| Messene |
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| 369 bc establishments | |
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Messene ( in southern Greece . In antiquity, it was a Doric Greek city-state founded by Epaminondas in 369 BC , after the Battle Of Leuctra and the first Theban invasion of the Peloponnese. Today, an archaeological site of the ancient city remains, and the modern town has some 10 000 inhabitants. ANCIENT CITY The town was built by the combined Theban and Argive armies and the exiled Messenians who had been invited to return and found a state which should be independent of Sparta n rule. The site was chosen by Epaminondas and lay on the western slope of the mountain which dominates the Messenian plain and culminates in the two peaks of Ithome and Eua . The former of these (740 m or 2,630 ft) served as the Acropolis , and was included within the same system of fortifications as the lower city. Pausanias has left us a description of the city (iv. 3 1?33), its chief temples and statues, its springs, its market-place and gymnasium, 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and the temple of Zeus Ithomatas on the summit of the acropolis with a statue by the famous Argive sculptor Ageladas , originally made for the Messenian helots who had settled at Naupactus at the close of the third Messenian War. But what chiefly excited his wonder was the strength of its fortifications, which excelled all those of the Greek world. Of the wall, some 5 miles (8 km) in extent, considerable portions yet remain, especially on the north and north-west, and almost the entire circuit can still be traced, affording the finest extant example of Greek fortification. The wall is flanked by towers about 31 ft (9 m) high set at irregular intervals: these have two stories with loopholes in the lower and windows in the upper, and are entered by doors on a level with the top of the wall which is reached by flights of steps. Of the gates only two can be located, the eastern or Laconian, situated on the eastern side of the saddle uniting . MODERN TOWN Messene remained a place of some importance under the Romans , but we hear nothing of it in medieval times and then the hamlet of Mavromati occupies a small part of the site. The city has been revived, and is home to over 10,000 people. The present location of Messini is about 15 to 20 km S of the archaeological site. Messene is a suburb of Kalamata nowadays. It is no longer the capital of Messenia. Messini has schools, lyceums, gymnasia, banks, a post office, and squares ''( Plateia )'' named Kentriki Plateia or Central Square. The square is surrounded with a few Pine Tree s with a building to the southwest, grass with two walkways to the north along with a few Palm Tree s; a famous white clock tower without windows is in the middle of the square. The town is accessed by Greece Interstate 82 (Pylos - Kalamata - Sparta) which has been bypassed in the south and a road to Efa (Eua) to the north. The nearest beach is in the southwest. The farmlands which used to resemble a wetland are to the southeast. Messini used to have a railway station from the 1900s with a connection of the SPAP line about 5 km east and the westernmost terminus of this line, until the abandonment in the late 20th Century . Landmarks near Messene today include the airport of Kalamata at its east, and beaches south of the city. Nearest places
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