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The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Mycenaean Greece
Presenting archaeological objects from the rich tombs of warrior-princes and the best-preserved Bronze Age palace on the Greek mainland, this volume features the latest discoveries from the dynamic world of Mycenaean Messenia.
Ancient Pylos has long captivated travelers, archaeologists, and historians familiar with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and his account of King Nestor, the prudent elder counselor in the Trojan War. Excavations begun in 1939 unearthed the storied Palace of Nestor in Messenia, an epicenter of Mycenaean civilization.
The Kingdom of Pylos features spectacular arts and crafts, many recently excavated at sites across Messenia, including goldwork of unparalleled artistry, masterfully carved sealstones, weapons, and wall paintings. Essays by international scholars examine the latest discoveries, including the Linear B tablets—the earliest written form of the Greek language—which document the political, religious, and economic organization of the prosperous Pylian realm. New research and cutting-edge science cast light on the 2015 find of the grave of the Griffin Warrior, an extraordinary, intact burial that held thousands of artifacts, including the celebrated Pylos Combat Agate, perhaps the finest work of art from the prehistoric Aegean. With over 300 illustrations, this is the first major publication in English to reconstruct the society of Pylos and settlements in its orbit during the Late Bronze Age (1700–1070 BCE).
This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the Archaeological Museum of Messenia in Kalamata from February 15 to April 27, 2025, the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa from June 25, 2025, to January 12, 2026, and the Hellenic National Archaeological Museum in Athens from March 1 to June 30, 2026.
Ancient Pylos has long captivated travelers, archaeologists, and historians familiar with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and his account of King Nestor, the prudent elder counselor in the Trojan War. Excavations begun in 1939 unearthed the storied Palace of Nestor in Messenia, an epicenter of Mycenaean civilization.
The Kingdom of Pylos features spectacular arts and crafts, many recently excavated at sites across Messenia, including goldwork of unparalleled artistry, masterfully carved sealstones, weapons, and wall paintings. Essays by international scholars examine the latest discoveries, including the Linear B tablets—the earliest written form of the Greek language—which document the political, religious, and economic organization of the prosperous Pylian realm. New research and cutting-edge science cast light on the 2015 find of the grave of the Griffin Warrior, an extraordinary, intact burial that held thousands of artifacts, including the celebrated Pylos Combat Agate, perhaps the finest work of art from the prehistoric Aegean. With over 300 illustrations, this is the first major publication in English to reconstruct the society of Pylos and settlements in its orbit during the Late Bronze Age (1700–1070 BCE).
This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the Archaeological Museum of Messenia in Kalamata from February 15 to April 27, 2025, the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa from June 25, 2025, to January 12, 2026, and the Hellenic National Archaeological Museum in Athens from March 1 to June 30, 2026.
- GenresHistory
336 pages, Hardcover
Published July 22, 2025
11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 25, 2025
Two hundred years ago, we did not know much about the “Achaeans” of Homeric lore; in fact, a good number of people at that time thought the stories were almost entirely mythological. But some of the most fantastic archaeological finds of the past two hundred years have involved Bronze Age, or Mycenaean, Greece. And ancient Messenia, and Pylos in particular, have proved rich in such remains.
For the first time in its history, The Getty Villa has put on an exhibition regarding prehistoric Greece, and they began with The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Mycenaean Greece. The Getty has published a companion book of the same name (or as Princes of Pylos: Treasures From Bronze Age Greece).
The book represents a compilation of essays from all kinds of experts and specialists in Mycenaean Greece. It begins with the context of Messenia in Bronze Age Greece; its contacts with Crete, other parts of Greece, and the wider Mediterranean world, and a historical overview based on current understanding. From then on it parallels the various parts of the exhibit, with each piece of the exhibit well photographed, and for sealstones and the like, an artist’s drawing of its impression: Mycenaean civilization in Pylos, goldwork, and objects for the dead; the discovery and substance of the Tomb of the Griffin Warrior; the Palace of Nestor at Pylos, its discovery, nature, Linear B tablets discovered within it, its paintings, perfumery, and Nestor in myth and history; and an exploration of Bronze Age Messenia overall and its relationship with Pylos, with descriptions of many other archaeological sites in Messenia and many of the discoveries found therein.
I found the book immensely helpful to help update me in regards to all which has been discovered and learned about Mycenaean Greece, particularly Pylos. The re-dating of the Thera eruption to around 1525 BCE was news to me, as was the very strong connections between Cretan craftsman and Pylos. The imagery of the Griffin Warrior might be construed to suggest Pylian dominance over Crete. The discovery of the development of Mycenaean palatial civilization only after 1700 BCE, quite likely as an “import” from Crete somehow or another, was enlightening, as well as how it seems, in Messenia at least, there were many centers of power until the middle of the fourteenth century BCE, when Pylos started to dominate over the whole area until its violent end around 1180 BCE. Afterward Pylos would never rise again; its specific location was entirely forgotten and only rediscovered by Carl Blegen in 1939. Stones from the lining of the Tomb of the Griffin Warrior remained above ground and were only explored in 2015.
The descendants of those “Achaeans” (which is what the Mycenaeans seemed to call themselves) would be haunted by the systems collapse of their civilization, and, as a result of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Greek heritage of our civilization, so are we.
If you can make it to the exhibit, I highly recommend it. Even if you can’t, the book provides great explanation and detail of what is presented.
For the first time in its history, The Getty Villa has put on an exhibition regarding prehistoric Greece, and they began with The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Mycenaean Greece. The Getty has published a companion book of the same name (or as Princes of Pylos: Treasures From Bronze Age Greece).
The book represents a compilation of essays from all kinds of experts and specialists in Mycenaean Greece. It begins with the context of Messenia in Bronze Age Greece; its contacts with Crete, other parts of Greece, and the wider Mediterranean world, and a historical overview based on current understanding. From then on it parallels the various parts of the exhibit, with each piece of the exhibit well photographed, and for sealstones and the like, an artist’s drawing of its impression: Mycenaean civilization in Pylos, goldwork, and objects for the dead; the discovery and substance of the Tomb of the Griffin Warrior; the Palace of Nestor at Pylos, its discovery, nature, Linear B tablets discovered within it, its paintings, perfumery, and Nestor in myth and history; and an exploration of Bronze Age Messenia overall and its relationship with Pylos, with descriptions of many other archaeological sites in Messenia and many of the discoveries found therein.
I found the book immensely helpful to help update me in regards to all which has been discovered and learned about Mycenaean Greece, particularly Pylos. The re-dating of the Thera eruption to around 1525 BCE was news to me, as was the very strong connections between Cretan craftsman and Pylos. The imagery of the Griffin Warrior might be construed to suggest Pylian dominance over Crete. The discovery of the development of Mycenaean palatial civilization only after 1700 BCE, quite likely as an “import” from Crete somehow or another, was enlightening, as well as how it seems, in Messenia at least, there were many centers of power until the middle of the fourteenth century BCE, when Pylos started to dominate over the whole area until its violent end around 1180 BCE. Afterward Pylos would never rise again; its specific location was entirely forgotten and only rediscovered by Carl Blegen in 1939. Stones from the lining of the Tomb of the Griffin Warrior remained above ground and were only explored in 2015.
The descendants of those “Achaeans” (which is what the Mycenaeans seemed to call themselves) would be haunted by the systems collapse of their civilization, and, as a result of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Greek heritage of our civilization, so are we.
If you can make it to the exhibit, I highly recommend it. Even if you can’t, the book provides great explanation and detail of what is presented.
Displaying 1 of 1 review