Pyrgus (Triphylia)

{{Short description|Town of Triphylia in ancient Elis}}

{{coord|37.411551|N|21.691539|E|format=dms|display=title|source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/43565.html}}

Pyrgus or Pyrgos ({{langx|grc|Πύργος}}){{Cite Polybius|4.77, 80.}} or Pyrgi or Pyrgoi ({{lang|grc|Πύργοι}}){{Cite Strabo|8.3.22}}{{Cite Stephanus|s.v.}} was the most southerly town of Triphylia in ancient Elis, at the mouth of the river Neda, upon the Messenian frontier, and hence described by Stephanus of Byzantium as a Messenian town. It is one of the six cities (along with Lepreum, Phrixae, Macistus, Epium, and Nudium) founded by the Minyans in the territory of the {{ill|Paroreatae|hu}} and Caucones.{{Cite Herodotus|4.148}} Herodotus comments that, in his time, most of the cities founded by the Minyans were ravaged by the Eleans. It is supposed that this happened around 460 BCE, after the Third Messenian War.{{cite book|title= Heródoto, Historia|page=459, and complementary note|author= Balasch, Manuel |place=Madrid|publisher = Cátedra |year=2006|isbn= 84-376-1711-1|language=Spanish}} Polybius reports that it was among the towns of Triphylia that decided to ally with Philip V of Macedon in the Social War (219 BCE), after he took Samicum.

Its site is located at Agios Elias near modern Pyrgos, Elis,{{Cite Barrington|58}}{{Cite DARE|43565}} although other locations have been proposed.{{cite book|author= Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen |title= An inventory of archaic and classical poleis|year= 2004|publisher= Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn= 0-19-814099-1|chapter= Triphylia|page= 545}}