; it is also about Telemachus becoming ready to stand beside him, as he does in the fight in the hall.

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Back on Ithaca, the disguise is nearly noticed. Noemon, who lent the ship, tells Antinous that he saw Mentor go on board as leader of the young men “or a god who was in all things like Mentor”, and adds that he saw Mentor in Ithaca the day before, though the ship had sailed for Pylos (Odyssey 4.649–656). The real Mentor was therefore at home all the time while Athena was at sea in his shape.

Mentor and the Return of Odysseus

Athena’s Continued Help

After Odysseus returns to Ithaca in disguise, Athena continues to guide events, and she takes Mentor’s form again in the fight in the hall.

The Battle Against the Suitors

When the suitors are being killed, Athena comes to Odysseus in the likeness of Mentor. Odysseus is glad, and says “Mentor, ward off ruin, and remember me, your dear comrade who often did you good; you are my age” (Odyssey 22.205–209), though he suspects that it is Athena, the rouser of hosts (Odyssey 22.210). Agelaus, one of the suitors, thinks it is the real Mentor and warns him not to let Odysseus persuade him to fight on his side, or he will pay for it with his life and property (Odyssey 22.212–223). Athena is angry and rebukes Odysseus for not showing the strength he had at Troy (Odyssey 22.224–235). She does not give him the victory at once but still tests the strength of Odysseus and his son, and she flies up to the roof beam in the shape of a swallow (Odyssey 22.236–240). Agelaus then tells the others that Mentor has gone away after empty boasts (Odyssey 22.247–250).

The Restoration of the House

With Athena’s help, Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoetius defeat the suitors. Afterwards the herald Medon says that he saw an immortal god standing beside Odysseus, in all things like Mentor, now heartening him and now raging through the hall and scaring the suitors (Odyssey 24.442–449). In the last book, when the families of the dead suitors come out to fight, Athena again takes Mentor’s form and voice at Odysseus’ side (Odyssey 24.503), and at the end she makes a covenant of peace between the two parties in the likeness of Mentor (Odyssey 24.545–548). The old man Halitherses reminds the Ithacans that they had not obeyed him, or Mentor, shepherd of the people, when they told them to stop the folly of their sons (Odyssey 24.451–457).

Mentor’s Role and Symbolism

Loyalty

In the poem Mentor is loyal to Odysseus and his family. Even when many on Ithaca are silent, he speaks against the wrong done to the royal house (Odyssey 2.229–241), and Halitherses later counts him among those who had warned the people (Odyssey 24.455–457).

Guidance

The later meaning of the name comes from Athena’s use of his form. Because she guides Telemachus under Mentor’s name, “Mentor” came to be used for an experienced adviser of the young. This meaning grew far beyond the small part the actual character plays in the Odyssey.

Human Name, Divine Action

Homer lets a goddess act in the shape of a mortal man in several scenes. The mortal Mentor is a trusted man of Ithaca; Athena’s use of his form is what makes the name famous.

The Word Mentor

From Myth to Common Language

Today, the word mentor means a trusted adviser, teacher, or guide. The meaning comes from the story of Telemachus in the Odyssey, especially from Athena’s guidance while appearing as Mentor.

A Common Misunderstanding

Strictly speaking, much of the advice given to Telemachus comes from Athena, not from the real Mentor. Because Athena uses Mentor’s form, the name became attached to the role of guide. This is why Mentor is remembered more for what his form represents than for his own few speeches.

Why the Name Lasted

The name lasted because it fits a simple idea: a young person often needs someone older or wiser to guide him. In the Odyssey Telemachus needed that help before he could face the suitors and stand beside Odysseus, and the figure who gave it to him was called Mentor.

Mentor in Ancient Literature

Homer’s Odyssey

Mentor appears in Homer’s Odyssey in Books 2, 17, 22 and 24, and Athena takes his shape in Books 2, 3, 22 and 24. The poem presents him as a friend of Odysseus and shows Athena using his form to guide Telemachus and to help restore Odysseus’ house.

The Telemachy

The first four books of the Odyssey are often called the Telemachy, because they follow Telemachus. Mentor’s importance belongs mainly to this part of the poem, in which Telemachus is pushed toward courage, travel and maturity.

Later Tradition

Later readers remembered Mentor mainly as the guide of Telemachus, and this memory made him more famous than his small part in the poem would suggest. No other ancient account adds to his story, and Homer remains the source for everything known about him.

Misconceptions and Lesser-Known Facts

Mentor Was Not a God

Mentor was a mortal man, the son of Alcimus and a friend of Odysseus. The divine figure in the story is Athena, who often uses Mentor’s form. They are not the same being.

Mentor and Mentes Are Different

Athena appears as Mentes in Book 1 of the Odyssey, then later takes the form of Mentor. Both disguises help Telemachus, but the names belong to different men: Mentes is a Taphian chieftain, Mentor an Ithacan.

The Real Mentor Does Not Train Telemachus in Detail

The modern idea of a mentor can make readers imagine that Mentor personally educated Telemachus for years. Homer does not say so. The stronger guiding role belongs to Athena in Mentor’s form.

Mentor’s Importance Comes From Trust

Mentor is not famous for battles or adventures. He matters because Odysseus trusted him with his house (Odyssey 2.225–227) and because Athena chose his form.

Unraveling Mentor: The Trusted Name Behind Telemachus’ Growth

Mentor is a small figure in the Odyssey, but his name carries a large meaning. He is one of the old friends who stay loyal to Odysseus on Ithaca, and his form is the one Athena takes to lead Telemachus from Ithaca to Pylos, to stand beside Odysseus in the hall, and to make peace at the end of the poem. Odysseus trusted Mentor with his household; Athena used Mentor’s shape to guide that household’s son. That is why a minor Ithacan gave his name to every later mentor.

Mentor Sources

Homer, Odyssey 1.105, 1.180–188, 1.272–296 (Athena as Mentes); 2.224–256 (Mentor in the assembly and Leocritus’ reply); 2.267–295, 2.382–421 (Athena as Mentor and as Telemachus); 3.14–28, 3.240, 3.371–379 (Pylos); 4.555–560, 4.649–656 (Noemon); 11.447–449; 17.67–70; 22.205–250 (the hall); 24.442–457, 24.503, 24.545–548. Apollodorus, Library 3.10.9 and Epitome 3.7 (the oath and Odysseus’ feigned madness).

See Also: Odysseus, Telemachus, Athena, Penelope, Halitherses, Nestor, Trojan War