Built in Homeric times c. 638-644 BC, the original Plueron was destroyed by Demitrius II and lies a little south of this, the new city, built after 234-235 BC in a more elevated position. Old Pleuron is mentioned in the Iliad in the catalogue of ships that sailed against Troy, and the epithet Pleuroios is referred to in Mycenaean Linear B inscriptions from Pylos. The site overlooks the plains and lagoons around Messolonghi. Archaeologically, Pleuron is very important, constituting along with Oiniadai and Palairos, the most characteristic examples of Hellenistic defence architecture in western Greece.