Messene (Greek: Μεσσήνη Messini), officially Ancient Messene, is a local community (topiki koinotita) of the municipal unit (dimotiki enotita) Ithomi, of the municipality (dimos) of Messini within the regional unit (perifereiaki enotita) of Messenia in the region (perifereia) of Peloponnese, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided.
Before 2011 it held the same position in the administrative hierarchy, according to Law 2539 of 1997, the Kapodistrias Plan, except that Ithomi was an independent municipality and Ancient Messene was a local division (topiko diamerisma) within it.
Most of the area of Ancient Messene contains the ruins of the large classical city-state of Messene refounded by Epaminondas in 369 BC, after the battle of Leuctra and the first Theban invasion of the Peloponnese. Epaminondas invited the return to their native land of all the families that had gone into exile from Messenia during its long struggle with and servitude under the military state of Sparta, now finished as a conquering state. This new Messene, today's Ancient Messene, was constructed over the ruins of Ithome, an ancient city originally of Achaean Greeks, destroyed previously by the Spartans and abandoned for some time.
Currently the substantial ruins are a major historical attraction. Much of it has been archaeologically excavated and partly restored or preserved for study and public viewing, as well as for various events. The site was never totally abandoned. The small village of Mavromati occupies what was the upper city around the fountain called klepsydra. Administrative structure and population figures refer primarily to it.
Archaia Messene is located 25 kilometres (16 miles) north of Kalamata and 60 kilometres (37 miles) east of Pylos.
O μαρμάρινος κορμός του γυμνού ανδρικού αγάλματος, που εκτίθεται σε εξέχουσα θέση στην Αίθουσα Α του Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου, αποκαλύφθηκε στο χώρο ΙΙΙ του Γυμνασίου της Μεσσήνης το 1995, πεσμένος μπροστά στο βάθρο του. Αποτελεί άριστης τέχνης αντίγραφο του 1ου αι. π. Χ. φημισμένου πρωτοτύπου του 5ου αι. π. Χ., έργου του Αργείου γλύπτη Πολυκλείτου. Είχε στηθεί κάπως πρόχειρα πάνω σε προγενέστερο βάθρο, στο οποίο είχαν ανιδρυθεί χάλκινοι ανδριάντες. Η κατασκευή και ανέγερσή του φαίνεται πως πραγματοποιήθηκε στα χρόνια του Αυγούστου. Το γλυπτό δηλαδή είναι σύγχρονο με την αναδιάταξη στο χώρο του Γυμνασίου της πόλης, την αναζωπύρωση του θεσμού της εφηβείας και την κατασκευή του μνημειώδους τετρακιόνιου δωρικού Προπύλου στα χρόνια αυτά.
History
The buildings of the city of Ancient Messene have the same orientation and follow up the grid which is formed by parallel (orientation EW) and perpendicular (orientation NS) roads. This system of city planning is the so called Hippodameian system named after its original inventor, Hippodamus from Miletus, an architect, geometrician and astronomer of the 5th c. B.C. This plan was pre-determined, strictly geometric in nature, and based on the virtues of the democratic constitution, that is, the principles of isonomy (equality before the law), of isopolity (equal civic rights) and of isomoiria (equal share in landownership); still, it could afford to adapt to the peculiarities of the landscape and the particular climatic conditions of each site so that it conformed smoothly with the natural environment. It is according to these very principles that Ancient Messene, the new capital of the free and independent Messenia, was built in 369 B.C. by Epameinondas from Thebes. Messene was worshipped as a goddess. She was one of the principal deities of the city together with Zeus Ithomatas and, in the Hellenistic times (3rd-2nd c. B.C.) when the Asklepieion was built, she was worshipped probably together with Asklepios who was also a chthonic deity of fertility, of life and death historically linked to the pre-dorian past of the land of Messene.
Description and Monuments
In 1895, the Archaeological Society begun systematic excavations at the site under the direction of the archaeologist Themistocles Sophoulis, a native of Samos who later pursued a prominent career in politics. Excavating activity was resumed in 1909 and 1925 under the direction of G. Oikonomou.
In 1957 Anastasios Orlandos who was at the time the Secretary of the Archaeological Society and member of the Academy of Athens took charge of the excavation project of Ancient Messene and worked until 1974. The excavation conducted by Anastasios Orlandos and his predecessors brought to light the greatest part of the building complex of the Asklepieion. In 1978 the entry on Messene appeared in the 15th volume of the German Opus Real Encyclopadie by L. Meyer, while in 1979 a translation and substantial commentary in modern Greek on the Messeniaka of Pausanias was published by N. Papachatzis.
In 1986 the Board of the Archaeological Society assigned the direction of the excavation project to professor Petros Themelis. Excavations and work on the restoration of the extant monuments started in 1987 and continues to the present day showing significant progress.
All the secular and sacred buildings which Pausanias saw and described in his work during his visit in the time of Emperor Antoninus Pius (155-160A.D.), have been brought to light under P.Themelis direction.
The Asclepieion
Pausanias represents the Asklepieion as a museum of art works, mainly statues, rather than the more usual sanatorium for sick patients. It was the most conspicuous site in Messene and the center of the public life of the city, functioning as such alongside the nearby Agora. The temple and altar are closely hedged about by about 140 bases for bronze statues, mainly of political figures, and five exedras, and many other statues were erected along the stoas. The Asklepieion consists of an almost square area measuring 71.91 x 66.67 m., with four internal stoas opening on to the central open-air courtyard. Each of the stoas on the north and south sides had 23 Corinthian columns on the facade, supporting an entablature that consisted of an Ionic architrave and a frieze with relief bull's heads adorned alternately with floral scrolls and bowls. There were similar stoas on the east and west sides, though these each had 21 columns. All the stoas had a second, inner colonnade with fourteen columns on the north and south sides and thirteen on the east and west. In the east wing of this peristyle courtyard is a complex of three buildings: the small, roofed, theatre-like Ekklesiasterion A, the imposing Propylon B, and the Synedrion or Bouleuterion (Γ) together with the hall of the Archive (Γ-Γ). Along the west wing is a row of rooms or oikoi (K-Σ) which, according to Pausanias's description, contained statues of the following deities, from south to north: Apollo and the Muses (oikos Ξ), Herakles, Thebes, Epaminondas (oikos N), Fortune (oikos M), Artemis Phosphoros (oikos K).
The north wing of the Asklepieion is framed by a large bipartite building erected on a high podium and accessed by way of a central monumental staircase, the north end of which leads to a propylon with a pedimental facade. The two enormous halls of this structure, which extend either side of the north staircase and are divided in identical fashion into five rooms, have been identified with the Sebasteion or Caesareum of the inscriptions and were devoted to the cults of the goddess Roma (personification of the city) and the emperors. At the east end of the north side, at the level of the stoa, stands the carefully constructed oikos H with a pedestal-cistern for exhibiting statues probably of Asklepios and his sons.
The north wing of the Asklepieion is framed by a large bipartite building erected on a high podium and accessed by way of a central monumental staircase, the north end of which leads to a propylon with a pedimental facade. The two enormous halls of this structure, which extend either side of the north staircase and are divided in identical fashion into five rooms, have been identified with the Sebasteion or Caesareum of the inscriptions and were devoted to the cults of the goddess Roma (personification of the city) and the emperors. At the east end of the north side, at the level of the stoa, stands the carefully constructed oikos H with a pedestal-cistern for exhibiting statues probably of Asklepios and his sons.
The first Sanctuary of Orthia
A prostyle temple measuring 8.42 x 5.62 m. has come to light to the north-west of the Asklepieion. It has an almost square cella, a shallow, wider prodomos, and a ramp in the middle of the tetrastyle facade. Statue bases and inscribed stelai were found around the facade of this temple. Along the north side, where the earth deposits contained large quantities of pottery, were found two hoards, of bronze coins issued by Messene and of silver coins of the Achaean Confederacy, dating from the middle of the 2nd century BC, and also a large number of terracotta figurines, most of them depicting Artemis as Huntress and Torchbearer (Phosphoros). The fragments found to the north of the temple probably belong to the marble cult statue of Orthia dating from the late 4th century BC. After the construction of the Asklepieion, the precinct of Orthia ceased to function and the cult of the goddess was transferred to oikos K in the west wing of the new Artemision described above.
Christian Basilicas
At the intersection of the roads NE and east of the Asklepieion a densely inhabited quarter was revealed constituting part of a 5th-7th c. A.D settlement extending into the interior of the Arcive room. The settlement stretches southwards over the entire length of the eastern road and northwards up to the area of the agora. Many scattered architectural members suggest that at least two early Christian Basilicas existed in the agora. To this settlement belong more than 40 Christian tombs which have been revealed at times to the NW and to the north of the Asklepieion including pottery and bronze fibulae as burial gifts characteristic of the time. Various marble funerary inscriptions have also been found. The walls of the houses are constructed carelessly with all kinds of reused material such as broken architectural members, inscriptions and sculpture. Among these, two torso of female poros statues of the mid 2nd c. B.C. stand out.
Arsinoe fountain house
Traveller Pausanias (4.31.6) informs us that the fountain house of the Agora was named after Arsinoe, the daughter of Leukippos (the mythical king of Messenia) and mother of Asklepios. Pausanias also notes that Arsinoe fountain house received the water from the Klepsydra spring. Arsinoe fountain house includes a cistern of 40m. long, located at a short distance in front of the rear wall.
Between the cistern and the rear wall was a facade with ionic half columns. A semicircular exedra situated exactly at the centre of the cistern supported a group of bronze statues. Two more cisterns are located at a slightly lower level and symmetrically on each side of a paved court. The facade of the fountain house during its first phase was screened by a doric colonnade which was removed during the monument's second phase in the 1st c. A.D.
The third and final phase of restoration and reconstruction activities that took place at the Arsinoe fountain house including the addition of two identical projections at the two ends at the front side, is dated to the years of Diocletian (284-305 A.D.). The Arsinoe fountain house had the same fate as the other secular and sacred buildings of the city of Messene; they were all abandoned c. 360-70 A.D. due to the economic decline of the Roman Empire and the final disintegration which was aggravated by barbaric raids and earthquakes. The eastern section of Arsinoe fountain house remained standing and was used during the Early Christian period, as suggested by additional constructions on the upper cistern and a building, possibly a water-mill, added in front of the fountain house in the first half of the 6th c. A.D. The discovery of a coin of Leo VI (886-912 A.D.) indicates that after a certain period of abandonment the area is inhabited again in the beginning of the 10th c. A.D. This hypothesis is further corroborated by the large quantities of Byzantine pottery dated from the 10th to the 13th c. A.D.
Agora
Fragments of a balustrade slab of local sandstone faced with poros, with a representation of winged thunderbolt of Zeus set in a lozenge-shaped border are connected with the Agora and the temple of Zeus Soter, whose statue is mentioned by Pausanias (4.31.6). The Doric temple of Zeus Soter has been recently uncovered. A number of scattered Doric architectural members and relief metopes come from the temple of Poseidon mentioned by Pausanias. One of them, dating from the 3rd century B.C, depicts Andromeda tied to a rock and the dragon guarding her. Another, also of the 3rd c. BC, is carved in high relief with a representation of a sea-horse with a huge twisted fishtail, carrying a Triton or a Nereid on its back. The Agora covers a huge area of about 40 acres; it is surrounded by stoas on all its four sides. Only the western part of the North long stoa has been brought to light.
To the SW of the Agora a building has been discovered with dimensions of 24 X 24 m. Excavation brought to light the foundations of a cult building of the 4th-3rd century BC, surrounded by annexes. A vast number of terracotta votive plaques and figurines was found beneath the floor of the main building, where they had been thrown along with fragments of pottery and animal bones in hollows in the bedrock. A wide variety of subjects is depicted on them, including funerary banquets, horsemen, seated or standing female or male figures, warriors, and three frontal female figures. Pausanias (4.31.10) mentions a sanctuary of Demeter and statues of the Dioskouroi in Messene which, according to the order that he follows in his description of the monuments, these should be located to the south of the agora near the Asklepieion, where the sanctuary described above is located. The sanctuary of Demeter is also mentioned among the buildings that were to be repaired in the inscription from the Sebasteion of the Tiberan period.
Treasury
Temple of Messene
Αρχιτεκτονικά λείψανα του ναού της θεοποιημένης Μεσσήνης, της προ-δωρικής βασίλισσας της χώρας, που έδωσε το όνομά της στην πόλη.
Ήταν περίπτερος δωρικού ρυθμού και στέγαζε το χρυσόλιθο λατρευτικό άγαλμα της Θεάς. Στήλες με ψηφίσματα διαφόρων πόλεων προς τιμήν Μεσσηνίων δικαστών βρέθηκαν στη βόρεια πλευρά του Ναού. Στη νότια πλευρά του Ναού υπάρχουν πολλά βάθρα με τιμητικές επιγραφές που έφεραν κάποτε χάλκινους ανδριάντες Ρωμαίων αυτοκρατόρων.
The Great Doric Temple
The greatest part of the central open area of the Asklepieion is occupied by the imposing temple of Asklepios and its large altar. The temple is doric and peripteral (6x12 columns) with porch (prodomos) and rear porch (opisthodomos) each one with two columns in antis. The exterior of the monument measures 13.67m. Χ27.94m., its original height was approximately 9m. resting on a three course stepped krepis. On the eastern side access is provided to the entrance via a ramp.
The cella, the pronaos (or porch), and the opisthodomos (or rear porch) are built of local limestone, while the colonnade is built of coated sand stone. Sand stone is also used for the non visible parts of the foundation. The adyton (the innermost room of a temple which was not to be entered) was screened by a stone parapet and in its far end stood the cult statue of the god. Restoration and renovation activities in the temple and in the surrounding buildings were taking place until Late Antiquity (3rd c. A.D.).
In the last decades of the 4th c. A.D. the sanctuary was abandoned. No dedications appropriate to the worship of the healer god Asklepios have been found. This probably confirms the view that at Messene, Asklepios was not prominently a healer god, but a civic deity, a 'Messenian citizen', in Pausanias's expression (4.26.7). He had his place in the genealogical tree of the legendary kings of Messene, both before and after the arrival of the Herakleidai in the Peloponnese (Pausanias 4.31.11-12) Herakleidai in the Peloponnese (Pausanias 4.31.11-12)
The burial enclosure
A Hellenistic funerary monument came to light at the east edge of the street discussed above. It takes the form of a rectangular enclosure wall consisting of a stepped crepis, or-thostats and a crowning, with a number of cist graves inside it. According to an inscription on its crowning member, it belonged to six men and four women, who were probably killed during the capture of Messene by Nabis of Sparta in 201 BC. Messenian women took part in the battle against Demetrios of Pharos, Philip V's general, who made an unsuccessful attempt to take the city in 214 BC. Other people were later buried in the same enclosure down to the Roman imperial period, as is clear from the series of names inscribed there. The graves contained the skeletons of inhumated men and women, accompanied by some interesting, rich grave offerings: terracotta and glass vases, metal objects, gold jewellery, and bone pins, the heads of which include ones in the form of masks, a lyre and a pinecone. Three lead urns dating from the 1st century BC contained cremated remains.
The first structure mentioned by Pausanias, as he proceeded southwards from the Asklepieion in the direction of the Gymnasium, is the Hierothysion, a building that housed statues of the twelve Olympian gods, a bronze statue of Epaminondas and 'ancient tripods', which Homer refers to as apyroi ('without fire') (Pausanias 4.32.1). As its name indicates, the Hierothysion was probably directly associated with the hierothytai; these were annually elected city officials responsible for the celebration of the Ithomaia and other religious festivals, who are mentioned in many Messenian inscriptions in connection with the agonothetai (i.e. president of the games) and the chalidophoroi (cup-bearers). On the coins of Messene the tripod is usually accompanied by a depiction of Zeus Ithomatas, the most important deity of Messene. The erecting of a statue of Epaminondas amongst the statues of the twelve gods is an indication of the importance attributed to him by the Messenians as a hero and founder of their city, of equal status with the gods. A large building complex about 50 m. wide and with a preserved length of about 70 m. has begun to be revealed just to the south of the Asklepieion
Its north wall is in contact with the Bathhouse to the south of the Asklepieion, and it is enclosed by streets to the east and west. It consists of several (more than four) autonomous architectural units. The north-west unit is characterised by the existence of an open peristyle area, which is surrounded by spacious rooms taking the form of banquet rooms, the floors of which are covered with a reddish lime-mortar. The probable function of these rooms, as rooms for ritual banquets does not conflict with the character of the Hierothysion as a dining room used by the hierothytai and agonothetai during religious festivals, and as a place in which statues were erected to the twelve Olympian gods and the hero and founder of Messene, Epaminondas. The location of this building complex coincides with that of the Hierothysion seen by Pausanias on his tour.
The Stadium and Gymnasium - Heroon
The Stadium and Gymnasium count among the most impressive and well preserved building complexes of the site The northern horse shoe-shaped end of the Stadium includes 18 wedge-shaped divisions of seats with 18 rows of seats divided by stairways. It is enclosed on its three sides by doric stoas with most of their columns standing in place. The northern colonnade is double, while the eastern and western ones are simple. The colonnades belong to the Gymnasium which together with the Stadium formed one single architectural unit. The western stoa terminated at a distance of 110m. from its northern end. At this point a doric peristyle court is located which is identified as the palaistra. Bases with honorary inscriptions are located between the columns of the western stoa and used to bear statues of gymnasiarchs (Gymnasium officials). Also other inscriptions bearing lists of ephebes were found in the area. Behind the western colonnade was the sanctuary of Heracles and of Hermes with their cult statues.
Behind the west stoa of the Gymnasium a funerary monument came to light (K3) including eight cist graves in its interior axially arranged around a small cist. The numerous surviving members of its upper structure suggest that it had the form of a square-shaped chamber (approximately 4.80m. X 4.80m.) with a conical roof which bore on its top a column probably supporting an ex voto. On the geison around the chamber appear the names of the deceased, both of men and women honored with this impressive monument.
A Π- shaped monument (Kl) located further to the north of K3 is also funerary; its eastern side was crowned with an animal frieze and a sculptured complex representing a lion devouring a deer. In the interior of the chamber of monument Kl which had a stone door (like the Macedonian tombs), seven cist graves were revealed; they were plundered but they still preserved important terracotta, metal and glass grave offerings.
Behind the west stoa of the Gymnasium a funerary monument came to light (K3) including eight cist graves in its interior axially arranged around a small cist. The numerous surviving members of its upper structure suggest that it had the form of a square-shaped chamber (approximately 4.80m. X 4.80m.) with a conical roof which bore on its top a column probably supporting an ex voto. On the geison around the chamber appear the names of the deceased, both of men and women honored with this impressive monument.
A Π- shaped monument (Kl) located further to the north of K3 is also funerary; its eastern side was crowned with an animal frieze and a sculptured complex representing a lion devouring a deer. In the interior of the chamber of monument Kl which had a stone door (like the Macedonian tombs), seven cist graves were revealed; they were plundered but they still preserved important terracotta, metal and glass grave offerings.
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Hellenic Interior Ministry (18 March 2001). Δείτε τη Διοικητική Διαίρεση (in Greek). Hellenic Interior Ministry.. The previous Kapodistrias organization of all the communities in Greece. The populations are from the Census of 2001.
η Βουλή (11 August 2010), "ΤΕΥΧΟΣ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟ", NOMOΣ ΥΠ’ΑΡΙΘ. 3852: Νέα Αρχιτεκτονική της Αυτοδιοίκησης και της Αποκεντρωμένης Διοίκησης − Πρόγραμμα Καλλικράτης (PDF) (in Greek), ΕΦΗΜΕΡΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΚΥΒΕΡΝΗΣΕΩΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑΣ. Part 2 of the Kallicratis Plan law, No. 3852, by the Hellenic Parliament (Βουλή), publishing a table of all the official communities of Greece arranged in hierarchical order. The lowest-level populations are from the Census of 2001. All higher-level populations are the sums of the appropriate lower-level populations.
https://en.wikipedia.org
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https://www.culture.gr/
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