I + 20 : Messene - Reminder of Transience

Our Boat, the MYRA, this morning at Sunrise at 06.59 am (in Rhodes it was 06.25 am)

This morning, after breakfast, it was time to say good-bye to Captain Sinan and his team. Despite the wind, they brought us safely from Rhodes to Pylos on the Peloponnese. We were sad to leave. They were a good crew and got even better over the three weeks. At the pier in Pylos harbor, two vans were already waiting. On our return to Athens, we wanted to visit the town of Sparta's liberated slaves, Messene.

Meseme's partially restored Theatre was used for both

Performances and Public Debates

As expected, there were only a few visitors. Excavations started already during the French Morea expedition under General Maison in 1828, but Messene is off the beaten track. With no modern town nearby, the town's buildings survived well. Nobody came here to quarry the ancient site's stones. I wrote about Messene already in my blog I - 5 on 14 July 2025.

A significant Part of Messene's massive Town Walls are

still standing - they were built to keep the Spartans out

The location of Messene was carefully chosen. It is located in a valley basin and on three sides surrounded by mountains. It is thus easy to defend and well watered from sources inside the wall perimeter. Messene's town walls were unusually long and included a large agricultural area to better withstand prolonged sieges. In the middle of August, signs of water are everywhere. The small creeks are still running - amazing. The gentle slope on which Messene is built lets it benefit from the cooling morning and evening breezes.

Messene's well preserved Stadium is built into the Hill Slope

Contrary to other ancient towns who were deserted in the 6th and 7th century AD, Messene remained an important town in the Byzantine Empire and had its own bishop. But the three major economic events of the Roman Empire, (a) the collapse of the western part (476 AD), the plague under Justinian (541 - 549 AD) and the loss of the Levant and Northern Africa to the Arabs (639 AD), affected Messene too. As agricultural center it must have been a major olive oil exporter. With long-distance trade shattered, there was no demand for its products any longer. Messene shrunk; slowly but steadily. There were no markets, no games any more. Grass grew over obsolete structures. People concentrated in villages still there today.

Map of Ancient Messene - Mavrommati is still within the Town

Walls. Once a Residential Quarter it is now a Greek Village

View from the Village of Mavrommati over Messene's Public Buildings. The Villagers make one of the best olive oils in Greece called Ethomi - we could not resist buying a few bottle

Messene is a good example of the transient nature of human structures. If a settlment, by itself an artificial construct, is dependent on one major business line, it is always at risk - unless it continuously reinvents itself. There are many examples in history: Knidos, Avignon, Venice, Detroit - and now probably London which is loosing its importance as global financial center. It is unclear what shall replace the well paid jobs which are gone. For many of these towns, tourism seems to be the answer. But visitors are not residents. People living in Athens will tell you all about. With so many apartments converted to AirB&B, there is now a serious housing shortage.

Messene's Gymnasium illustrates how wealthy this agricultural Center must have been