Strabo, Geography

In the general neighborhood of these temples, above the sea, at a distance of thirty stadia or slightly more, is situated the Triphylian Pylus, also called the Lepreatic Pylus, which Homer calls "emathöeis"¹ and transmits to posterity as the fatherland of Nestor, as one might infer from his words, whether it be that the river that flows past Pylus towards the north (now called Mamaüs, or Arcadicus) was called Amathus in earlier times, so that Pylus got its epithet "emathöeis" from "Amathus," or that this river was called Pamisus, the same as two rivers in Messenia, and that the derivation of the epithet of the city is uncertain; for it is false, they say, that either the river or the country about it is "amathodes."² And also the temple of Athene Scilluntia at Scillus, in the neighborhood of Olympia near Phellon,³ is one of the famous temples. Near Pylus, towards the east, is a mountain named after Minthe, who, according to myth, became the concubine of Hades, was trampled under foot by Core, and was transformed into garden-mint, the plant which some call Hedyosmos.⁴ Furthermore, near the mountain is a precinct sacred to Hades, which is revered by the Macistians too,⁵ and also a grove sacred to Demeter, which is situated above the Pylian plain. This plain is fertile; it borders on the sea and stretches along the whole distance between Samicum and the River Neda. But the shore of the sea is narrow and sandy, so that one could not refuse to believe that Pylus got its epithet "emathöeis" therefrom.