(Thucydides iv. 31)
Classical Pylos
The site of classical Pylos was probably on the rocky promontory now known as Koryphasion at the northern edge of the bay of Pylos. This site is described by the Greek historian Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War. In 425 BC the Athenian politician Cleon sent an expedition to Pylos, to seize and occupy the bay. The Athenians captured a number of Spartan troops on the adjacent island of Sphacteria (see Battle of Sphacteria). Spartan anxiety over the return of the prisoners, who were taken to Athens as hostages, contributed to their acceptance of the Peace of Nicias in 421 BC.
Byzantine Avarino or Navarino
Venetian and Ottoman era
The Venetians built a fort in Old Pylos, Old Navarino castle.
The Ottoman Empire took the fort from the Venetians in 1499, rebuilding it and calling it Anavarin-i atik. In 1573 they built a new castle opposite the southern entrance to the bay, Anavarin-i Cedid or in Greek, Neocastro.
Administratively, Anavarino was a kaza.
In 1668, Evliya Çelebi describes the city in his Seyahatname
Anavarin-i atik is an unequalled castle... the harbor is a safe anchorage...
in most streets of Anavarin-i cedid there are many fountains of running water... The city is embellished with trees and vines so that the sun does not beat into the fine marketplace at all, and all the city notables sit here, playing backgammon, chess, various kinds of draughts, and other board games....
In 1686, the Venetians under Francesco Morosini retook both castles and the rest of the Morea, but were finally defeated by the Turks in 1715. The Ottomans rebuilt the Neocastro fortress (which had been heavily damaged) immediately thereafter. In 1770 there was another round of repairs following a brief occupation of the fortress by the Russians.
During the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, a general massacre of local
