Nestors Cities

And those who lived in PYLOS and lovely Arenê and Thryos, the ford of the Alpheius, and well-founded Aipu, and those who lived in Kyparisseïs and Amphigeneia and Pteleos and Helos and Dorion.

By now we can safely say modern Pylos isn't Homer's Pylos, which we've concluded must be somewhere between Filiatra and the river Neda. If we can locate the other cities Homer mentions we might be able to use his customary topographical sequence to trace our Pylos. Homer lists them in the 'Catalogue of Ships':

Ilias Book 2 line 596-599 Barry B Powell

The 'ford' of the Alpheios

Okay, let's start at the beginning. We've already found Arene and the next is Thryon, the ford of the Alpheios, can't be difficult either. It must be near the coast and along the same river Alpheios. The ford however isn't a ford any more, it's been turned into farmland, but you can still see where it might have been. The photos were taken from a hill South of the ford, which is called Samiko. It's at the foot of the steep hills. Thryon must be here somewhere, so let's take a look around.

On top of the hill there's a large site, with walls that stretch for 1,500 meters. An information display claims the site was founded in the 5th century BC, but I have my doubts, it could have been Thryon. It's quite likely Thryon and Thryoëssa are cities in the same area, because ~on is the male version and ~essa the female version of the same name Thryo. Possibly Thryon was too dangerous for women and children, so they lived in Thryoëssa.

One of the gates at the site of Samiko

So far we have Pylos between Neda and Filiatra, Arene and Thryon near the ford, next we have Aipu, which hasn't been found yet. We'll skip over that for now, because Kyparissia is well- known. It lies six hours walking from the river Minyeïos and only 10 km from Kalo Nero. However, this sequence seems strange, first up and then down the coast, it's not really the orderly topographical sequence we'd expect, is it?

To be honest, I've been thinking Kyparissia might be a great candidate for our Pylos, weren't it for Kyparissia being mentioned as fourth city in the list. Kyparissia means cypress in Greek, a tall narrow-built tree, very common in Greece and frequently encountered in names. Perhaps there was another Kyparissia in Neleus' kingdom? But first we need to look into something else before we continue exploring the sequence of the cities.

Pylos

Arene

Thryon

Aipu

Kyparisseis

Amphigenia

Pteleos

Helos

Dorion