Pílos

Pílos (also Pylos), town in western Greece, in Pelopónnisos Region, at the southern entrance to Pilos (Navarino) Bay near Kalamai. The main industries are fishing and stock breeding. Pilos has one of the finest harbours in Greece.

Excavations near the north shore of the bay have yielded the remains of a 13th-century bc palace said to have belonged to Nestor, legendary king of Messenia. Ancient Pilos began to decline when Messenia was conquered by Sparta in the 8th century bc. Pilos Bay was the site of an Athenian victory over Sparta in 425 bc. In the Middle Ages ancient Pilos was called Palaeo Navarino; the present city developed on the south shore of the bay and was called Navarino. It was held by Turkey almost continuously from 1498 until 1827, when a Turkish-Egyptian fleet was defeated by a combined British, French, and Russian fleet in the Battle of Navarino. The town was renamed Pilos in the late 19th century. Population 2,473 (1991).