Ancient Messene

Αρχαία Μεσσήνη

Greece · Peloponnese, Messenia

Ancient cityIntermittent excavation
Approximate period900 BCE — 700 CEClassical, Hellenistic, Roman and Early Christian See on the map ↓

In brief

Founded in 369 BC by Epameinondas, the city was the center of the independent Messenian state. Excavations have uncovered public buildings, sanctuaries, houses and tombs together.

What was found?

  • 1Asklepieion complex

    It comprises the Doric temple of Asklepios and the surrounding colonnaded buildings. It shows that religious buildings and other public functions were brought together in the same center.

  • 2Stadium and gymnasium

    The stadium, colonnaded galleries, educational spaces, and palaestra form an interconnected whole. They document that young people's physical training and education were organized together.

  • 3Saithidai monumental tomb

    The monumental tomb belonging to the Saithidai family is an important remnant associated with the city's elite. It shows that funerary architecture could acquire public visibility.

  • 4Mosaics of Roman residences

    Mosaic floors have been preserved in luxurious Roman residences. They reveal the living environment of the city's wealthy inhabitants.

  • 5Inscribed statue bases

    The bases in the gymnasium document statues erected for officials, civic benefactors, and scholars. Inscriptions recording young people's names also shed light on the educational institution's social structure.

What does it point to?

Messene's buildings show that religion, politics, education, and social prestige were intertwined in urban space. The gymnasium inscriptions reveal the particular connection between youth education here and the upper social strata.

What did it teach us?

  1. Enabled the residential, administrative, worship, and burial areas of an ancient Greek city to be studied together.
  2. Showed that the gymnasium was a center of education and public honors as well as physical training.
  3. Made it possible to trace the people and institutions involved in city life through inscriptions.

Images

View of the remains of the Sanctuary of Asclepius in Ancient Messene on October 29, 2020
George E. Koronaios · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
View of the Stadium, the Gymnasium, and the Palaestra of Messene on October 29, 2020
George E. Koronaios · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Mouseio Messenes
Sp!ros · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Record

Culture
Ancient Greek; Roman
Team / historical
Atina Arkeoloji Derneği; Nikolaos Kaltsas, Eugenia Lambropoulou ve Nikolaos Tsivikis
Coordinates
37.1779°, 21.9195°

Sources

  1. whc.unesco.org
  2. visitgreece.gr
  3. ancientmessene.gr
  4. topostext.org
  5. Messenia Arkeoloji Araştırmaları Derneği — stadyum ve gymnasion

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