Mentor in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Mentor

6 passages from 1 ancient author that tell of Mentor, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Mentor was the son of Alcimus in Greek mythology, who appeared in the Homeric epic The Odyssey. In old age, he was a close friend of Odysseus, who pla... For the story in one place, read our article on Mentor.

Homer (6)

Homer, Odyssey 24.412–548The kinsmen of the suitors; peace restoredRumour carries the news of the slaughter through the city, and the kinsmen of the suitors take up their bodies and gather in the market-place, where Eupeithes, the father of Antinous, calls for revenge. Odysseus and his men arm and go out to meet them. Laertes kills Eupeithes with a spear, and Athena, in the likeness of Mentor, calls off the fighting, and a covenant is made between the two sides.
Homer, Odyssey 22.205–309The slaying of the suitors: Athena as MentorAthena comes to the hall in the likeness of Mentor, and Odysseus calls for his aid, but she rebukes him for lacking his old courage. She flies up to a beam in the roof as a swallow, and the suitors take courage and throw their spears, but Athena turns them aside. Odysseus and his three companions throw in reply and kill four men, and then Athena shakes her aegis and the suitors flee like cattle stung by gadflies.
Homer, Odyssey 2.239–381Mentor's rebuke; Telemachus prepares to sailMentor rebukes the people of Ithaca for sitting by in silence, and Leocritus answers that even Odysseus could not drive so many men from the hall. The assembly breaks up. Telemachus prays by the shore, and Athena in the likeness of Mentor encourages him to make ready, while the suitors mock him in the hall. He has the nurse Eurycleia fill jars with wine and bags with barley, and she swears to tell no one.
Homer, Odyssey 4.625–714The suitors plot an ambushIn Ithaca the suitors, playing at their games, learn from Noemon that Telemachus has gone to Pylos, and Antinous resolves to lie in wait for him with a ship in the strait between Ithaca and Samos. The herald Medon hears the plot and tells Penelope, who asks him why her son has gone.
Homer, Odyssey 2.146–238The omen of the eaglesZeus sends two eagles that fight in the air above the assembly and fly away. The seer Halitherses reads the sign as meaning that Odysseus will soon return and bring death to the suitors, but Eurymachus scorns him. Telemachus asks for a ship and twenty men to go in search of his father, and Mentor begins to speak.
Homer, Odyssey 2.382–434Athena makes ready the shipAthena, in the likeness of Telemachus, goes through the city gathering a crew, and borrows a swift ship from Noemon. She sheds sleep on the suitors, and then, as Mentor, calls Telemachus out to the ship. They stow the stores and set sail with a fair west wind, with Athena sitting at the stern.