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Messene (Greek language: Μεσσήνη 𐀕𐀼𐀙 Messini), officially Ancient Messene, is a local community within the regional unit ( perifereiaki enotita) of Messenia in the region ( perifereia) of Peloponnese.
It is best known for the ruins of the large classical city-state of Ancient Messene. The site was founded in the Bronze Age as Ithome, an ancient city originally of Achaean Greeks which eventually came under the hegemony of the military state of Sparta with which it had a long struggle. During the latter period many inhabitants went into exile, and eventually it was destroyed by the Spartans and abandoned for some time.
After the defeat of the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra (371 BC), the Thebans invaded the Peloponnese and Epaminondas built the new city of Messene on the site in 369 BC over the ruins of Ithome and invited the return of the previous inhabitants and their descendants.
The substantial ruins are a major historical attraction. Much has been archaeologically excavated and partly restored or preserved for study and public viewing, as well as for various events. The most substantial restored remains date from the Hellenistic and Roman times.
The city of Messene flourished also in the postclassical times and a settlement at the site continued until modern times. Late Roman Messene suffered much after the major AD 365 Crete earthquake that hit hard also the entire SW Peloponnese.N. Tsivikis, An Early End to Antiquity in Roman Provincial Greece: Pagans and Christians in the Wake of the 365 CE Earthquake in Messene, CHS Research Bulletin 9 (2021). From the beginning of the 5th century AD Messene is being reconstructed as a Christian city and the seat of a local bishop. It will be in the so called Byzantine "Dark-Ages" during the 7th and 8th centuries that the city once again experienced a deep crisis with the settlement of new populations in the region, probably of Slavic origin. In Middle Byzantine times, after the 10th century, the now called village or township of Voulcano experiences new growth with rich material remains. The village of Voulcano/Messene continues through the Late Medieval/Frankish and Ottoman periods until Early Modern times when the village changes name again into Mavromati, that still occupies what was the upper city around the ancient fountain identified as Klepsydra.
Systematic excavation of the site was first undertaken by Themistoklis Sofoulis of the Athens Archaeological Society in 1895. Since then a number of noted archaeologists have made contributions, such as George Oikonomos (in 1909 and 1925), Anastasios Orlandos (in 1957), and Petros Themelis (in 1986).. A museum of their extensive finds has been constructed within the old city walls.
This site was awarded a European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award in 2011.
The systematic excavation under the direction of Prof. Petros Themelis has collaborated with many international institutions for excavation at the site. Among those, since 2020-21, excavation East of the temenos of Asclepius at the site of an early Christian church is conducted by the Open University of Cyprus.
After all due care to obtain omens from the gods, make sacrifices and invite the spirits of past rulers and heroes to live in Messene, including Queen Messene, Epaminondas invited construction engineers and artisans from anywhere to join him. In 85 days the combined armies and exiles guided by the engineers and artisans had completed the walled city of Messene over the site of the previous Ithome. The city included within its walls Mt. Ithome and enough agricultural land and spring captures to withstand a siege indefinitely. The policy was justified almost immediately. After the departure of the Theban army the Spartans attempted to retake Messenia, which then allied itself with the . This time the long struggle with Sparta was brought to a final end by the Macedonian conquest of Greece.
After the departure of the allies, the new city and the fate of Messenian independence were left in the hands of the Messenian exiles, who had returned primarily from Sicily and North Africa. Apparently, they had maintained a transitory community in exile, or diaspora, for some 300 years. They spoke a Doric dialect. Pausanias reports, "even to this day they preserve it in its purity better than anywhere else in the Peloponnese."Pausanias, IV.27.11. As the Arcadians are known to have spoken a dialect closely related to Mycenaean Greek, the exiles restored were not from the original Achaean refugees of the return of the Heracleidae, but were the Doricised population that developed in the 7th century BC under the subsequently dispossessed Heraclid dynasty of Messene.
The other buildings which can be identified are the theatre, the stadium, the council chamber or Bouleuterion, and the propylaeum of the market, while on the shoulder of the mountain are the foundations of a small temple, probably that of Artemis Laphria.
From the sixth century dates a large three-aisled basilica built near the old Theater of the city, at an area where a Christian cemetery had developed.N. Tsivikis, Architectural Planning and Building Practices at the Basilica of the Theater in Messene, DChAE 39 (2018), 111-124.
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