[1] Messenia borders on Eleia; and for the most part it inclines round towards the south and the Libyan Sea. Now in the time of the Trojan War this country was classed as subject to Menelaüs, since it was a part of Laconia, and it was called Messene, but the city now named Messene whose acropolis was Ithome, had not yet been founded; ¹ but after the death of Menelaüs, when those who succeeded to the government of Laconia had become enfeebled, the Neleidae began to rule over Messenia. And indeed at the time of the return of the Heracleidae and of the division of the country which then took place, Melanthus was king of the Messenians, who were an autonomous people, although formerly they had been subject to Menelaüs. An indication of this is as follows: The seven cities which Agamemnon promised to give to Achilles were on the Messenian Gulf and the adjacent Asinaean Gulf, so called after the Messenian Asine; ² these cities were ³ and surely Agamemnon would not have promised cities that belonged neither to himself nor to his brother. And the poet makes it clear that men from Pherae ⁴ did accompany Menelaüs on the expedition; and in the Laconian Catalogue he includes Oetylus, ⁵ which is situated on the Messenian Gulf. Messene ⁶ comes after Triphylia; and there is a cape which is common to both; ⁷ and after this cape come Cyparissia and Coryphasium. Above Coryphasium and the sea, at a distance of seven stadia, lies a mountain, Aegaleum.

[2] Now the ancient Messenian Pylus was a city at the foot of Aegaleum; but after this city was torn down some of its inhabitants took up their abode on Cape Coryphasium; and when the Athenians under the leadership of Eurymedon and Stratocles ⁸ were sailing on the second expedition to Sicily, they reconstructed the city as a fortress against the Lacedaemonians. Here, too, is the Messenian Cyparissia, and the island called Prote, and the island called Sphagia that lies off the coast near Pylus (the same is also called Sphacteria), on which the Lacedaemonians lost by capture three hundred of their own men, who were besieged and forced to surrender by the Athenians. ⁹ Opposite this seacoast of the Cyparissians, out in the high sea, lie two islands called Strophades; and they are distant, I should say, about four hundred stadia from the mainland, in the Libyan and Southern Sea. Thucydides ¹⁰ says that this Pylus was the naval station of the Messenians. It is four hundred ¹¹ stadia distant from Sparta.

[3] Next comes Methone. This, they say, is what the poet calls Pedasus, ¹² one of the seven cities which Agamemnon promised to Achilles. It was here that Agrippa, during the war of Actium, ¹³ after he had taken the place by an attack from the sea, put to death Bogus, the king of the Maurusians, who belonged to the faction of Antony.

[4] Adjacent to Methone ¹⁴ is Acritas, ¹⁵ which is the beginning of the Messenian Gulf. But this is also called the Asinaean Gulf, from Asine, which is the first town on the gulf and bears the same name as the Hermionic town. ¹⁶ Asine, then, is the beginning of the gulf on the west, while the beginning on the east is formed by a place called Thyrides, ¹⁷ which borders on that part of the Laconia of today which is near Cynaethius and Taenarum. ¹⁸ Between Asine and Thyrides, beginning at Thyrides, one comes to Oetylus (by some called Baetylus ¹⁹ ); then to Leuctrum, a colony of the Leuctri in Boeotia; then to Cardamyle, which is situated on a rock fortified by nature; then to Pherae, ²⁰ which borders on Thuria and Gerena, the place from which Nestor got his epithet “Gerenian,” it is said, because his life was saved there, as I have said before. ²¹ In Gerenia is to be seen a temple of Triccaean Asclepius, a reproduction of the one in the Thessalian Tricca. It is said that Pelops, after he had given his sister Niobe in marriage to Amphion, founded Leuctrum, Charadra, and Thalami (now called Boeoti), bringing with him certain colonists from Boeotia. Near Pherae is the mouth of the Nedon River; it flows through Laconia and is a different river from the Neda. It ²² has a notable temple of Athena Nedusia. In Poeäessa, ²³ also, there is a temple of Athena Nedusia, named after some place called Nedon, from which Teleclus is said to have colonized Poeäessa and Echeiae ²⁴ and Tragium.

[5] Of the seven cities ²⁵ which Agamemnon tendered to Achilles, I have already spoken about Cardamyle and Pherae and Pedasus. As for Enope, ²⁶ some say that it is Pellana, ²⁷ others that it is some place near Cardamyle, and others that it is Gerenia. As for Hire, it is pointed out near the mountain that is near Megalopolis in Arcadia, on the road that leads to Andania, the city which, as I have said, ²⁸ the poet called Oechalia; but others say that what is now Mesola, ²⁹ which extends to the gulf between Taÿgetus and Messenia, is called Hire. And Aepeia is now called Thuria, which, as I have said, ³⁰ borders on Pharae; it is situated on a lofty hill, and hence the name. ³¹ From Thuria is derived the name of the Thuriates Gulf, on which there was but one city, Rhium ³² by name, opposite Taenarum. And as for Antheia, some say that it is Thuria itself, and that Aepeia is Methone; but others say that of all the Messenian cities the epithet “deep-meadowed” ³³ was most appropriately applied to the intervening Asine, in whose territory on the sea is a city called Corone; ³⁴ moreover, according to some writers, it was Corone that the poet called Pedasus. ³⁵ Cardamyle on it, Pharae only five stadia distant (with an anchoring place in summer), while the others are at varying distances from the sea.

[6] It is near Corone, at about the center of the gulf, that the river Pamisus empties. The river has on its right Corone and the cities that come in order after it (of these latter the farthermost towards the west are Pylus and Cyparissia, and between these is Erana, which some have wrongly thought to be the Arene of earlier time), ³⁶ and it has Thuria and Pharae on its left. It is the largest of the rivers inside the Isthmus, although it is no more than a hundred stadia in length from its sources, from which it flows with an abundance of water through the Messenian plain, that is, through Macaria, as it is called. The river stands at a distance of fifty ³⁷ stadia from the present city of the Messenians. There is also another Pamisus, a small torrential stream, which flows near the Laconian Leuctrum; and it was over Leuctrum that the Messenians got into a dispute with the Lacedaemonians in the time of Philip. Of the Pamisus which some called the Amathus I have already spoken. ³⁸

[7] According to Ephorus: When Cresphontes took Messenia, he divided it into five cities; and so, since Stenyclarus was situated in the center of this country, he designated it as a royal residence for himself, while as for the others—Pylus, Rhium, Mesola, and Hyameitis—he sent kings to them, after conferring on all the Messenians equal rights with the Dorians; but since this irritated the Dorians, he changed his mind, gave sanction to Stenyclarus alone as a city, and also gathered into it all the Dorians.

[8] The city of the Messenians is similar to Corinth; for above either city lies a high and precipitous mountain that is enclosed by a common ³⁹ wall, so that it is used as an acropolis, the one mountain being called Ithome and the other Acrocorinthus. And so Demetrius of Pharos seems to have spoken aptly to Philip ⁴⁰ the son of Demetrius when he advised him to lay hold of both these cities if he coveted the Peloponnesus, ⁴¹ “for if you hold both horns,” he said, “you will hold down the cow,” meaning by “horns” Ithome and Acrocorinthus, and by “cow” the Peloponnesus. And indeed it is because of their advantageous position that these cities have been objects of contention. Corinth was destroyed and rebuilt again by the Romans; ⁴² and Messene was destroyed by the Lacedaemonians but restored by the Thebans and afterward by Philip the son of Amyntas. The citadels, however, remained uninhabited.

[9] The temple of Artemis at Limnae, at which the Messenians are reputed to have outraged the maidens who had come to the sacrifice, ⁴³ is on the boundaries between Laconia and Messenia, where both peoples held assemblies and offered sacrifice in common; and they say that it was after the outraging of the maidens, when the Messenians refused to give satisfaction for the act, that the war took place. And it is after this Limnae, also, that the Limnaeum, the temple of Artemis in Sparta, has been named.

[10] Often, however, they went to war on account of the revolts of the Messenians. Tyrtaeus says in his poems that the first conquest of Messenia took place in the time of his fathers’ fathers; the second, at the time when the Messenians chose the Argives, Eleians, Pisatans, and Arcadians as allies and revolted—the Arcadians furnishing Aristocrates ⁴⁴ the king of Orchomenus as general and the Pisatae furnishing Pantaleon the son of Omphalion; at this time, he says, he himself was the Lacedaemonian general in the war, ⁴⁵ for in his elegy entitled Eunomia he says that he came from there: ^{46 47} Therefore either these verses of the elegy must be denied authority or we must discredit Philochorus, ⁴⁸ who says that Tyrtaeus was an Athenian from the deme of Aphidnae, and also Callisthenes and several other writers, who say that he came from Athens when the Lacedaemonians asked for him in accordance with an oracle which bade them to get a commander from the Athenians. So the second war was in the time of Tyrtaeus; but also a third and fourth war took place, they say, in which the Messenians were defeated. ⁴⁹ The voyage round the coast of Messenia, following the sinuosities of the gulfs, is, all told, about eight hundred stadia in length.

[11] However, I am overstepping the bounds of moderation in recounting the numerous stories told about a country the most of which is now deserted; in fact, Laconia too is now short of population as compared with its large population in olden times, for outside of Sparta the remaining towns are only about thirty in number, whereas in olden times it was called, they say, “country of the hundred cities”; and it was on this account, they say, that they held annual festivals in which one hundred cattle were sacrificed.

[1] MESSENIA is continuous with the Eleian territory, incline. ing for the most part towards the south, and the Libyan Sea. Being part of Laconia, it was subject in the Trojan times to Menelaus. The name of the country was Messene. But the present city called Messene, the acropolis of which was Ithome, was not then founded. After the death of Menelaus, when the power of those who succeeded to the possession of Laconia was altogether weakened, the Neleidae governed Messenia. At the time of the return of the Heracleidae, and according to the partition of the country at that time, Melanthus was king of the Messenians, who were a separate community, but formerly subject to Menelaus. As a proof of this, in the space from the Messenian Gulf and the continuous gulf, (called the Asinaean from the Messenian Asine,) were situated the seven cities which Agamemnon promised to Achilles; He certainly would not have promised what did not belong either to himself or to his brother. The poet mentions those, who accompanied Menelaus from Pherae to the war, ³ and speaks of (Oetylus) in the Laconian catalogue, a city situated on the Gulf of Messenia.

Messene follows next to Triphylia. The promontory, after which are the Coryphasium and Cyparissia, is common to both. At the distance of 7 stadia is a mountain, the Aegaleum, situated above Coryphasium and the sea.

[2] The ancient Messenian Pylus was a city lying below the Aegaleum, and after it was razed, some of the inhabitants settled under the Coryphasium. But the Athenians in their second expedition against Sicily, under the command of Eurymedon and Stratocles, got possession of it, and used it as a stronghold against the Lacedaemonians. ⁴ Here also is the Messenian Cyparissia, (and the island Prote,) lying close to Pylus, the island Sphagia, called also Sphacteria. It was here that the Lacedaemonians lost three hundred men, ⁵ who were besieged by the Athenians and taken prisoners.

Two islands, called Strophades, ⁶ belonging to the Cy- parissii, lie off at sea in front of this coast, at the distance of about 400 stadia from the continent, in the Libyan and southern sea. According to Thucydides this Pylus was the naval station of the Messenians. It is distant from Sparta 400 stadia.

[3] Next is Methone. ⁷ This city, called by the poet Pedasus, was one of the seven, it is said, which Agamemnon promised to Achilles. There Agrippa killed, in the Actian war, Bogus, the king of the Maurusii, a partisan of Antony’s, having got possession of the place by an attack by sea

[4] Continuous with Methone is Acritas, ⁸ where the Messenian Gulf begins, which they call also Asinaeus from Asine, a small city, the first we meet with on the gulf, and having the same name as the Hermionic Asine.

This is the commencement of the gulf towards the west. Towards the east are the Thyrides, ⁹ as they are called, bordering upon the present Laconia near Caenepolis, ¹⁰ and Taenarum.

In the intervening distance, if we begin from the Thyrides, we meet with Oetylus, ¹¹ by some called Beitylus; then Leuctrum, a colony of the Leuctri in Boeotia; next, situated upon a steep rock, Cardamyle; ¹² then Pherae, bordering upon Thuria, and Gerenia, from which place they say Nestor had the epithet Gerenian, because he escaped thither, as we have mentioned before. They show in the Gerenian territory a temple of Aesculapius Triccaeus, copied from that at the Thessalian Tricca. Pelops is said to have founded Leuctrum, and Charadra, and Thalami, now called the Boeotian Thalami, having brought with him, when he married his sister Niob to Amphion, some colonists from Boeotia. The Nedon, a different river from the Neda, flows through Laconia, and discharges its waters near Pherae. It has upon its banks a remarkable temple of the Nedusian Minerva. At Poeaessa also there is a temple of the Nedusian Minerva, which derives its name from a place called Nedon, ¹³ whence, they say, Teleclus colonized Poeaessa, ¹⁴ and Echeiae, and Tragium.

[5] With respect to the seven cities promised to Achilles, we have already spoken of Cardamyle, and Pherae, and Pedasus. Enope, some say is Pellana; others, some place near Cardamyle; others, Gerenia. ¹⁵ Hira is pointed out near a mountain in the neighbourhood of Megalopolis ¹⁶ in Arcadia, on the road to Andania, which we have said is called by the poet Oechalia. Others say that the present Mesola was called Hira, which extends to the bay situated between Taÿgetum and Messenia. Aepeia is now called Thuria, which we said bordered upon Pherae. It is situated upon a lofty hill, whence its name. ¹⁷ The Thuriatic Gulf has its name from Thuria; upon the gulf is a single city, named Rhium, opposite Tenarum. Some say that Antheia is Thuria, and Aepeia Methone; others, that Antheia is Asine, situated between Methone and Thuria, to which, of all the Messenian cities, the description, with its rich pastures, is most appropriate. Near it on the sea is Corone. There are some writers who say that this town is called Pedasus by the poet. These cities are all near the sea; Cardamyle close to it; Pherae at the distance of 5 stadia, having an anchorage, which is used in the summer. The rest are situated at unequal distances from the sea.

[6] Near Corone, about the middle of the gulf, the river Pamisus ¹⁸ discharges itself, having, on the right hand, this city, and the rest in succession, the last of which, towards the west, are Pylus and Cyparissia, and between these is Erana, which some writers erroneously suppose to be the ancient Arene; on the left hand it has Thyria and Pherae. It is the largest (in width) of the rivers within the isthmus, although its course from its springs does not exceed 100 stadia in length; it has an abundant supply of water, and traverses the Messenian plain, and the district called Macaria. ¹⁹ It is distant from the present city of the Messenians 50 stadia. ²⁰ There is also another Pamisus, a small torrent stream, running near Leuctrum of Laconia, which was a subject of dispute between the Messenians and Lacedaemonians in the time of Philip.

I have before said that some persons called the Pamisus, Amathus. ²¹

[7] Ephorus relates that Cresphontes, after he had taken Messene, divided it into five cities, and chose Stenyclarus, situated in the middle of this district, to be the royal seat of his kingdom. To the other cities, Pylus, Rhium, (Mesola,) and Hyameitis, he appointed kings, and put all the Messenians on an equal footing with the Dorians as to rights and privileges. The Dorians, however, taking offence, he changed his intention, and determined that Stenyclarus alone should have the rank of a city, and here he assembled all the Dorians.

[8] The city of the Messenians ²² resembles Corinth, for above each city is a lofty and precipitous mountain, enclosed by a common wall in such a manner as to be used as an acropolis; the Messenian mountain is Ithome, ²³ that near Corinth is Acrocorinthus. Demetrius of Pharos seemed to have counselled Philip the son of Demetrius well, when he advised him to make himself master of both cities, if he desired to get possession of Peloponnesus; for, said he, when you have seized both horns, the cow will be your own; meaning, by the horns, Ithome and Acrocorinthus, and, by the cow, Peloponnesus. It was no doubt their convenient situation which made these cities subjects of contention. The Romans therefore razed Corinth, and again rebuilt it. The Lacedaemonians destroyed Messene, and the Thebans, and subsequently Philip, the son of Amyntas, restored it. The citadels however continued unoccupied.

[9] The temple of Diana in Limnae (in the Marshes), where the Messenians are supposed to have violated the virgins who came there to offer sacrifice, is on the confines of Laconia and Messenia, where the inhabitants of both countries usually celebrated a common festival, and performed sacrifices; but after the violation of the virgins, the Messenians did not make any reparation, and war, it is said, ensued. The Limnaean temple of Diana at Sparta is said to have its name from the Limnae here.

[10] There were frequent wars (between the Lacedaemonians and Messenians) on account of the revolts of the Messenians. Tyrtaeus mentions, in his poems, that their first subjugation was in the time of their grandfathers; ²⁴ the second, when in conjunction with their allies the Eleians [Arcadians], Argives, and Pisatae, they revolted; the leader of the Arcadians was Aristocrates, king of Orchomenus, and of the Pisatae, Pantaleon, son of Omphalion. In this war, Tyrtaeus says, he himself commanded the Lacedaemonian army, for in his elegiac poem, entitled Eunomia, he says he came from Erineum; Wherefore we must either invalidate the authority of the elegiac verses, or we must disbelieve Philochorus, and Callisthenes, and many other writers, who say that he came from Athens, or Aphidnae, at the request of the Lacedaemonians, whom an oracle had enjoined to receive a commander from the Athenians.

The second war then occurred in the time of Tyrtaeus. But they mention a third, and even a fourth war, in which the Messenians were destroyed. ²⁵ The whole voyage along the Messenian coast comprises about 800 stadia, including the measurement of the bays.

[11] I have exceeded the limits of moderation in this description, by attending to the multitude of facts which are related of a country, the greatest part of which is deserted. Even Laconia itself is deficient in population, if we compare its present state with its ancient populousness. For, with the exception of Sparta, the remaining small cities are about thirty; but, anciently, Laconia had the name of Hecatompolis, and that for this reason hecatombs were annually sacrificed.