Homer's King Nestor of "sandy Pylas" passes from legend into history in this first volume of the report of excavations on a hill called Englianos in Messenia, conducted by the Archaeological Expedition of the University of Cincinnati. The palace with its contents and the surrounding lower town indicate that this was an administrative center and the capital of a prosperous Mycenaean kingdom. The name Pylos appears on more than fifty tablets, and there can be no doubt that this was the Messenian abode of the Nestor of Greek tradition. Destroyed by fire at the end of the 13th century B.C., and never reoccupied, the palace has lain for more than 3,000 years in ruins. During the annual campaigns of the Expedition between 1952 and 1964, it emerged as a complex of four separate structures of considerable size. The floors, stumps of wall bearing plaster with painted decorations, doorways, and other evidence helped to identify gateways, courts, porticoes, vestibules, corridors, a great throne room, storerooms, a wine magazine, pantries filled with pottery, a bathroom, stairways, and a repair shop. Except for the tablets, seals, and frescoes, which will be described in other volumes, all the finds are recorded and illustrated with plans, drawings, and photographs. Originally published in 1966. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Homer's King Nestor of "sandy Pylas" passes from legend into history in this first volume of the report of excavations on a hill called Englianos in Messenia, conducted by the Archaeological Expedition of the University of Cincinnati. The palace with its contents and the surrounding lower town indicate that this was an administrative center and the capital of a prosperous Mycenaean kingdom. The name Pylos appears on more than fifty tablets, and there can be no doubt that this was the Messenian abode of the Nestor of Greek tradition. Destroyed by fire at the end of the 13th century B.C., and never reoccupied, the palace has lain for more than 3,000 years in ruins. During the annual campaigns of the Expedition between 1952 and 1964, it emerged as a complex of four separate structures of considerable size. The floors, stumps of wall bearing plaster with painted decorations, doorways, and other evidence helped to identify gateways, courts, porticoes, vestibules, corridors, a great throne room, storerooms, a wine magazine, pantries filled with pottery, a bathroom, stairways, and a repair shop. Except for the tablets, seals, and frescoes, which will be described in other volumes, all the finds are recorded and illustrated with plans, drawings, and photographs. Originally published in 1966. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In spring 1939, as the prospect of war loomed, a joint Greek-American archaeological expedition began excavation on the hill of Epano Englianos, high above the modern town of Pylos in southwest Greece. Almost immediately more than 600 tablets bearing inscriptions in Linear B script were uncovered, as well as stone walls, fragments of frescoes, and stucco floors. The discoveries were kept secret during the war years and it was only in 1952 that the project could return to uncover, over 15 seasons, the Mycenaean building now know as the Palace of Nestor. This beautifully illustrated colour guide surveys the buildings and objects discovered and reconstructs life in the citadel and its associated tombs. It also describes the surrounding landscape, using evidence uncovered by the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project which surveyed the wider area around the palace between 1992 and 1995.