﻿#73 



HESSENE. 



MESSINA. 



7U 



then Mesopotamia again returned to a distracted state, until the 

 Osmanlis, who had got a firm footing in Asia Minor, began to extend 

 their conquests over this part of Asia, Their progress was for a time 

 interrupted by the famous Timur, but after his death the Osmanlis 

 again acquired the ascendancy, and subjected the whole of Mesopo- 

 tamia to their dominion in the beginning of the 16th century. 



(Ker Porter, Travels in Ancient Babylonia; Fraaer, Travels in 

 Koordiitan and Metopotamia ; Kinneir, Journey through Aria Minor, 

 Armenia, and KoordMan ; Buckingham, Travels in Metopotamia ; 

 Rich, Narrative of a Journey to the Site of Babylon; Keppel, Personal 

 Narrative of Travels in Babylonia, Assyria, itc. ; Southgate, Nai-rative 

 of a Tour through Armenia; Ainsworth, Travels and Researches in 

 Assyria, Ac. ; Chesney, JlepoH on the Steam Navigation to India ; 

 London Geographical Journal, vols, vi., rii., ii., x. ; Ritter, Erdkunde 

 von Asien, vols. x. and xi ; Dr. Layard, Discoveries, 4c.) 



MESSENE. [Messenia.] 



MESSE'NIA, a country of ancient Greece, was bounded E. by 

 Laconia, N. by Elia and Arcadia, and S. and W. by the sea. It was 

 separated from Laconia by the mountain chain of Taygetus ; and from 

 Elia and Arcadia by the rirer Nsda and the high land which runs 

 between the bed of the Neda and the sources of the Pamisus. Its 

 area is calculated by Mr. Clinton at 1162 square miles ('Fasti Hell.,' ii. 

 p. 385). It forms a nome in the modem Idngdom of Greece, and had 

 !>8,805 inhabitanU in 1852. 



Messenia is described by Pausanias as the moat fertile province in 

 Peloponnesus (iv. 15, § 3) ; and Euripides, in a passage quoted by 

 Strabo (viii. p. 366), speaks of it as a land well watered, very fertile, 

 with beautiful pastures for cattle, and posseaaing a cUmate neither too 

 cold in winter nor too hot in summer. The western part of Messenia 

 is drained by the river Pamisus (now Pymatza), which rises in the 

 mountains between Arcadia and Measenia, and flows southward into 

 the Messenian bay (Gulf of Koroni). The basin of the Pamisus is 

 divided into two distinct parts, which are separated from each other 

 on the east by high land that stretches from Taygetus to the Pami- 

 sus, and on the western side of the river by Mount Ithome. The 

 upper part, usually called the plain of Stenyclerus, is of small extent 

 and moderate fertility; but the lower part south of Ithome is an 

 extensive plain, celebrated in ancient times for its great fertility, 

 whence it was frequently called Macaria, or the 'blessed.' Leake 

 describes it as covered with plantations of the vine, the fig, and the 

 mulberry, and " as rich in cultivation as can well be imagined." The 

 western part of Messenia is diversified by hills and valleys, but contains 

 no high mountains. 



Messenia, called by Homer Measene, is aaid by Pansanias to have 

 derived its name from Meaaene, the wife of Polycaon, the first king of 

 the country, who is described as the younger son of Leiex, king of 

 Laconia (iv. 1, § 1, 2). After the lapse of five generations, the sove- 

 reignty is said to have passed into the hands of Perieres, the son of 

 JEo\\xs. At the time of the Trojan war Messenia appears to have been 

 subject to Menelaus, with the exception of Pylus and probably part 

 of the westeni coast, which was under the dominion of Nestor. After 

 the death of Menelaus, the Neleid princes of Pylus are said by Strabo 

 (viii. p. 359) to have obtained the whole of the country. On the 

 division of the Peloponnesus, after tho Dorian conquest under the 

 Ileraclidai, Measenia fell to tlie share of Cresphontes, who fixed his 

 capital in Stenyclerus, and divided the country into five districts. 

 (Strabo, p. 361.) Pylus however appears to have retained its inde- 

 pendence till a much later date. 



In the middle of the 8th century before the Christian ere, a aeries 

 of disputes and skirmishes arose on the borders of Maasenia and 

 Laconia, which gave rise to a confirmed hatred between the two 

 nations. Prompted by this feeling, the Spartans are said to have bound 

 themselves by an oath never to return home till Messenia was subdued ; 

 and they commenced the contest by a midnight attack on Ampheia, a 

 frontier town, which they took, and put the inhabitants to the sword. 

 This was the commencement of what is called the first Mesaeuian war, 

 the date of which is usually given, though it cannot be fixed with 

 certainty, as o.c. 743. After a contest of twenty years, durin::; which 

 the Messenian king Aristodemus distinguished himself by deeds of 

 heroic valour, the Messenians were subdued and reduced to the con- 

 dition of the Laconian helots. They bore the yoke for 39 years, and 

 then, took up arms against their oppressors (B.C. 685) under the 

 conduct of Aristomenes, a noble youth of the royal blood. The 

 Messenians however were again subdued B.c. 663 ; and those who 

 remained in their native coimtry were treated with the greatest 

 rigour. The majority of freemen however withdrew from Messenia, 

 and a considerable number, under the two sons of Aristomenes, sailed 

 to Italy, and settled at Rhegium. They afterwards obtained possession 

 of Zancle, on the opposite coast of Sicily, and called it Messene, which 

 has retained the some name (Messina) to tho present day. 



The Messenians tgaia revolted in B.C. 464. This war, usually called 

 the third Messenian war, lasted ten years, at the end of which time 

 the Messenians, who had occupied the strongly-fortified mountain of 

 Ithome, surrendered on condition of being allowed to retire fiom the 

 Peloponnesus. The Athenians, who were not at that time on good 

 terms with Sparta, gUdly allowed them to settle at Naupaotus, a town 

 at the entrance of the Corinthian Gulf, which they had lately taken 

 from the Locri Ozote. (Thucyd. L 101, 103 ; Pans. iv. 24, sec. 2 ; 



Diod., xl 70.) This place however the Messenians were obliged to 

 qmt, when, at the end of the Peloponnesian war, the Spartans became 

 masters of Greece ; but after the supremacy of Sparta had been over- 

 thrown at the battle of Leuctra, Epaminondas formed the design of 

 restoring the independence of Messenia, and accordingly sent mes- 

 sengers to Italy, Sicily, and all parts of Greece, to invite the long- 

 exiled Messenians to return to their native country. Numbers obeyed 

 the summons ; and in B.c. 369 a town was built at the foot of Ithome, 

 which they called Messene. The independence of the Messenians was 

 guaranteed by the peace concluded B.o. 361 ; and Messenia continued 

 to remain an independent state till the dissolution of the Achaean 

 confederacy. In the Messenian state, as restored by Epaminondas, 

 the ancient national manners are said to have been retained ; and the 

 dialect remained, up to the time of Pausanias, the purest Doric that 

 was spoken in the Peloponnesus (iv. 27, sec. 5 ; Miiller, ' Dorians.') 



The chief towns on the western coast were Pylos and Mothone, or 

 Methone. The Bay of Pylos (Navarino), which is protected from the 

 swell of the sea by the island of Sphacteria (Sphagia), is the best 

 harbour in the Peloponnesus. Pylos was situated at the foot of 

 Mount .£galeus, according to Strabo, and must not be confounded 

 with the fortress which was erected by the Athenians in the Pelopon- 

 nesian war at the northern entrance of the bay, on the spot called 

 Coryphasium by the Lacedaemonians. (Thucyd. iv. 103, 104.) 

 Mothone, or Methone (Modon), is said by Pausanias (iv. 35, sec. 1) to 

 have been anciently called Pedasus, a town mentioned by Homer : it 

 appears to have been a place of some importance in the time of 

 Pausanias. Passing the promontory Acritas (Cape Gallo) we enter 

 upon the Messenian Gulf, at present called Koroni : forty stadia north 

 of Acritas was Asine (Paus., iv. 34, sec 7), originally inhabited by the 

 Dryopes. Following the coast we come to Colouides, 40 stadia N. 

 from Asine; and afterwards to Mpe&, which was called Corone after 

 the restoration of the Messenians. At the head of the gulf, and east 

 of the river Nedon, was Pheras, or Pharse, which was annexed to 

 Laconica by Augustus (Paus. iv. 30, sec. 2) ; and on the eastern coast 

 of the gulf were Abia, which is mentioned by Homer, according to 

 Pausanias (iv. 30, sea 1) under the name of Ira, and Leuctrum, or 

 Leuctra, which belonged at one time to Laconica. (Strabo, p. 361 ; 

 Tac, 'Ann.,' iv. 43.) It is difficult to determine the boundaries of 

 Laconica and Messenia, as they difiered at various times. In the time 

 of Pausanias the boundary was a woody hollow called Choorius, 20 

 stadia S. from Abia (iv. 30, sec. 1). Strabo blames Euripides for 

 making the river Pamisus the boundary (p. 366) ; but perhaps 

 Euripides referred to a small river of the same name, which Strabo 

 himself tells us was in the vicinity of Leuctrum (p. 361). 



The only town inland of any importance was Messene, situated, as 

 already mentioned, at the foot of Mount Ith6me, on the summit of 

 which was the citadeL Strabo speaks of this citadel and of Acro- 

 corinthus as the two strongest places in the Peloponnesus (p. 361) ; and 

 the account of Pausanias, who praises the strong fortifications of the 

 town, is confirmed by the solid and beautiful masonry which remains 

 to the present day. 



MESSl'NA, a province of Sicily, comprehends the north-east extre- 

 mity of the island, and is bounded W. by the province of Palermo, S. 

 by that of Catania, N. by the Mediterranean, and K. by the Faro or 

 Strait of Messina, which divides it from Calabria. The greatest length 

 of the province is 60 miles, and its breadth is 30 miles. The population 

 in 1851 amounted to 349,484. A continuation of the mountainous 

 ridge which runs across Sicily from west to east, known to the ancients 

 under the various names of Nebrodes, Her;ci, Pelorias, &c., covers the 

 greater part of the interior of the province, and tormiuates at Cape 

 Pelorum. A number of torrents during the rainy season descend from 

 both sides of the ridge, but they are nearly dry in summer. On the 

 south-west the proviuce of Messina skirts the base of JEtna,, the mass 

 of which belongs to the province of Catania. It has no great plains, 

 but it contains many valleys. Its chief products are wine, oil, and 

 fruit of every sort. The province is divided into 4 distretti and 116 

 communes. The towns of the province are : — Messina. Melaao, the 

 ancient Mylse, a sea-port town on a promontoiy of the northern coast 

 facing the Lipari isUnds, 1 5 miles W. from Messina, with a castle and 

 7000 inhabitants, many of whom are employed as sailors and fisher- 

 men. It exports much wine from the neighbouring districts, and also 

 oil. The red Faro wine, which is made nearer to Mesaua, is better 

 than that of the district of Melazzo. Patti, on the same coast, 15 

 miles S.\V. from Melazzo, and not far from the ruins of the ancient 

 Tyndaris, has several churches and convents, and between 4000 and 

 ^000 inhabitants. Taormina, the ancient Tauromenium, on the east 

 coast of the island, and at the north-east base of tho group of JEina, 

 an old-looking town with about 4000 inhabitants, is built upon a steep 

 cliff towering above the sea ; its ancient remains comprise a vast 

 theatre capable of accommodating 40,000 persons, a ruined aqueduct 

 and reservoir, sepulchres, and other ruins scattered around. Castro 

 Reale, in a valley rich in oil and wina, has about 12,000 inhabitants in 

 the commune. Randaao, at the north base of iEtna, in a very fertile 

 district, has 5000 inhabitants. 



The islands of Lipari are included in the administrative province of 

 Messina. [Lipari Islands.] 



MESSl'NA, the Town of, lies on the north-east coast of Sicily 

 opposite the Calabrian coast, from which it is separated by the Strait 



