Mentor (mythology)
Mentor ( Greek Μέντωρ ) is a figure from Greek mythology .
In Homer's Odyssey he is the son of Alcimus from Ithaca . When Odysseus embarks on the Trojan War , he hands over his son Telemachus and his household to Mentor, his friend and peer. During the absence of Odysseus, Mentor brings up the goings-on of the suitors in the popular assembly. The goddess Athena slips into the figure of Mentor again and again when she wants to support her protégé Odysseus or his son with words and deeds. So she accompanies Telemachus in the form of the mentor to Nestor in Pylos , when he is researching his father's whereabouts. Odysseus himself encourages her and shakes his honor because he hesitates before the fight with Penelope's suitors. In the resulting conflict with the residents of Ithaka, she acts as a mentor to mediate peace.
Basis for a general term
The term mentor for an older, intelligent and benevolent advisor to a young person is derived from the role of the mentor for Telemachos in the Homeric epic .
literature
- Otto Höfer : Mentor 1 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.2, Leipzig 1897, Col. 2801 ( digitized version ).