Blegen at Pylos
by Velikovsky
Pylos in Messenia, in the western Peloponnese, had a rather brief existence—according to tradition, no more than four kings were its rulers from its founding to its destruction. It was Neleus, the father of Nestor, who built the city, having come from Iolcus when his brother Peleus expelled him, and settled there a mixed population of his own followers.1
Neleus brought great renown to Pylos; but later in his reign, when his sons were still only young men, some unexplained disaster overtook the city, remembered in tradition as the destruction of Pylos by Heracles.2 A large part of the population perished: of Neleus’ twelve sons Nestor only survived; but the people of Pylos rebuilt the city on an even grander scale, including a spatious palace for Nestor, who followed Neleus on the throne. Afterwards the city became involved in bitter warfare with neighboring Elis, and Nestor distinguished himself at the head of the Pylian forces.3 But by the time of the Achaean expedition against Troy Nestor’ s age no longer permitted him to lead his warriors in battle. Homer tells in the Iliad that this king of Pylos had seen two generations of men pass—“those who had grown up with him, and they who were born to these in sacred Pylos, and he was king in the third age.”4 From this we can judge that some four or five decades separated the time of the disaster which overtook Pylos in Nestor’s youth from the siege of Troy. Of those who came to Troy with Agamemnon, Nestor’s was one of the few safe returns; once again he seated himself upon the marble bench in his palace, “scepter in hand, a Warden of the Achaean race.”5 Homer describes the visit of Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, to Nestor at Pylos, ten years after Troy’s fall—the prince from Ithaka found a prosperous city at the head of a peaceful realm, unruffled by any whiff of danger. Yet it is worth noting that Nestor took care to placate Poseidon the “earthshaker” with frequent sacrifices.6 (more…)
