This section is from "The American Cyclopaedia", by George Ripley And Charles A. Dana. Also available from Amazon: The New American Cyclopædia. 16 volumes complete..
Nestor, a legendary Grecian hero, son of Neleus and Chloris, and king of Messenian or of Triphylian Pylos. Previous to going to Troy he had taken part in wars with the Arcadians and Eleans, and in the conflict of the Lapithae with the Centaurs; and he is also enumerated among the Calydonian hunters and the Argonauts. He went to Troy with 60 ships, at a great age, having ruled three generations of men, and during the siege figured as soldier, councillor, and orator; his superior wisdom was appealed to in all dissensions anong; the Grecian commanders. In the famous quarrel between Agamemnon and A chil-les, he effected their reconciliation. He returned home in safety after the fall of Troy.
Nestor, the earliest Russian chronicler, born about 1050, died about 1114. In the 17th year of his age he entered the Petcherskoi convent of Kiev, where he wrote his annals of Russia, commencing with the first appearance of the Varangians in that country about the middle, of the. 9th century, and bringing the history down to his own times, various events of which ho described from personal observa-tion. He wrote in the old Slavic church dialect; and both as regards the language and the contents the original work has been considerably altered by the modifications and interpolations of various continuators, so that the real merits of Nestor can hardly be ascertained.
The best edition of the text is that by Byk-koff, chief librarian of the imperial library (St. Petersburg, 1873). The principal translation and critical illustration of the text are by Schlozer, Nestors Russische Annalen, etc. (5 vols., Göttingen, 1802-,9).
 
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