Contributions to the study of neleid anthroponymy iv: the heroic name nestor as a personal name among the hellenes

Abstract

This paper explores the heroic Greek name Nestor (Νέστωρ) and its distribution as a personal name in the Hellenic world.The name Nestor, as a personal name, is almost equally common in the Ionian areas of the Hellenic World (Attica, the islands in the Cyclades, Ionia in Asia Minor), as it is in the predominantly Doric areas (Peloponnese, the islands of Rhodes and Kos), but also in Epirus, Macedonia and in the Hellenic settlements beyond the mainland Greece. It is indisputable that this distribution of the name must have been influenced by the fact that Nestor was one of the most notable heroes of ancient Hellenic epics with a significant role in the two most important Homeric epics. As in the case of some other Neleid names, the heroic name Nestor could have seemed attractive and desirable for naming male children, in particular from the point of view of Nestor's glorious offspring with whom several aristocratic families from different parts of the Greek world wanted to be identified. Additionally, in the subsequent periods (Hellenistic and Roman), the names taken from the mythological repertoire were very popular among the educated members of the local elites. They perceived Nestor as a model of a wise teacher and counselor. It seems that the name Nestor might have sound to contemporaries primarily as a good name for a wise and educated Hellene. In this way, the reasons for giving the name Nestor to newborn Hellenic children gradually moved from the sphere of politics to the sphere of culture, as had been the case with some other heroic names, but also with some which were not associated with heroes.The anthroponym Nestor at the time often occurred in combination with other heroic names.