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Messene: The City that Defied Sparta | 9:21
Scenic Routes to the Past | 52.7K subscribers | views | December 26, 2025
Introduction
For three and a half centuries, Messenia, the most fertile part of the Peloponnese, was dominated by Sparta. The inhabitants of the region were reduced to the status of helots, serfs compelled to grow crops for their Spartan masters. Despite several attempts at revolt, the helots remained in bondage until the great Theban general Epaminondas broke Sparta's power and invited the former helots to settle in the new city of Messini.

Messini was founded in a hollow of Mount Itham, the ancient heart of Messenia, and it was once fortified to fend off Spartan attacks. It thrived for the next century before succumbing to Rome with the rest of Greece. Most of its extant buildings date to this period of independence, though almost all were repaired or remodeled under the Romans. Messini is only partially excavated, with only some of the principal public buildings and the magnificent walls still visible, but these are impressive enough. We'll start with the theater, still partially buried, though the scale is obvious.

Agora
Introduction
We're now walking into the vast expanse of the Agora. Here on the north side of the Agora was the fountain house of Arsenui, fed by a natural spring, and the absolutely enormous north stoa. Into that stoa was set in the later Roman period a small bath just ahead of us. Pedestals inside bore the statues of athletes, later replaced by likenesses of the emperors. You can see the hypocaust system of the baths there. And now looking down the length of the north stoa.
Theater District
The theater was renovated several times. It originally had a wooden stage building that moved on wheels. This was replaced by a series of progressively grander permanent stage buildings. Beside the theater was a sanctuary of the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis. Remarkably, this seems to have included a series of subterranean spaces, apparently for initiation ceremonies. Beyond that sanctuary was a Roman-era bath.

At the beginning of the 7th century, at the very end of Messini's ancient history, this basilica was built using spolia from earlier buildings. It functioned through the Frankish period. These columns belonged to the west side of the Agora. Beside them was this space which appears to have functioned as a meat market.
Temple of Messene
At the center of the Agora was the temple of Messini, the mythical queen said to have ruled Messenia before the Spartans came. Later, her name was given to the city. It was a Doric peripheral structure with an elaborate gold and marble cult statue. Part of the architrave from the temple of Messini, all done in the best Doric style. Check out that sweet triglyph action.

Beside the temple of Messini was the Bouleuterion or city council chamber, built soon after the foundation of the city. It appears to have resembled a reduced version of the Telesterion at Eleusis. This curious structure, known perhaps facetiously as the treasury, appears to have functioned as a monumental jail cell. It was here that Philip of Macedon, the famous Macedonian general, was kept and finally poisoned. Sorry cat, got nothing for you. But hey, be immortalized on YouTube.
Asclepieion
The Asclepieion was Messini's most important sanctuary. So large that it was long mistaken for the city's Agora, it was a self-contained complex centered on the healing god's large Doric temple. Here we have a better view of the central temple and the stoas that surrounded it. A small shrine of Artemis was incorporated into the peristyle of the Asclepieion. The goddess's colossal cult image stood on the pedestal just ahead of us.

This is the base of a marble offering table. And here beside it is the ancient equivalent of a cash box into which worshippers could cast offerings. As usual, the main altar was in front of the temple.

A short distance from the Asclepieion is this remarkable fragment of a Roman-era mansion. The vestibule ahead of us had a mosaic floor. The reception room beyond was paved with opus sectile cut marble. Just downslope from the sanctuary of Asclepius was the Herthysian, where the 12 Olympian gods were worshiped alongside Ammon, the city's founder.
Gymnasium
We now enter the vast stadium gymnasium complex used throughout the life of the city. The stadium was redeveloped in the later Roman period for use in beast hunts and gladiatorial combats. That wall you see towards the back dates to that renovation. In the peristyle around the stadium were the rooms and running track of the gymnasium. This was the monumental entrance or propylon to the gymnasium peristyle.

On this side is a very strikingary monument. A closer look at that tomb. It was built in the 3rd century BC for eight members of an aristocratic Messenian family. It remains almost perfectly preserved despite tomb robbers. The scale of this complex really is impressive. You couldn't ask for a better statement of the pivotal importance of athletics in ancient Greek life.

On one side of the gymnasium complex was the polystra. This was the central courtyard of that space. Like the rest of the gymnasium, it was used principally by the youths, the Messenian youth who spent three years training here, not only in athletics but also in literature. The stadium from below beside the wall added by the Romans. This remarkable temple-like structure was actually a mausoleum used by an elite Messenian family from the 1st to the 3rd century.
Walls
A highlight of any visit to Messini is the vast wall circuit which ran for more than 5 miles along the slopes and up to the summit of Mount Itham. The space inside the walls, far larger than the settled area, enclosed fields that could continue to produce food in the event of a siege. The walls, with facings of square blocks and a core of rubble, averaged about 7 ft thick. Let's come around to the outside.

The two-story towers, originally they were at least 30, were designed to hold catapults. The best preserved of the four known gates is the Arcadian gate, which opened onto the road to Megalopolis. The huge monolith we'll see in a moment separated the two doors of the inner gate. There it is, where the car is coming in now. We'll conclude here, looking from the walls down toward the fertile plain of Messenia and the heart of ancient Messini.
YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai