Geography: Source of the Neda

Κυπαρισσία τέ ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῇ θαλάττῃ τῇ Τριφυλιακῇ καὶ Πύργοι καὶ ὁ Ἀκίδων ποταμὸς καὶ Νέδα. νυνὶ μὲν οὖν τῇ Τριφυλίᾳ πρὸς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν ὅριόν ἐστι τὸ τῆς Νέδας ῥεῦμα λάβρον ἐκ τοῦ Λυκαίου κατιὸν Ἀρκαδικοῦ ὄρους, ἐκ πηγῆς ἣν ἀναρρῆξαι τεκοῦσαν τὸν Δία μυθεύεται Ῥέαν νίπτρων χάριν. ῥεῖ δὲ παρὰ Φιγαλίαν, καθ᾽ ὃ γειτνιῶσι Πυργῖται Τριφυλίων ἔσχατοι Κυπαρισσιεῦσι πρώτοις Μεσσηνίων. τὸ δὲ παλαιὸν ἄλλως διώριστο, ὡς καὶ τινὰς τῶν πέραν τῆς Νέδας ὑπὸ τῷ Νέστορι εἶναι, τόν τε Κυπαρισσήεντα καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ ἐπέκεινα, καθάπερ καὶ τὴν θάλατταν τὴν Πυλίαν ὁ ποιητὴς ἐπεκτείνει μέχρι τῶν ἑπτὰ πόλεων ὧν ὑπέσχετο Ἀγαμέμνων τῷ Ἀχιλλεῖ “ πᾶσαι δ᾽ ἐγγὺς ἁλὸς νέαται Πύλου ἠμαθόεντος.

The stream of the Neda is the boundary between Triphylia and Messenia (an impetuous stream that comes down from Lykaion, an Arkadian mountain, out of a spring, which, according to the myth, Rhea, after she had given birth to Zeus, caused to break forth in order to have water to bathe in); and it flows past Phigalia, opposite the place where the Pyrgetans, last of the Triphylians, border on the Cyparissians, first of the Messenians; but in the early times the division between these two countries was different, so that some of the territories across the Neda were subject to Nestor - not only Cyparisseeis, but also some other parts on the far side.