In Homeric Greece, the islands of Taphos (Τάφος) lay in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Acarnania in northwestern Greece, home of seagoing and piratical inhabitants, the Taphians (Τάφιοι). Penelope mentions the Taphian sea-robbers when she rebukes the chief of her suitors. Athena is disguised as Mentes, "lord of the Taphian men who love their oars", who accepts the hospitality of Telemachus and speeds him on his journey from Ithaca to Pylos. Although the Taphians dealt in slaves, their piratical activities weren't always seen as inmoral. In the heroic age, piracy (leisteia) was a legitimate means of acquiring resources. Beyond slaves, the Taphians played a crucial role in the trade of metals, and in the context of the transition from Bronze to Iron, control over the distribution of iron—the new strategic metal for weapons and tools—granted the Taphians disproportionate power relative to their limited territorial base.