View source for Messene

==The Site==

===City walls===

[[File:Messini walls 01.JPG|thumb|A watchtower in the circuit wall]]
Messene was surrounded by a circuit wall {{convert|9|km|mi|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|7|m|ft|abbr=off}} — {{convert|9|m|ft|abbr=off}} high.<ref name=Alcock179-180/> It was fortified by 30 square or horseshoe-shaped guard towers (and probably barracks) with doors admitting passage to a protected walkway on top of the wall. The wall was pierced by two main gates flanked by protective structures and rectangular in shape with a lintel of a single, massive beam of limestone. Through the Arcadia Gate to the north ran and still runs the main road north (to Arcadia), currently{{when|date=July 2021}} from Mavromati. As Mavromati is the location of the major spring capture, klepsydra, it was probably the first stop for travellers to the city.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} From there a road runs over the ridge adjoining Mounts Ithome and Eva to the Laconia Gate, similar to the Arcadia Gate. The wall runs straight up the ridge but does not encompass Mount Eva. Today the next stop on the road is the monastery, Mone Voulkanou, set into the lower southeast flank of Mounts Eva.

===Public buildings and monuments===

[[File:Messene 02.jpg|thumb|View of the Odeon]]
[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] has left a description of the city,<ref>Pausanias, IV.3.1?33.</ref> its chief temples and statues, its springs, its market-place and gymnasium, the Asclepieion,<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/481140/The_Virtual_Reconstruction_of_the_Hellenistic_Asklepieion_of_Messene= Sideris A., Roussou M. and A. Gaitatzes, "The virtual reconstruction of the Hellenistic Asclepieion of Messene"], ''Imeros'' 4, 2004, pp. 208-216.</ref> its place of sacrifice, the tomb of the hero [[Aristomenes]] and the temple of [[Zeus]] Ithomatas on the summit of the acropolis with a statue by the famous Argive sculptor [[Ageladas]], originally made for the Messenian helots who had settled at [[Naupactus]] at the close of the third Messenian War.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

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]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

===Early Christian and Byzantine monuments===

As Messene continued to be an important urban center of SW Peloponnese all through Late Antiquity, a considerable number of Early Christian and Byzantine monuments have been excavated and are now visible and partially restored. Of special importance is a 3rd and 4th century CE house church that was created inside a luxurious Roman urban house in order to accommodate the needs of the Early Christian community of Messene and serve as a prayer room and assembly hall.<ref>N. Tsivikis, [https://www.academia.edu/79748221/Christian_Inscriptions_from_a_Third_and_Fourth_Century_House_Church_at_Messene_Peloponnese_Journal_of_Epigraphic_Studies_5_2022_175_197= Christian Inscriptions from a Third and Fourth-Century House Church at Messene (Peloponnese)], ''Journal of Epigraphic Studies'' 5 (2022), 175-197.</ref> This building constitutes one of the very few known early [[domus ecclesiae]] buildings. The house church was destroyed in the 365 CE earthquake and abandoned afterwards.

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.<ref>N. Tsivikis, [https://www.academia.edu/36646397/Architectural_Planning_and_Building_Practices_at_the_Basilica_of_the_Theater_in_Messene_DChAE_39_2018_111_124= Architectural Planning and Building Practices at the Basilica of the Theater in Messene], ''DChAE'' 39 (2018), 111-124.</ref>