Who were the older men in The Odyssey and why were they numerous?

Homer’s Odyssey is an epic poem that chronicles Odysseus’ ten-year struggle to return to Ithaca following the Trojan War. When Odysseus leaves for Troy, as told in the prequel to The Odyssey, The Iliad, Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, is only a month old.  By the time Odysseus does make it home to Ithaca, Telemachus is twenty-years-old, indicating the epic poem spans two decades. Therefore, the abundance of older men, including all of Odysseus’ men and crew, Nestor the King of Pylos and old friend of Odysseus’, and Eumaeus, Odysseus’ old swineherd, is attributed to the time span of the narrative plot.  Odysseus is returning home after being displaced for nearly twenty years, and his previous acquaintances have also aged twenty years.  Further, the presence of so many older men also provides a point of contrast between the young Telemachus as he matures without a father figure, modeling a modern notion of a coming-of-age text.  

A complete list of the old men in the Odyssey is as follows:

Antiphus: an old friend of Odysseus’

Clytius: an attendant of Telemachus who was the father of Telemachus’ friend, Peiraeus

Demodocus: the blind bard of the court of Alcinous

Eumaeus: Odysseus’ swineherd

Eupeithes: Father of Antinous and leader of the suitors

Eurymachus:  Alleged childhood friend of Odysseus and suitor to Penelope

Laertes: Odysseus’ father

Medon: Faithful herald of Odysseus in Ithaca

Melanthius: Odysseus’ disloyal goatherd

Menelaus: Husband of Helen of Troy

Mentes: King of Taphians and old family friend of Odysseus

Mentor: Old aged friend of Odysseus

Perimedes: Odysseus’ companion during the voyage

Philoetius: Odysseus’ loyal cowherd