Cattle-Raid Myths in Western Peloponnese

Several episodes in Greek myth connect Messenia with cattle-raid. Pylos in particular (although its location shifts between Messenia and Elis), seems to be extremely relevant for cattle-raid myths. Scholars have investigated the importance of cattle-raid in Indo-European societies, in which it has an economic function and often plays an important role in the initiation of young warriors. This phenomenon is very common in the archaic Greek world, too, but the fertile plains of Western Peloponnese seem to offer the best location for this sort of myths. This paper aims at collecting the myths of cattle-raid located in Western Peloponnese and analyzing the economic and cultural reasons which may explain such a concentration.