MESSENE
or Ithome (Mavromati) Messenia, Greece.
The name Messene anciently referred to the
area of Messenia (Hom.
Od. 21.15), and only gradually
came to denote the city founded after the battle of
Leuktra. The city was in ancient times as it is today
called Ithome, and lies in and around the modern town
of Mavromati. The building of the city was begun in
early 379 (
Paus. 4.27.9), and Messene was stable enough
to take part in the battle of Mantinea in 362 on the
Theban side (
Xen. Hell. 7.5.5). Never strong enough by
itself to withstand Spartan hostility, it later sided with
Philip (
Paus. 4.28.2), who increased Messenian territory
by adding Denthaliatis and the area from Pherai to
Leuktron (Polyb. 9.28.7,
Strab. 8.4.6). Messene remained
more or less allied to Macedon into the 3d c. About
244 the city formed an alliance with the Aitolian League,
but fear of Kleomenes brought it closer to the Achaian
League (223-222), which in turn brought about plundering by the Aitolians in 220 (Polyb. 4.3.5-6.12). Civil
unrest in 215-214 brought the intervention of Philip V
(Polyb. 7.10-14) and a return to the Aitolian League
(Polyb. 9.30.6). It was attacked by Nabis of Sparta in
201 (Polyb. 16.13.3, 16.16-17), then allied itself with
Antiochos in 192 against the Achaian League and Rome.
After the defeat of Antiochos Messene was compelled
to join the Achaian League (
Livy 36.3 1.1-9) from which
it revolted in 183/182 (Polyb. 23.12). Forced to rejoin
the league it nonetheless sent no troops to the war against
Rome in 146 (Polyb. 38.16.3). Prosperous but not powerful thereafter (
IG V 1.1432-33), the last emperor it
honored inscriptionally was Constantine (
IG V 1.1420),
though sculptural finds date even from the 5th c. Pausanias (
4.31.4-33.4) visited the area in the 2d c. A.D.
The glory of Messene is its walls, the best preserved in
Greece, and the strongest of antiquity (
Paus. 4.31.5).
They enclose an area of 9 km, including the summit of
Mt. Ithome, are constructed entirely of stone, and consist of a curtain wall (2-2.5 m thick) and towers, square
for the most part, at various intervals. They are best
preserved in the N and W sides. Four gates are known,
of which the Arkadian on the N is the best preserved and
the architecturally most remarkable. It consists of an
outer gate (5.32 m wide) flanked by towers (6.5 m wide)
opening into a nearly circular area (19.7 m wide) which
could be controlled by soldiers standing on the walls
above. There are two niches on the N side of the court,
one recording repairs by Q. Plotius Euphemion. Some
scholars have felt that the gate may be later than the
rest of the walls, though there is dispute even as to
whether the main part of the wall was constructed in the
early 4th c. or later, perhaps in the late 3d.
The acropolis, i.e. the peaks of Mt. Ithome, contains
remains of earlier walls dating either from the third
Messenian War or from the foundation of the city in the
4th c. The Sanctuary of Zeus Ithomatas is now covered
by the abandoned Vourkano monastery. On the slopes of
Ithome are the remains of the Temple of Artemis Limnatis of the Ionic order (17.2 x 10 m) and a spring, identified by some with the Klepsydra. Others identify the Klepsydra with the spring in the center of Mavromati.
Below the modern village there is to be found a Sanctuary of Asklepios (epigraphically assured), a site which
was for many years identified with the agora: the agora
remains to be located. The Aesklepieion consists of a
large court surrounded on all four sides by stoas with
an internal colonnade (dimensions: 66.8 x 71.8 m measuring from the rear wall of the stoa). In the middle of the court on the N-S axis, and facing due east, there are the foundations of a Hellenistic temple of Doric order
(13.6 x 27.9 m) of excellent workmanship which replaces
an earlier, 4th c. temple. The altar, constructed in two
chronological phases, lies to the E. The rear walls of the
stoa are pierced in a number of places to allow access
to rooms connected with the worship of Asklepios. The
E wall is bisected by propylaea, to the N of which is a
small theater; to the S, entrance is gained to a square
room with benches running around three sides, formerly
identified with the synedrion, but more likely to have
been a library. On the W side there are five small rooms,
all apparently devoted to religious purposes, the northern-most of which was a small Temple of Artemis Orthia. It is divided into three sections by two sets of two columns on either side of the entrance. The N wall of the
court contains three stairways, the middle one of rather
monumental proportions, leading to an upper level, on
which was the sebasteion, the area in which the worship
of the Roman emperors took place. In the NE corner
of the stoa there is a small room, perhaps originally
designed as a fountain-house, but in Imperial times used
for the display of a large statue. Outside the S wall, and
not integrally connected with the interior, are to be found
a small heroon (with four graves) and a house with a
peristyle court. Excavation in the area of the Asklepieion
continues. Other insignificant remains in the vicinity include a stadium and a theater.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reports in
Praktika (1909) 201-5;
(1925-26) 55-66; (1957) 121-25; (1958) 177-83; (1959)
162-73; (1963) 122-29; (1964) 96-101; (1969) 98-120;
(1970) 125-41
PI; M. N. Valmin,
Études topographiques
sur la Messénie ancienne (1930); C. A. Roebuck,
A History of Messenia from 369 to 146 B.C. (1941); Reports
in
Ergon (1963) 88-102; (1964) 102-12; (1969) 97-132;
(1970) 100-131; (1971) 144-73; E. Kirsten & W. Kraiker,
Griechenlandkunde (5th ed. 1967) 422-28; F. E.
Winter,
Greek Fortifications (1971) passim.
W. F. WYATT, JR.
