NELEUS, a hero of Greek mythology, was son of Poseidon by Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus, to whom the god appeared under the form of the Thessalian river-god Enipeus. The legends connected with him are exceedingly difficult to classify, the events are so unconnected and the scene shifts so rapidly from country to country. Born in Thessaly, where his brother Pelias is king of Iolcus, Neleus becomes king of Pylus in Messenia and the ancestor of a royal family called the Neleidae, who are historically traceable as the old ruling family in some of the Ionic states in Asia Minor. Tradition uniformly derives the Ionic colonies from the Attic coast, and the presence of the Neleidae is explained by the legend that when the Dorians conquered the Peloponnesus the Neleidae were driven out and took refuge in Attica, where they at once became kings of the land, and led colonies to the eastern shores of the Aegean. This tangle of legends seems to have as its historical basis the fortunes of an energetic yet wandering race which has left its mark indelibly on the history of every country which it touched. This race was obviously a maritime one, for there is no path except the sea between the widely separate shores where it can be traced, and its divine ancestor is Poseidon. Nelens was father by Chloris of Nestor, Pero, and other children. Through the contest for the hand of Pero he is connected with the legends of the prophetic race of the Melampodidae, who founded the mysteries and expiatory rites and the orgies of Bacchus in Argolis.