(anc. geog.), a town of Elis; its ruins to be seen on the road from Olympia to Elis, (Pausanias); situate between the mouths of the Peneus and Selles, near mount Scollis, (Strabo.) Built by Pylas of Megara, and destroyed by Hercules, (Pausanias.)—Another Pylus in Triphyllia, (Strabo); by which the Alpheus runs, (Pausanias;) on the confines of Arcadia, and not in Arcadia itself, (id.)—A third in Messenia, (Strabo, Ptolemy); situate at the foot of mount Ægaëus, on the sea-coast, over-against the island Sphacteria or Sphacteria; built by Pylas, and settled by a colony of Leleges from Megara; but thence expelled by Neleus and the Pelasgi, and therefore called Nelea, (Homer). A sandy territory. The royal residence of Neleus, and of Nestor his son: the more ancient and more excellent Pylus; whence the proverb, Pylus ante Pylum, (Arístophanes, Plutarch), used when we want to repress the arrogance and pride of any one: said to be afterwards called Coryphaeum. It made a figure in the Peloponnesian war; for being rebuilt by the Athenians, it proved of great benefit to them for the space of 15 years, and of much annoyance to the Lacedemonians, (Thucydides.) All the three Pyli were subject to Nestor, (Strabo.)