Messene

/me see"nee/, n.

an ancient city in the SW Peloponnesus; capital of ancient Messenia.

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Ancient city, southwestern Peloponnese, Greece.

It is located north of the modern city of the same name. Founded с 369 BC as the site of the new capital of Messenia, Messene formed a strategic barrier against Sparta, along with Megalopolis, Mantinea, and Argos. It survived several Macedonian and Spartan sieges but fell to Philip II of Macedonia in 338 BC. Nothing is known of its history after the 2nd century BC.

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▪ ancient city, Greece

Modern Greek  Messíni,  

      ancient city, southwestern Peloponnese, Greece, not to be confused with the modern township of the same name further south. It was probably founded in 369 BC after the defeat of Sparta by Athens and the Boeotian League in the Battle of Leuctra (371) for the descendants of exiled Messenians as a fortified city-state independent of Sparta. The site dominates the Messenian plain; with Megalopolis, Mantineia, and Argos, it formed a strategic barrier, conceived by the Theban Epaminondas, to contain Spartan ambition. The summit of Mt. Ithómi, 2,618 ft (798 m) in altitude, served as the acropolis, but apparently it had been fortified earlier as well.

      The classical city withstood several Macedonian and Spartan sieges. After the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, it was absorbed into the domain of Philip II of Macedonia, and it remained important under the Romans. Pausanias, in the 2nd century BC, visited the city and claimed its fortifications excelled all others of the Greek world. Nothing is known of Messene in the Middle Ages.

      Since 1957, the Hellenistic agora, theatre, stadium, and council chamber have been excavated. The foundations of the small Temple of Artemis Laphria sit on the shoulder of the acropolis, which is crowned by a small 16th-century monastery. The best preserved section of the ancient walls is on the northwest. The modern hamlet of Mavrommátion occupies a small part of the ancient site. Pop. (1981) 6,854.

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