Telemachus visits the old king Nestor at Pylos in The Odyssey. Nestor is one of the poem's oldest surviving heroes and a former comrade of Odysseus in the Trojan War.
Telemachus finds Nestor presiding over a sacrifice to Poseidon on the Pylian shore. Nestor welcomes him generously, demonstrating the Greek ideal of xenia, or hospitality toward guests. Although Nestor cannot provide definite news about Odysseus, he recounts the Greeks' difficult return from Troy and explains why the survivors became separated.
Nestor then helps Telemachus continue the search by sending his son Peisistratus with him to Sparta. There, Menelaus supplies more useful information about Odysseus's fate. Nestor is not the king of Sparta—that role belongs to Menelaus—and he is not Priam, the elderly king of Troy. His defining Homeric title is the king of Pylos, renowned for age, experience, and lengthy counsel.