Nestor
Νέστωρ
(Νέστωρ).
1. Of Laranda in Lycia according to Suidas, in Lycaonia according to Strabo and Stephanus Byzantinus. He lived in the reign of the emperor Severus, between A. D. 194 and 211.
Works
He is mentioned by Suidas (s. v.) as an epic poet. We infer from Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Υ̓στάσπαι) that he wrote a poem called Ἀλεξανδρείας, "On the deeds of Alexander," to which Suidas probably refers. Suidas also mentions that he was the father of the poet Peisander. Tryphiodorus, as we learn from Eustathius in the prooemium to the Odyssey, wrote an Odyssey λειπογράμματον, wanting the letter ς throughout. Similarly, Nestor, we learn from Suidas, wrote the Iliad, omitting in each book the letter indicating its number, as in the first book, the letter a, in the second, the letter β, and so on with the rest. He wrote also a poem entitled Μεταμορφώσεις. Four fragments of his writings are inserted in the Anthologia Graeca (vol. iii. p. 54, ed. Jacobs). The fourth of these epigrams has point, and rebukes men for attempting poetry who are unskilled in the art. The last line has passed into the proverb of Erasmus, Equitandi peritus ne canas.
Further Information
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. pp. 134, 517, iii. p. 46, iv. p. 483; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. iii. p. 54, vol. xiii. p. 921; Suid. Steph. ll. cc.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.