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The history of Pylos/
Messinia
In the area of Pylos during Neolithic (6.000 - 3.000
bc) the level of the sea was 100 meters above the
current sea level. In 3710 B.C. there was a rise of
17 meters, in 3360 BC there was one of 8 meters, 4
meters in 810 BC and 2 meters in 160 BC .
Messineans are Eolis from Thessalia and reached
current Meessinia in 3300-3100 BC. They decided to
settle there. That was the time when Polikaon, his
wife Messini and his grandson Pilas reached the area
too.
The west Messinia was flourishing: the golden palace
of Pylos was built and many professions such as
potter makers were on the rise. At the same time
dwellers who had knowledge of astronomy, maths,
geography, shipping and trade traveled to Crete,
Cyprus, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Sicily and to the whole
west Mediterranean.
The prosperous west Messinia had to face only one
problem: their nearby enemies (Dories).
Pylas was the founder of Pylos which reached its
peak during Nileas' era. Homer described Pylos as
Nileas' town. The famous king Nestor was the son of
Nileas and he reigned for three generations.
Pausanias the famous historian reported that Pylos
was located on the hill of Korifasio north of near
the gulf of Voidokilia. The locals believe that
Nestor's home and grave was located there and that
Nestor used the small cave in Voidokilia to protect
his cows. His son's grave was found a few metres
away. Nestor's palace was found 6 kilometers
northwest of Korifasio. The kingdom of Nestor was
huge as the ruins and the description of Homer
ascertain. Another important information is that
this kingdom was so prosperous and wealthy that
was in a constant competition with the most powerful
kingdoms in Greece that time: Mycenaes. The king of
Mycenaes Agamemnon who was the leader of the
national campaign sent one hundred ships to Troy
whereas Nestor sent ninety.
In Oddysey, Homer describes Nestor as a wise and
virtuous old man that all paid their respects to.
Specifically, in Oddysey Tilemachos, the only child
of Oddyseas, reached Pylos in order to ask Nestor
whether he was aware of any information concerning
his beloved missing father. Nestor could not provide
this kind of information to Telemachus. Yet, he
embraced the son of his dear companion offering him
his warmest hospitality.
The Mycenaean palace of Pylos was completely
destroyed by a destructive fire (in the end of the
13th century or at the beginning of 12th).
The wooden construction of the building accelerated
this massive destruction. The inevitable result was
the abandonment of the once magnificent palace. Yet,
what was the reason of this fire? We assume that the
revolutions that took place in many towns in Greece
were the main cause of the destruction of various
famous ancient palaces led to social revolutions
Nonetheless, the era of Pylos continued to develop
itself. This is proven by various findings in
Messinia such as the tombs and the fact that a new
settlement is founded this time next to the coast,
in Korifasio above the gulf of Voidokilia
Forceful and powerful earthquakes affected the lives
of the people in Crete and Sicily who abandoned
their homelands in search of a more hopeful future.
After the terrible disasters and the heavy storms
these people immigrated to the North. The ancestors
of Nestor such as Melathros became kings of Athens.
The renowned greek historians Irodotos and
Ploutarxos informed us in detail about the names of
these ancestors: Pisistratos, Alkmaion, Solon and
Diogenis Laertios. At the same time the new places
in which they settled were named after the places
they came from:Kitherion, Eretria and Egaleo in
Athens.
In their homelands the situation got worse: the
number of inhabitants was in a constant decline and
one of the reasons why this was happening was a
serious epidemic smallpox
After the messenian wars (743-454 B.C.), Pylos
became a desolate and empty city.
During the Peloponnesian wars (431 B.C. --- 404
B.C.) the general Demosthenes occupied the empty
city. Their enemies Spartans tried to regain this
quite significant military spot. So their army
attempted a landing to the isle of Sfaktiria.
Athenians asked for reinforcements and the result
was a battle. The Spartan fleet faced the defeat.
Yet, their troops remained to the isle as they were
supplied by their ships during the night.
In 425 B.C. Athenians directed themselves to Sicily
but an enormous tempest forced them to anchor to the
harbor of Pylos. Their leader Demosthenes realised
the significant position of this small town and gave
the order for a wall to be built. This place was a
very significant military base and it was occupied
by Spartans. Yet, Demosthenes remained in Pylos with
five ships, he sent two ships to Athens in order to
ask for more ships while the rest of the ships
continued their journey to Sicily. Spartans were
quite surprised and annoyed by this Athenian act and
sent their army to Pylos. Spartans lost the battle
and Athenians landed in Sfaktiria. The 292 Spartans
who survived defended themselves for 72 days but
then they were compelled to surrender. These
captives were transported to Athens and the
negotiations for their release with the Sparta
started. The captivation of Spartans was a shameful
event for Sparta as it was the first captivation
ever in their territory.
After the defeat of Spartans on Sfaktiria, a
permanent guard was placed in Pylos by the
Athenians. This guard was strengthened by the
Messeaneans. As a result, the fortress of
Demosthenes became a significant and powerful
military base. Athenians were obliged to release the
Spartan captives of Sfaktiria because of the peace
of Nikias in 421 B.C. Nonetheless, they maintained
their base in Pylos.
Spartans achieved to take the fortress under their
control in 409 B.C. The settlement of Pylos was once
more deserted.
After Epminondas' victories against Spartans, the
messenean slaves were released and the town of
Messini was grounded. Pylos was again a vivid town.
Yet, the great potential of the military positions
of Methoni, Koroni and especially Pylos was ignored
as a result of the lack of a charismatic personality
as well as of the long year occupation of Spartans.
Pylos is referred as a free town during Macedonian,
Hellenistic and roman years. Specifically, Pylos was
a member of Achaiki Simpolitia (219 B.C.) and during
Hellenistic years Pylos became an independent town
with its own currency.
After the fall of the Roman empire the traces of
Pylos were lost as remains were not found.
In 589 B.C the place was occupied by Arabs. The name
of the ancient castle of Pylos was Avarino-Navarino
because of the advent of Arabs in the area
The Franks conquerors built a castle in place of the
ancient citadel of Pylos (1287-1308) with a
perimeter of 600 meters. This port was named after
them Port de Jonc because of the existence of
bulrushes on the sandy coast in the pass of Sikia
In 1385, that castle was under the control of the
Spanish association of Navaraion. They named the
castle "The castle of Navaraion". Nowadays it is
called Palaiokastro or Palaio Navarino. In 1414 it
was occupied by the Veneti and in 1500 by Turks .
The battle of Navarino.
The existence of monuments in the central square of
Pylos and on the islets of Sfaktiria and Chelonaki
proves the fact that this battle was of great
significance. One of these magnificent monuments is
on the square of Pylos in honor of the three
admirals: Kordigton from England, Derigni from
France and Hayden from Russia. These admirals
discomfited the Egyptian fleet to this battle. There
are other remarkable monuments as well:
Philhellenist Santarozas' one ,who died fighting as
a volunteer and the Russian monument on Sfaktiria
next to a small church.
The events that caused this
battle:
In July 1827 the three great powers then (England,
France, Russia) signed a treaty according to which
Turks were compelled to cease the war. Yet, Turkey
disobeyed and reinforces were sent to the area of
Navarino. The great powers with their fleet reached
the bay.
Around midday of 20th October Egyptians killed the
men who were sent by the admirals to negotiate. This
act caused the big battle which lasted for four
hours and left Egyptians with great casualties:
6.000 dead soldiers and 4.000 injured. Egyptians
were forced to withdraw whereas Greeks celebrated
this great victory. The bells were ringing and the
inhabitants were running to the squares of their
villages to find out that eventually the Egyptians
were defeat. Their joy was ineffable. This battle
was the beginning of the end for the Egyptian
occupation as the beginning of a bright new and
hopeful period for Greece after 400 years of slavery
which reached its peak with the sign of the treaty
of Konstantinoupolis in 1832. Greece is an
automomous free state.
The golden Olympic champion Kostis Chiklitiras was
from Pylos. His home which is a two floor stately
home, fully renovated, is located on the harbour of
Pylos. His life was short but full of success and
glory. He started his athletic carreer by playing
football in one of the greatest greek teams and
later on he was second in high jump and broad jump
to the Olympic games in London in 1908. The olympic
games of Stockholm gave him a great joy and made the
Greeks back home very proud of their new charismatic
athlete. In these Olympic games he won the gold
medal in broad jump. After that, he decided to take
part to the Balkan wars. Unfortunately, in the
tender age of 24 years old he died from meningitis.
His bright career was over.
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