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Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic, Edmonds, Bender

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Ancient Messene - Ancient Village or Settlement in Greece in Peloponnese Peninsula

Submitted by AlexHunger on Sunday, 29 October 2006  Page Views: 7714

Multi-periodSite Name: Ancient Messene Alternative Name: Αρχαία Μεσσήνη
Country: Greece Region: Peloponnese Peninsula Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Kalamata  Nearest Village: Mavrommati
Latitude: 37.175535N  Longitude: 21.920394E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Klingon visited on 27th Jun 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

Kuba visited - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4



Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 4 Access: 4

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Klingon : the Arsinoe fountain house (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient village in Peloponnese Peninsula

This is a major settlement of which the Temple complex are the most important. Temple of Asklepios was a doric temple. A Hygeia, the Decterion and a small theatre-odeion also belongs to the Asklepieion complex. There is also an impressive fortification wall as well as the Arcadic gate dating to the 3rd century BCE. Near this is the small 3rd century BCE Ionic Temple of Artemis Limniatis or Lafria. It's a temple of the style. There is also the Sanctuary of Zeus Ithomatas. Only the lower seats of the Theatre-Stadium walls remain.
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Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Klingon (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Klingon : the theater (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Klingon : (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Klingon : Mausoleum of the Saithidae family, 1st to 3rd century AD. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Stadium seats (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Grave monument

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Artemision

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Ekkleseiaterion, propylon and bouleuterion

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Klingon :

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Propylon Asclepion

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Stoa

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Fountain house

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Fountain house detail

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Stadium

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Grave monument

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Public toilets

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Funeral monument

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Altar and temple of Asclepion

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Niche stoa

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Niche stoa with tables

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Table with measuring cavities

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Measuring cavity

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Klingon : Just pillars.

Ancient Messene
Ancient Messene submitted by Armand : Information panel Stadium

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 827m NE 50° Eileithyia* Ancient Temple
 934m ENE 68° Artemis Limnatis* Ancient Temple
 1.2km NNE 18° Sanctuary of Zeus Ithomatas Ancient Temple
 1.4km NNW 333° Arkadian Gate* Hillfort
 1.5km E 83° Lakonian Gate* Hillfort
 10.5km NNW 339° Malthi* Chambered Tomb
 19.1km S 182° Nichoria* Ancient Village or Settlement
 19.5km NW 305° Peristeria* Passage Grave
 22.3km SW 233° Archaeological Museum of Chora* Museum
 24.2km S 178° Petalidi* Ancient Temple
 25.7km NNE 22° Lykosoura Despoina Sanctuary* Ancient Temple
 25.7km SW 231° Nestors Palace Tholos Tomb* Passage Grave
 25.9km SW 231° Mycenaean Palace of Nestor* Ancient Palace
 26.8km SW 230° Mycenaean Tholos Tomb near Nestors Palace* Passage Grave
 27.3km SW 223° Iklaina* Ancient Village or Settlement
 28.4km N 356° Bassae Temple of Apollo* Ancient Temple
 29.5km SW 227° Korifasiou* Passage Grave
 30.0km NE 37° Despoina Sanctuary.* Ancient Temple
 30.0km SW 230° Viglitsa* Chambered Tomb
 30.7km NNE 11° Sanctuary of Zeus (Mount Lykaion)* Ancient Temple
 31.1km NNE 12° Lykaion Lower Sanctuary* Ancient Temple
 31.9km NE 35° Ancient theater of Megalopolis* Ancient Village or Settlement
 32.2km NE 34° Ancient Megalopoli* Ancient Temple
 32.8km SW 225° Thrasymedes tomb* Passage Grave
 34.1km NNW 329° Lepreon* Ancient Temple
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"Ancient Messene" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Ancient Messene by Armand on Saturday, 05 January 2019
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The archaeological site of ancient Messene lies in a fertile valley approximately in the centre of the Regional Unit of Messenia, south of Mt Ithome. Ithome was the strongest natural and manmade fortress of Messenia, controlling the valleys of Stenyclaros to the north and Makaria to the south. (Strabo compares it to Corinth as regards strategic importance). The first installation on the site dates to the Late Neolithic or the Early Bronze Age, while in the 9th-8th c. BC the cult of Zeus Ithomatas was established on the peak of Mt Ithome. A heroon shrine was founded in the lower city during the Geometric period (800-700 BC), along with the first sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, Asklepios and Messene. All the sacred buildings belonged to a town named Ithome. The Spartan annexation of the area following the First Messenian War (743-724 BC) put a stop to the evolution of the town into a more complex urban organism and the development of an urban outlook. The Spartan occupation, however, did not result in a total loss of national consciousness among the inhabitants, who were now helots.

The city of Ancient Messene was founded in 369 BC by the Theban general Epaminondas (after the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, which resulted in Spartan defeat and the establishment of the Theban Hegemony). It became the capital of the free Messenian state following a long period (about four centuries) of occupation of the Messenian territory by the Spartans.

Strong fortification walls with towers and gates are preserved along a course of 9.5 km, surrounding the city and Mt Ithome, where the sanctuaries of Zeus Ithomatas (9th-8th c. BC), Artemis Limnatis and Eileithyia (3rd-2nd c. BC) stood. On the site of the city are preserved public and religious buildings, many of them reconstructed to a large degree. The extensive complex of the Asklepieion (3rd-2nd c. BC) stands out, with the Doric sanctuary of Asklepios, which is surrounded by stoai of buildings of a religious and secular-funerary nature. A series of reconstructed monumental structures, such as the Ecclesiasterion-Odeion, the Bouleuterion, the Theatre, the Arsinoe Fountain, the Agora and the Stadium, as well as an extensive group of funerary monuments and heroons, including the reconstructed monumental Saithid Mausoleum (1st c. BC-1st c. AD), bear witness to the size of the city and its political, religious, economic and social importance. Particularly luxurious Roman villas with mosaic floors complete the urban plan, while a multitude of inscriptions sheds light on hitherto unknown facets of the historical events that took place during the period of the Alexander’s Successors, the Macedonian Kingdom, the Achaean League, the Koinon of the Arcadians and the Aetolians, and Roman interference in Greek affairs. A plethora of statues, vessels and other moveable finds is on display at the nearby Archaeological Museum, testifying to the thriving society of Messene.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messene
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Messene, out from under the shadow of Sparta by davidmorgan on Monday, 17 September 2012
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There are many reasons to take particular notice of the sprawling, park-like archaeological site and the ongoing excavation and reconstruction projects at ancient Messene in the southwestern Peloponnese.

With its towering backdrop provided by the monastery-capped Mt Ithome, Messene once was one of Hellenistic and Roman Greece’s greatest cities, whose scenery and remaining architecture recall today in the minds of visitors images that may be less reminiscent of European Greek centres than of Priene and other similarly dramatic sites, rich in ruins, in the former Greek lands of western Asia Minor.

Messene’s 9.5km-long circuit of stoutly constructed defensive walls enclosed an extensive array of uniquely designed public and private structures, including the city’s enormous, colonnade-lined marketplace (agora); a large theatre; numerous temples and smaller shrines; a monumental fountain (nymphaeum); a combined gymnasium-stadium complex whose tracks and walkways were forested with more than 150 columns; and strikingly singular smaller structures such as a tall, cone-roofed family tomb and a thick-walled, slab-lidded, subterranean treasury, likely the scene of the imprisonment and infamous murder of a Peloponnesian general.

Mt Ithome and its southwestern slopes are soaked in history, their occupation dating back to at least the Early Bronze Age. The city of Messene, within the larger region of the same name, was only founded in 369BC, at the behest of the Theban leader Epaminondas, two years after Boeotian forces had defeated the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra and ended their domination over the Peloponnese. Messene and its northeastern neighbour Megalopolis, established in 371BC, were intended as a pair of fortified strongholds that would hem in and prevent Sparta from reasserting its regional hegemony.

The Messenians had long suffered in the shadow of mighty Sparta, pressed into centuries of servitude as helots until - after countless rebellions, banishments, killings and full-out wars - they finally were allowed their own city within which their culture could flourish. The peak and surrounding township, collectively known as Ithome had been a traditional place of assembly and defence for rebellious Messenian helots (see box below). The city of Messene, increasingly ornate in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, came to be a crowning achievement and a hard-won monument to Messenian independence.

The Spartans long feared the potential strength of their subordinated neighbours (see adjacent page top box), but the massiveness of Messene’s walls, towers and gates - whose construction began immediately after the city’s foundation in 369BC - reveals the level of respect also held by the Messenians for their former Spartan overlords. Drawn to the vibrant, militarily strategic city were a long line of prominent political and military figures, as well as inquisitive tourists including Pausanias in the 2nd c AD, who remarks on Messene’s impressive walls and persistently flowering Roman-era culture (see adjacent page bottom box).

Archaeological park

Mediaeval and early modern tourists also came to Messene, many of whom later published romantic engravings of the city’s now-overgrown fortifications and other picturesque ruins nestled among the Peloponnesian hills.

More scientific, measured drawings and reconstructions on paper appeared at least as early as the 1830s, but scientific excavation began in 1895 under the auspices of the Greek Archaeological Society. Further excavation took place in 1909-1925, directed by George Oikonomos; in 1957-1974, by Anastasios Orlandos; and since 1987, by University of Crete-Rethymno Professor Petros Themelis (photo).

An eloquent, affable, exceedingly knowledgeable director, Themelis is one of contemporary Greek archaeology’s great characters, an impassioned, rousing spokesman for the site of Messene and the ongoing studies there. Themelis is also a notably

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