Origins of Youth Mentoring

A few years ago, the Peer Resources Network in Canada circulated the following information on the origin of the word ‘Mentor’, which makes for interesting reading.

Here are four stories presented as the true origin of the term mentor or mentoring:

1. In Homer’s Odyssey, Mentor is a trusted friend to whom Ulysses leaves the care of his household when he departs for the Trojan War (a ten-year battle). The goddess Athena assumes the form of Mentor and cares for Ulysses son, Telemachus, until the war’s conclusion. Some variations of this story state that she actually accompanies Telemachus on his journey to search for his father at the end of the war. Some variations describe Mentor as a man.

2. In 1698 Francis Fenelon was appointed by King Louis XIV as a tutor to the king’s grandson, the Duke of Burgundy. He provided instruction to his pupil through his didactic epic, Le Adventures de Telemaque (1699), the most popular book written in the 18th century. Fenelon uses the term “sage counselor” to describe his main character, the goddess Minerva who appears as Mentor. The book is clearly an imitation of Homer’s The Odyssey, and the lessons expounded in the book by Mentor are both more educational than Homer’s Mentor and directed towards guiding his pupil in how to become a peaceful and wise monarch. The political views that Fenelon put in the mouth of Mentor, however, offended the king’s position on these same issues. As a result Fenelon was forced to leave the employment of the king for less challenging activities.

