Pylos is a natural harbor on the southwestern coast of the Peloponnese. Homer's Odyssey mentions "sandy Pylos" as the home of King Nestor. The wise king welcomes Telemachus to Pylos, who is searching for his father ten years after the Trojan War.

Centuries later, modern Greece would gain its independence from the Turks in 1827, with the naval battle of Navarino. This book takes us on a journey through the history of Pylia in Messinia from the Paleolithic era to the present day.

The book is directed at the general public and visitors interested in ancient Greece. However, it also targets specialists, as it presents the results of interdisciplinary research by archaeologists, natural scientists, and historians who have jointly studied the history of the wider area and not just a single archaeological site, the entirety of the historical past and not just a specific time period.

This approach is based on understanding the specific region through time from the perspective of many scientific fields and represents the modern view in archaeological research. It clearly demonstrates that the combination of history and archaeological research can offer us a much richer perspective on the historical past.