Messenia. Detailed History

The mountain of Messenia became the natural defensive area for the region and its main town, Messene. After the Bronze Age palace of Nestor at Pylos was destroyed and abandoned, the major population and political site was located to the east, at Messene. The region was known for its fertility and plentiful harvest. With the arrival of the Dorians, it supposedly was attacked by Cresphontes, the uncle of the legendary Spartan founder, and occupied. The region remained independent of Sparta at this time. The indigenous inhabitants whom Cresphontes conquered were probably descendants of the local population during the Bronze Age. Like other Greek inhabitants, they made up the majority of the population, but were not in the ruling class.

The region’s rich farmlands, however, soon attracted the attention of the Dorian Spartans, who attacked in the eighth century. This was the First Messenian War, around 725. The Spartan king Theopompus led the Dorian Spartans into the eastern region, attacking the fortress at Mount Ithome. According to legend, it lasted for twenty years. The Messenian leader was Aristodemus. The Spartans successfully defeated the Messenians and took about half of their lands, and the result of the conquest decided the future development of Sparta.

Until then, Sparta had been developing like most other Greek city-states, increasing its territory and looking for potential outlets for trade. This would normally involve developing a port city for trade in the Aegean. With its conquest of the Messenians, Sparta moved west and into the agricultural regions of the Peloponnese. Although not completely abandoning trade, Sparta began to concentrate on farming.

This process resulted in estates being allocated to Spartan citizens, with a subservient population to tend them, the helots. With their victory in the First Messenian War, Sparta added a large number of helots under their control. It was during this time that Sparta sent out a colony to Tarentum in southern Italy, supposedly composed of the offspring of Spartan women and helots, although more likely they were Spartans who were not pleased with the distribution of the recently won lands in Messenia.

The population of full Spartan citizens (men capable of serving as hoplites) declined, which prompted a revolt in Messenia in 650. Argos had defeated the Spartans in 669 at Hysiae due to the decline of able-bodied soldiers in Sparta. Prompted by Argos, the Messenians rebelled. They had been helots for about fifty years, where they would contribute half of their proceeds to their Spartan masters. But they were not free, and every year, the Spartans declared war on the helots, which allowed them to kill them without the stain of murder. The rebellion started in the north in Andania and supported by the Arcadians.

Their leader was Aristomenes, said to have been a descendent from an ancient Messenian family. He became the archetypical Spartan enemy, and with his initial victories over the Dorian Spartans, the helots increased their hopes of driving the Spartans completely out of their lands. The Spartans at this time found a leader in Tyrtaeus, a lame poet who reformed the army and led the Spartans to glory. At the Battle of the Great Foss, they defeated the Messenians, who now fled north to Eira on the Nedon River to their last stronghold. Aristomenes and his fort were destroyed by the Spartans, although legend had Aristomenes escaping capture and, wounded, fleeing to Rhodes. The Second Messenian War saw the remainder of Messenia except for the coastal cities fall under Spartan control and the population reduced to serfdom.

In 464, an earthquake in Laconia resulted in another rebellion by Messenian helots. Although not a proper war, it did result in disaster for the Spartans. The Messenians successfully destroyed a company of 300 Spartans but were forced to flee to Mount Ithome, their traditional fortress. The Spartans could not dislodge them and had to ask for help from their allies, and even from Athens, who sent Cimon.

For some unknown reason, Sparta feared Cimon and the Athenians, so the Spartans dismissed him, causing great embarrassment to him and leading to the end of the Athenian-Spartan detente and Cimon’s ostracism. In 459, the Spartans continued their blockade of Ithome; with its capture, they allowed the Messenians to leave unharmed. Most likely, the Spartans probably could not defeat them outright, so they offered them the opportunity to leave, provided they never return, especially since Argos was making trouble in the east by destroying Mycenae, a Spartan ally. The Athenians, who had previously been embarrassed by the Spartans, now found the exiled Messenians a home at Naupactus, on the Gulf of Corinth. The Third Messenian War had ended.

The Messenians were continually subject to Sparta until 370, when the Theban leader Epaminondas liberated the region and reestablished the town of Messenia on the slopes of Mount Ithome. This new city commanded and controlled the region, giving Sparta a new enemy that it could never conquer again.