Messenia (ancient region)

Messinia

Μεσσηνία
Messinia Μεσσηνία
Region of Peloponesse
Major cities	Messene
Dialects	Doric

Messenia or Messinia (

Arcadia ran along the tops of Mount Elaeum and Mount Nomia and then through foothills of Taygetus. The eastern border with Laconia went along the Taygetus ridge up to the Koskaraka river, and then along that river to the sea, near the city of Abia

.

Ancient Messenia descended continuously without change of name and with little change of territory to the modern Regional Unit of Greece of the same name.

History

Bronze age

The earliest inhabitants of Messenia were thought by the Greeks of the

Greek Dark ages, Messenia was supposedly invaded by Dorians under Cresphontes, arriving from Arcadia. They took as their capital Stenyclarus

in the northern plain, and then extended, first their suzerainty, and then their rule over the whole district.

Archaic period

During the Archaic period the relative wealth of Messenia in fertile soil and favourable climate attracted the neighbouring Spartans. The first Messenian War broke out—as a result of the murder of the Spartan king Teleclus by the Messenians, it was claimed, which, in spite of the heroism of King Euphaes and his successor Aristodemus ended in the subjugation of Messenia by Sparta (ca. 720 BC). Two generations later the Messenians revolted and under the leadership of Aristomenes kept the Spartans at bay for some seventeen years (685 BC—668 BC). Descriptions of this revolt indicate that Messenia was allowed to retain a certain degree of autonomy after the first war, since they describe battles between organized armies on both sides. However, the stronghold of Ira (Eira) finally fell after a siege of eleven years. As the object of the Spartans was to increase the number of lots of land for their citizens, many of the conquered Messenians (those who did not manage to leave the area) were reduced to the condition of Helots. The Spartan poet Tyrtaeus describes how the Messenians endured the insolence of the masters:

As asses worn by loads intolerable,

So Them did stress of cruel force compel,
Of all the fruits the well-tilled land affords,

The moiety to bear to their proud lords.
— Bury and Meiggs, "A History of Greece," 4th Ed

Classical period

The Messenians revolted again in 464 BC, after a

Naupactus

in the territory of Ozalian Locris.

Pre-Hellenistic to Hellenistic period

After the decisive

Thuria and Pharae

, which broke loose from it and entered the League as independent members.

Roman period

In 146 BC, the Messenians, together with the other states of Greece, were brought directly under Roman sway. For centuries there had been a dispute between Messenia and Sparta about the possession of the Ager Dentheliales on the western slope of Taygetus: after various decisions by

Augustus Caesar and others, the question was settled in 25 AD by Tiberius and the Senate

in favour of the Messenians.

References

^ Tod, M. N. (1911). "Messenia" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 190–191.

Bibliography

The Iliad
Herodotus, The Histories
Pausanias, Description of Greece

[1] Tod, M. N. (1911). "Messenia" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 190–191.

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