Fighting on the River : The Alpheus and the ‘Pylian Epic’

In the Iliad the old Pylian king Nestor talks in several occasions about his past glorious accomplishments (cattle raids, battles, athletic competitions). Scholars think that these passages are what remains of the ‘Pylian Epic’, i.e. of the epic songs which in Mycenaean age celebrated the glory of the lords of Pylos. This paper discusses these narrations, focusing on the presence of a river which is an important element of the scenery: the river is the line of contact between the armies or the boundary beyond which the stolen herd must be pushed, the plain of the river is the setting of the horce-race. We can therefore argue that in the songs performed in the Palace of Pylos the river was often the background of the action. When the Pylians moved to Kakovatos of Triphylia, they had to adapt their traditional stories to the new geographical context. The Alphaios, the river which marks the border between Triphylia and Elis, became the new setting of the Pylian exploits. This is the reason why the Alphaios is so often referred to in Nestor’s speeches in the Iliad and in the archaic texts which reflect the poetic traditions of the ‘Pylian Epic’.