Pylos also known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit, it was the capital of the former Pylia Province. It is the main harbour on the Bay of Navarino. Nearby villages include Gialova, Elaiofyto and Palaionero; the town of Pylos has 2,767 inhabitants, the municipal unit of Pylos 5,287. The municipal unit has an area of 143.911 km2. Pylos has a long history, it was a significant kingdom in Mycenaean Greece, with remains of the so-called "Palace of Nestor" excavated nearby, named after Nestor, the king of Pylos in Homer's Iliad. In Classical times, the site was uninhabited, but became the site of the Battle of Pylos in 425 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. Pylos is scarcely mentioned thereafter until the 13th century, when it became part of the Frankish Principality of Achaea. Known by its French name of Port-de-Jonc or its Italian name Navarino, in the 1280s the Franks built the Old Navarino castle on the site.

Pylos came under the control of the Republic of Venice from 1417 until 1500, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans used Pylos and its bay as a naval base, built the New Navarino fortress there; the area remained under Ottoman control, with the exception of a brief period of renewed Venetian rule in 1685–1715 and a Russian occupation in 1770–71, until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821. Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt recovered it for the Ottomans in 1825, but the defeat of the Turco-Egyptian fleet in the 1827 Battle of Navarino forced Ibrahim to withdraw from the Peloponnese and confirmed Greek independence. Pylos retained its ancient name down to Byzantine times, but appears after the Frankish conquest in the early 13th century under two names: a French one, Port-de-Jonc or Port-de-Junch, with some variants and derivatives: in Italian Porto-Junco, Zunchio or Zonchio, in medieval Catalan Port Jonc, in Latin Iuncum, Zonglon/Zonglos in Greek, etc, it takes that name from the marshes surrounding the place.

A Greek one, Avarinos shortened to Varinos or lengthened to Anavarinos by epenthesis, which became Navarino in Italian and Navarin in French. Its etymology is not certain. A traditional etymology, proposed by the early 15th-century traveller Nompar de Caumont and repeated as late as the works of Karl Hopf, ascribed the name to the Navarrese Company, but this an error as the name was in use long before the Navarrese presence in Greece. In 1830 Fallmereyer proposed that it could originate from a body of Avars who settled there, a view adopted by a few scholars like William Miller; the name of Avarinos/Navarino, although in use before the Frankish period, came into widespread use, eclipsed the French name of Port-de-Jonc and its derivations, only in the 15th century, i.e. after the collapse of the Frankish Principality of Achaea. In the late 14th or early 15th centuries, when it was held by the Navarrese Company, it was known as Château Navarres, called Spanochori by the local Greeks. Under Ottoman rule, the Turkish name was Anavarin.

After the construction of the new Ottoman fortress in 1571/2, it became known as Neokastro among the local Greeks, while the old Frankish castle became known as Palaiokastro. The soil about Navarino is of a red colour, is remarkable for the production of an abundance of squills, which are used in medicine; the rocks, which show themselves in every direction through a scanty but rich soil, are limestone, present a general appearance of unproductiveness round the castle of Navarino. The remains of Navarino, consist of a fort, covering the summit of a hill sloping to the south, but falling in abrupt precipices to the north and east; the town was built on the southern declivity, was surrounded by a wall, allowing for the natural irregularities of the soil, represented a triangle, with the castle at the summit—a form observable in many of the ancient cities of Greece. The Gialova wetland is a regional blessing of nature, it is one of 10 major lagoons in Greece. And has been classified as one of the important bird areas in Europe.

It has been listed as a 1500-acre archaeological site, lying between Gialova and the bay of Voidokilia. Its alternative name of Vivari is Latin, meaning'fishponds'. With a depth, at its deepest point, of no more than four meters, it is the southernmost stopover of birds migrating from the Balkans to Africa, giving shelter to no fewer than 225 bird species, among them heron, lesser kestrel, Audouin's gull, flamingo and imperial eagle, it is Gialova, which plays host to a rare species, nearing extinction throughout Europe, the African chameleon. The observation post of the Greek Ornithological Society allows visitors to find out more and to watch the shallow brackish waters of the lake. Pylos has evidence of continuous human presence dating back to the Neolithic. In Mycenaean times, it was an important centre referred to as Nestor's kingdom of "sandy Pylos" and descri

Dmitri Fyodorovich Polyakov was a Soviet Major General, a ranking GRU officer, a prominent Cold War spy who revealed Soviet secrets to the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency. In the CIA, he was known by code names BOURBON and ROAM, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation knew him as TOPHAT. Born in Soviet Ukraine in 1921, he graduated from Sumy Artillery School in June 1941 and served as an artillery officer during World War II and was decorated for bravery. After the war and his studies at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy and GRU Training Courses, he joined Soviet Military Intelligence, the GRU, his first mission was with the Soviet delegation to the Military Staff Committee of the United Nations in New York from 1951–1956. On his second assignment to New York, United States in 1959–1961, he approached FBI counterintelligence agents to offer his services as an informant, his follow-up overseas assignments included Rangoon and New Delhi, India where he was posted as Soviet Military Attaché.

Some in the CIA feel that Polyakov became a mole because he was disgusted with the corruption of the Soviet Party elite. Victor Cherkashin suggested that he was embittered because Soviet leadership denied him permission to take his ill son, the eldest of three, to a hospital in New York where he could get adequate medical attention; this son died as a result of the illness and soon after, Polyakov began his informant activities. For 25 years, he remained a CIA informant as he rose through the ranks becoming a general. CIA officers speak in superlatives about the kind of information he provided. Sandy Grimes said of him, "Polyakov was our crown jewel... the best source at least to my knowledge that American intelligence has had and I would submit, although I can't be certain, but the best source that any intelligence service has had." James Woolsey said of him, "Polyakov was the jewel in the crown." CIA and FBI officials, including Deputy Director William Sullivan, believed that, at some point, Polyakov was turned by the Soviets and made into a triple agent who deceived the West with misinformation.

Among the important information Polyakov provided: Evidence of the growing rift between the Soviet Union and China. This information played a crucial role in President Richard Nixon's decision to open diplomatic relations with China in 1972. Technical data on Soviet-made antitank missiles. While the US never fought the Soviet Union directly, knowledge of these weapons proved invaluable when Iraq employed them in the Gulf War. Proof of spying done by Frank Bossard for the USSR. Polyakov was arrested by the KGB in 1986, six years after his retirement from the GRU, his contacts at the CIA had no information about. Only it became clear that he was betrayed by both Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames. In 1988, Polyakov was executed. CIA officer Jeanne Vertefeuille said, "He didn’t do this for money, he insisted on staying in place to help us. It was a bad day for us when we lost him."

The Indian Princess. The piece is structured in the style of a Ballad-opera, with songs and choruses, has music underlying dialogue, like a melodrama. Pocahontas persuades her father, King Powhatan, to free Smith and becomes attracted to John Rolfe, breaking off her arranged marriage with a neighboring tribal prince, an action that leads to war, her tribe wins the war. Several comic romances end and Smith predicts a great future for the new country; the play deals with the first European settlers in America. Scholars have debated whether the piece is progressive in its depiction of the natives and have commented that the work reflects an emerging American dramatic and musical sensibility, it served to romanticize the Pocahontas story as an important American myth. The comedy was first performed in 1808 at The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, it has been cited as the first play about American Indians by an American playwright known to be produced on a professional stage, the first play produced in America to be performed in England, although the validity of both statements has been questioned.

Its portrayal of Native Americans has been criticized as racially insensitive, but the piece is credited with inspiring a whole new genre of plays about Pocahontas and Native Americans in general, prevalent throughout the 19th and early 20th Century. The play was subsequently produced throughout the country. Barker was motivated to create a "American" style of drama to counteract what he saw as "mental colonialism" and the American tendency to feel culturally inferior to Europe. For this reason, he looked to native subject matter for the play, as opposed to other American dramatists like John Howard Payne who neglected American subject matter and locations. Although in his preface, Barker cites his primary source of inspiration as John Smith's The Generall Historie of Virginia, he was more influenced by a series of popular books by John Davis, Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America, Captain Smith and Princess Pocahontas, The First Settlers of Virginia which featured a more sexualized and romanticized characterization of Pocahontas.

Much of the known background about the piece comes from a letter Barker wrote to William Dunlop, dated June 10, 1832. In it, he indicates that he had been working on The Indian Princess for a number of years before it was first produced in 1808. In fact in 1805, he wrote a Masque entitled "America" that he intended to serve as a conclusion to the play, in which characters called "America," "Science," and "Liberty" sing and engage in political debate. Barker intended the piece as a play without music, but John Bray, an actor/translator/composer employed by The New Theatre in Philadelphia, convinced him to add a musical score; the published dramatis personæ divides the character list into "Europeans" and "Virginians", listing the men first, by rank, followed by the women and the supernumeraries. At the Powhatan River, Rolfe, Walter, Larry and Alice disembark from a barge as the chorus of soldiers and adventurers sing about the joy of reaching the shore. Larry, Walter and Robin reminisce about love, Robin admits to Larry his lustful feelings about Alice.

Meanwhile, Nima is preparing a bridal gown for Pocahontas in the royal village of Werocomoco, but Pocahontas expresses displeasure about the arrangement her father made for her to marry Miami, a rival Indian prince. Smith is attacked by a party of Indians, including Nantaquas, Pocahontas's brother. Due to his fighting prowess, Nantaquas thinks he is a god, but Smith explains he is only a trained warrior from across the sea; the Indians capture Smith to bring him to their chief. Back at the Powhatan River, Robin is foiled by Walter and Larry; when Walter tells the group about Smith's capture, they depart to go after him. Before they leave, Rolfe tries to convince Percy to move on after his lover, Geraldine was unfaithful; when King Powhatan is presented with the captured Smith, he decides, at the urging of the tribe's priest Grimosco, to execute him. Pocahontas, having been moved by Smith's nobility, says she will not allow Smith to be killed unless she herself dies with him; this persuades Powhatan to free Smith.

Soon and Rolfe encounter Smith and his Indian allies on the way back to the settlement, Rolfe is struck by Pocahontas, whose manner suggests the attraction is mutual. They speak of love. Pocahontas confesses her love for Rolfe to Miami, who receives the news with anger and rage. Pocahontas convinces her father to dissolve her arranged engagement with Miami, which will mean war between their two tribes. Jamestown has now been built and Walter tells his wife Alice about Powhatan's victory over Miami, they discuss a banquet hosted by Powhatan that Smith and Percy will attend. Meanwhile and Nima witness Grimosco and Miami plotting to kill the European settlers; when Grimosco coerces Powhatan into believing he should kill all the White men, by casting doubt about their intentions, creating fear about how they will act in the future, invoking religious imagery, Pocahontas runs to warn the settlers about the danger. Back in Jamestown, a comic bit ensu