Pelasgians

The name Pelasgians (, ) was used by Classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergence of the Greeks. In general, "Pelasgian" has come to mean more broadly all the indigenous inhabitants of the Aegean Sea region and their cultures, and British historian Peter Green comments on it as "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably indigenous people in the Greek world".

archaeological culture

earliest inhabitants of central Italy in Roman mythology

acropolis and castle of Argos

In Greek mythology, Pelasgus () was the eponymous ancestor of the Pelasgians, the mythical inhabitants of Greece who established the worship of the Dodonaean Zeus, Hephaestus, the Cabeiri, and other divinities. In the different parts of the country once occupied by Pelasgians, there existed different traditions as to the origin and connection of Pelasgus. Some ancient Greeks believed that he was the first man.

thumb|240px|The ancient theater in Hephaistia

right|thumb|200px|Kynouria province Cynuria (, Kynouria or , Kynouriake) is an ancient district on the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, between the Argolis and Laconia, so called from the Cynurians, one of the most ancient tribes in the peninsula. It was believed to have taken its name from the mythical Cynurus.

thumb|Pelasgiotis in the centre of Thessaly Pelasgiotis () was an elongated district of ancient Thessaly, extending from the Vale of Tempe in the north to the city of Pherae in the south. The Pelasgiotis included the following localities: Argos Pelasgikon, Argyra, Armenium, Atrax, Crannon, Cynoscephalae, Elateia, Gyrton, Mopsion, Larissa, Kondaia, Onchestos river and town, Phayttos, Pherae, Scotussa, and Sykourion. The demonym of the district's inhabitants is Pelasgiotae or Pelasgiotes (Πελασγιῶται, Pelasgiōtai).

compendium of ancient Greek mythology by Robert Graves

In Greek mythology, Pylaeus (Ancient Greek: Πύλαιος), son of Lethus, son of Teutamides, descendant of Pelasgus. He was one of the allies to King Priam in the Trojan War; he commanded the Pelasgian contingent together with his brother Hippothous. Pylaeus is hardly ever mentioned separately from his brother; they are said to have fallen in battle together by Dictys Cretensis and to have been buried "in a garden" according to the late Latin poet Ausonius.

Ancient Roman altar in the Roman Forum

ancient wall in the Acropolis of Athens

In Greek mythology, Hippothous () is the name of seven men:

thumb|313x313px|Peleset Warrior from the Medinet Habu|Medinet Habu temple The Peleset () or Pulasati (in older literature) are a people appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in ancient Egyptian from the Eastern Mediterranean in the late 2nd millennium BCE. They are hypothesised to have been one of the several ethnic groups of which the invading Sea Peoples were said to be composed. Today, historians generally identify the Peleset with the Philistines.

ancient city of Troas in modern-day Turkey

former municipality of Greece