MESSENE, the chief city of Messenia, founded, under the auspices of Epaminondas, as a bulwark against the Spartans. After the battle of Leuctra that general sent to all the exiled Messenians,—in Africa, Sicily, or Italy,— and invited them to return to the land of their fathers. Many came with eagerness, and in 369 b.c. the city was built by the combined army of Thebans under Epaminondas and Argives under Epiteles, assisted by the Messenians themselves. The site was chosen in conformity with a vision which appeared to Epaminondas, and the walls were raised to the sound of flutes playing the airs of Sacadas and Pronomus. The citadel was erected on the summit of Mount Ithome, and the city on its southern slope and in the adjoining valley. City and citadel were enclosed by a wall 47 stadia in length. Near the centre of the city was the agora, with a famous spring called Arsinoe, and various temples and statues, among the latter an iron statue of Epaminondas. The Hierothysion contained many statues of gods and heroes, among them a bronze statue of Epaminondas. In the gymnasium were statues of Hermes, Hercules, and Theseus by Egyptian artists. In the stadium was a bronze statue of the great hero Aristomenes, who had a sepulchral monument elsewhere in the city. On the summit of the citadel was a famous spring called Clepsydra, and near it a temple of Zeus Ithomatas, with a statue by the famous Argive artist Ageladas, executed originally for the Messenian Helots who settled in Naupactus (see Messenia). It was in honour of this statue that the festival of the Ithomsea was performed....
The situation of Messene is one of the finest and most romantic in the world. The view of Mount Ithome, with its level summit and its ancient and mediaeval ruins, as one issues from the Langadha Pass in the Taygetus mountains, is beautiful beyond description. And the view from the summit of the mountain itself, which rises, steep and rugged, to the height of 2631 feet, and is crowned by the ruins of fortifications of Cyclopean workmanship, is enchanting, hardly equalled by any other in Greece. Near the middle of the ruins of the lower city stands a wretched village named Mavrommati (Black Eye), so called from the Turkish name of the spring Arsinoe, which still flows as plentifully as in the old days. These ruins are the most imposing in Greece, and furnish the finest existing specimen of Hellenic military architecture. Almost the entire circuit of the ancient walls can be traced, and in some places they are standing to their full height. They are built of large hewn stones laid in beautifully regular layers without mortar, and are surmounted by towers, of which there seem to have been originally over thirty. Seven of these are still in a good state of preservation, and bear testimony to the thoroughness of the great enterprise undertaken by Epaminondas. Two gates can still be distinguished, one on the slope of Mount Ithome, the other (the northern or Megalopolis gate) on the north side. The latter is a dipylon or double gate, opening into a circular enclosure 62 feet in diameter. The walls of this enclosure are built with extreme care, and the soffit stone of the inner portal, which has been partly moved from its place, reminds one of the lintel of the so-called treasury of Atreus at Mycenae. Itis 18 ft. 8 in. × 4 ft. 2 in. × 2 ft. 10 in. Within the town several ancient sites can still be distinguished—the stadium, the theatre, and several temples.
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