Bronze
age
The earliest inhabitants of Messenia were thought by the
Greeks of the Classical period to have been 'Pelasgians', as in other regions
of Greece. Supposedly, the Hellenic tribes had then arrived in Greece, and
Messenia was settled by Aeolian Greeks. The Homeric poems suggest that during
the Mycenaean period, eastern Messenia was under the rule of Menelaus of
Sparta, while the western coast is under the Neleids of Pylos; after Menelaus’s
death the Neleids pushed the frontier as far as Taygetus. The Mycenaean city of
Pylos has been identified with the modern site of Ano Englianos, in western
Messenia. Excavations at Pylos and Nichoria have revealed for Messenia's late
Bronze Age (14th century BC) a bureaucratic, agricultural kingdom ruled by the
wanax at Pylos. The Messenians spoke Mycenaean Greek, and worshipped the Greek
gods at local shrines like that at Sphagianes. During the legendary Dorian
invasion of the Peloponnese during the Greek Dark ages, Messenia was supposedly
invaded by Dorians under Cresphontes, arriving from Arcadia. They took as their
capital Stenyclarus in the northern plain, and then extended, first their
suzerainty, and then their rule over the whole district.
Archaic
period
During the Archaic period the relative wealth of Messenia
in fertile soil and favourable climate attracted the neighbouring Spartans. The
first Messenian War broke out—as a result of the murder of the Spartan king
Teleclus by the Messenians, it was claimed, which, in spite of the heroism of
King Euphaes and his successor Aristodemus ended in the subjection of Messenia
by Sparta (ca. 720 BC). Two generations later the Messenians revolted and under
the leadership of Aristomenes kept the Spartans at bay for some seventeen years
(685 BC—668 BC). However, the stronghold of Ira (Eira) finally fell after a
siege of eleven years. As the object of the Spartans was to increase the number
of lots of land for their citizens, many of the conquered Messenians (those who
did not manage to leave the area) were reduced to the condition of Helots. The
Spartan poet Tyrtaeus describes how the Messenians endured the insolence of the
masters:
As asses worn by loads intolerable,
So Them did stress of cruel force compel,
Of all the fruits the well-tilled land affords,
The moiety to bear to their proud lords.
— Bury and
Meiggs, "A History of Greece," 4th Ed
Classical
period
The Messenians revolted again in 464 BC, after a severe
earthquake destroyed Sparta and caused great loss of life. The insurgents
defended themselves for some years on the rock-citadel of Ithome, as they had
done in the first Messenian War. The Spartans were unable to expel them from
their stronghold on Mt. Ithome and so agreed to an Athenian mediated truce
whereby the Messenians left the Peloponnese and were settled by the Athenians
at Naupactus in the territory of Ozalian Locris.
Pre-Hellenistic
to Hellenistic period
After the decisive Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, when the
Spartans suffered a severe defeat at the hands of Thebes, Epaminondas invaded
Messenia, and liberated it from Spartan rule. Epaminondas invited the exiled
Messenians scattered in Italy, Sicily, Africa and elsewhere to return to their
country. The city of Messene was founded in 369 BC to be the capital of the
country and, like Megalopolis in Arcadia, became a powerful check on Sparta.
Other towns, as well, were founded or rebuilt at this time, though a great part
of the land still remained very sparsely populated. Although quite independent,
Messenia never became really powerful or able to stand without external
support. After the fall of the Theban power, to which it had owed its
foundation, it became an ally of Philip II of Macedon and avoided further
conflict in the 4th century BC. Subsequently the Messenians joined with the
Achaean League, and Messenian troops fought along with the Achaeans and
Antigonus Doson at Sellasia in 222 BC. Philip V sent Demetrius of Pharos to
seize Messene, but the attempt failed and cost the life of Demetrius. Soon
afterwards the Spartan tyrant Nabis succeeded in taking the city, but was
forced to retire by the timely arrival of Philopoemen and the Megalopolitans. A
war afterwards broke out with the Achaean League, during which Philopoemen was
captured and put to death by the Messenians (183 BC), but Lycortas took the
city in the following year, and it again joined the Achaean League, though much
weakened by the loss of Abia, Thuria and Pharae, which broke loose from it and
entered the League as independent members.
Roman
period
In 146 BC, the Messenians, together with the other states
of Greece, were brought directly under Roman sway. For centuries there had been
a dispute between Messenia and Sparta about the possession of the Ager
Dentheliales on the western slope of Taygetus: after various decisions by
Philip II of Macedon, Antigonus, Lucius Mummius, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony,
Augustus Caesar and others, the question was settled in 25 by Tiberius and the
Senate in favour of the Messenians.
Medieval
period
In the Middle Ages, Messenia shared the fortunes of the
rest of the Peloponnese. Striking reminders of these conflicts are afforded by
the extant ruins of the medieval strongholds of Kalamata, Coron (anc. Asine,
mod. Korone), Modon (Methone) and Pylos. Messenia was a part of the Byzantine
Empire.
Ottoman
and Venetian period
Much of Messenia fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks,
a part of the area remained with the Venetian Republic. In 1534 a group of
families, known as the 'Coroni', settled in Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily.
They were Arvanites and Greeks from Koroni.
During the 1680s, the whole of Messenia was regained by
the Venetian Republic in the Morean War, and formed part of the "Kingdom
of the Morea" until recovered by the Ottomans in 1715. The Mani Peninsula,
a part of modern Messenia, was autonomous from Turkish rule due to the fact
that it had no harbors.
Modern
period
Messenia became part of independent Greece as a result of
the Greek War of Independence (1821-1832). The famous naval Battle of Navarino
took place near present Pylos in 1827, and was a decisive victory for Greece
and its allies.