Damastor

Damastor is a figure known only through his son Agelaus, one of the more prominent suitors of Penelope in Ithaca. The poem never brings Damastor himself onto the stage, but his name serves to anchor Agelaus within the island's noble class, marking him as a man of sufficient birth to be a serious contender for the queen's hand and a leader among the hundred and eight men who have overrun Odysseus's house.

Identity and Lineage

Damastor is identified solely as the father of Agelaus, who is repeatedly called "Agelaus son of Damastor" when he speaks in the assembly of suitors or takes part in the fighting. The patronymic is the only information the poem supplies about Damastor himself; he has no epithet, no known deeds, and no presence in the narrative beyond this genealogical function. His son, however, is one of the few suitors whom the poem distinguishes by name from the anonymous crowd, and Damastor's name is thus preserved as part of the social texture of Ithaca's leading families.

Agelaus's Role Among the Suitors

Agelaus son of Damastor emerges as a spokesman for the suitors at several critical junctures. When the suitors are debating whether to murder Telemachus on his return from Pylos, it is Agelaus who first tries to calm the assembly, urging the others not to take offence at Telemachus's bold words and advising that the young man be allowed to manage his own household. He later addresses Telemachus directly, arguing that since Odysseus is clearly never coming home, Telemachus should persuade his mother to marry the suitor who offers the most advantageous match, so that Telemachus can enjoy his inheritance in peace. This speech is the closest any suitor comes to offering a reasonable, if self-serving, resolution to the crisis.

The Final Battle and Death

When Odysseus reveals himself and begins the slaughter of the suitors, Agelaus son of Damastor becomes one of the leaders of the desperate resistance. After Antinous and Eurymachus fall, Agelaus rallies the remaining suitors, calling on them to fight rather than be shot down one by one. He is the first to notice that the goddess Athena, disguised as Mentor, has appeared to support Odysseus, and he threatens her openly, warning that she will be killed along with Odysseus and Telemachus and that her property will be seized. This act of defiance provokes Athena's anger and she urges Odysseus on. In the final exchange of spears, Odysseus himself strikes Agelaus down in close combat, killing him as he leads the last stand of the suitors.

Narrative Significance

Damastor's sole function in the poem is to provide his son with a patronymic and a place in Ithaca's social order. Agelaus's trajectory—from a voice of relative moderation to a defiant leader in the final battle—gives the house of Damastor a small but coherent arc within the larger pattern of the suitors' collective guilt and punishment. The name Damastor, never attached to any action of his own, survives only because his son's death is recorded with the full formula of his lineage, a marker of the poem's care in naming even those who appear only through their children.