Twin of Pelias, born to Tyro when Poseidon came to her in the likeness of the river Enipeus; the brothers grew to be strong servants of Zeus.1
In the underworld catalogue Tyro tells how she loved the river Enipeus, fairest of streams, and how Poseidon took the river's likeness and lay with her; she bore Pelias and Neleus, who both became strong servants of great Zeus. Pelias, rich in flocks, dwelt in spacious Iolcus, and the other dwelt in sandy Pylos.2
Apollodorus makes the birth harsher: Tyro exposed the twins, who were reared by a horse-herd, and Neleus was driven out after the strife of the house. He came to Messene, founded Pylos, and married Chloris, daughter of Amphion, by whom he had many sons — among them Nestor and the shape-shifting Periclymenus — and a daughter, Pero. When Heracles later sacked Pylos he killed Neleus and all his sons but Nestor alone.3
To Homer he is remembered above all as the father of Nestor, the old horseman of the Iliad, and his stronghold is Neleian Pylos.4
Pausanias preserves the divided paternity of Tyro's sons and a local Messenian frame: Neleus, son of Cretheus son of Aeolus — though also called a son of Poseidon — was driven from Iolcos by Pelias, received by Aphareus, and given the seaward part of Messenia, where he settled Pylos.5
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