DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0098
20 ENTRANCE GATE TO MESSENE.
banished Messenians, who, it is related, still retained unchanged the language, manners, and customs
of their parent country : and he chose the declivities of Ithome, already consecrated in the eyes of
Messenians, as the capital of their regenerated state.
Pausanias3 gives a very full account of the consecration and founding of the new city: " Epa-
minondas being persuaded that the spot where Messene now is, was the best calculated for the situation
of a city, he directed the augurs to consult their art in order to ascertain whether the will of their
gods accorded with his intentions. They having answered that the sacrifices afforded favorable omens,
he caused every preparation to be made for the foundation of the city, ordering stone to be brought,
and directing skilful men to lay out the streets, build the temples and houses, and surround the city
with walls. Every thing being ready, and the Arcadians having furnished the victims, the sacrifices
commenced. Epaminondas and the Thebans sacrificed to Bacchus and Ismenian Jove, according to
their peculiar rites—the Argians to Argian Juno, and Nemsean Jove—the Messenians to Ithomatan
Jove, and to the Dioscuri, and their priests to their great goddesses and to Caucus."
" They then generally invoked their heroes, and implored them again to come amongst them:
in the first place Messene, daughter of Triopas, then Eurytus, Aphareus and his sons, and Chres-
phontes and JEpytus, of the race of the Heraclides. The whole of this day was occupied in sacrifices ;
but in the ensuing ones, they raised the city walls, and then the houses within and the temples. They
worked with no other music than the Boeotian and Argian flutes, the airs of Sacadas and of Pronomus
appearing on this occasion, the most worthy of competition : the name of Messene, was given to the
city, and they afterwards built other cities."
In a subsequent chapter b resuming the description of the city, Pausanias describes
" Messene, as at the foot of Ithome, and partly surrounded by Mount Eva, which took its name
from the Bacchic Cry of Euhoe (EuoT); this being the first place where Bacchus and the women of
his suite used this exclamation. The walls of Messene are wholly of stone, with towers and battle-
ments. I have not seen the walls of Babylon, nor those of Susa in Persia, which bear the name of
Memnon. I have not even spoken with those who have seen them. But those of Ambryssus in the
Phocide, of Byzantium, and Rhodes, places esteemed the best fortified, are not so strong as those of
Messene."
" In the public square of Messene there is a statue of Jupiter the Saviour, and the Fountain
ArsinoL;, which takes its name from one of the daughters of Leucippus. The water comes from a
source called Clepsydra." The topographer then enumerates the temples of Neptune and Venus, of
Ilithyia, Ceres, iEsculapius, replete with statues, and of Messene, the daughter of Triopas, with a statue
of gold and Parian marble. He also mentions the Hierothysium, as containing all the statues of the
Grecian gods—the monument of Aristomenes, and the temple of Serapis and Isis, as near the theatre.
On the summit of Ithome, Pausanias mentions the Temple of Jupiter, and the Fountain Clepsydra,
which is on the road to it. This fountain is still most abundant, and a noble stream of water even
now pours down into the principal street, and affords a supply sufficient for a numerous popu-
lation."
Ithome rises from a fertile plain, which lies to the east. At some distance to the south is the
Messenian gulph, to the west is the plain of Arcadia, to the north it is bounded by a line of hills.
The whole range of Ithome has the Mount Eva to the south, which rises to a point: between Ithome
and Eva is a pass defended by a species of fort. The citadel crowns the summit of Ithome ; on the
west side lies the modern village of Mavromati, occupying part of the site of the ancient city. The
ruins have hitherto been but cursorily examined; the notice of the voyage of the Abbe Fourmont, who
visited this spot a century ago, is contained in a few lines0, and it is to be regretted that the disturbed
a Messenica, L. IV. 0. XXVII. ont fait l'etonnement de Pausanias: cet auteur les compare a.
b Ut supra, o. xxxi. celles de l'ancien Byzantium, de Rhodes, et de Babylone. II en
c " Cette ville a ce que Ton en voit aujourdhui a ete la plus reste encore 38 tours dans leur entier. M. Fourmont suivit pen-
grande du Peloponnese. Les murailles, ouvrage d'Epaminondas, dant une heure de chemin la partie de ces murailles, qui com-
banished Messenians, who, it is related, still retained unchanged the language, manners, and customs
of their parent country : and he chose the declivities of Ithome, already consecrated in the eyes of
Messenians, as the capital of their regenerated state.
Pausanias3 gives a very full account of the consecration and founding of the new city: " Epa-
minondas being persuaded that the spot where Messene now is, was the best calculated for the situation
of a city, he directed the augurs to consult their art in order to ascertain whether the will of their
gods accorded with his intentions. They having answered that the sacrifices afforded favorable omens,
he caused every preparation to be made for the foundation of the city, ordering stone to be brought,
and directing skilful men to lay out the streets, build the temples and houses, and surround the city
with walls. Every thing being ready, and the Arcadians having furnished the victims, the sacrifices
commenced. Epaminondas and the Thebans sacrificed to Bacchus and Ismenian Jove, according to
their peculiar rites—the Argians to Argian Juno, and Nemsean Jove—the Messenians to Ithomatan
Jove, and to the Dioscuri, and their priests to their great goddesses and to Caucus."
" They then generally invoked their heroes, and implored them again to come amongst them:
in the first place Messene, daughter of Triopas, then Eurytus, Aphareus and his sons, and Chres-
phontes and JEpytus, of the race of the Heraclides. The whole of this day was occupied in sacrifices ;
but in the ensuing ones, they raised the city walls, and then the houses within and the temples. They
worked with no other music than the Boeotian and Argian flutes, the airs of Sacadas and of Pronomus
appearing on this occasion, the most worthy of competition : the name of Messene, was given to the
city, and they afterwards built other cities."
In a subsequent chapter b resuming the description of the city, Pausanias describes
" Messene, as at the foot of Ithome, and partly surrounded by Mount Eva, which took its name
from the Bacchic Cry of Euhoe (EuoT); this being the first place where Bacchus and the women of
his suite used this exclamation. The walls of Messene are wholly of stone, with towers and battle-
ments. I have not seen the walls of Babylon, nor those of Susa in Persia, which bear the name of
Memnon. I have not even spoken with those who have seen them. But those of Ambryssus in the
Phocide, of Byzantium, and Rhodes, places esteemed the best fortified, are not so strong as those of
Messene."
" In the public square of Messene there is a statue of Jupiter the Saviour, and the Fountain
ArsinoL;, which takes its name from one of the daughters of Leucippus. The water comes from a
source called Clepsydra." The topographer then enumerates the temples of Neptune and Venus, of
Ilithyia, Ceres, iEsculapius, replete with statues, and of Messene, the daughter of Triopas, with a statue
of gold and Parian marble. He also mentions the Hierothysium, as containing all the statues of the
Grecian gods—the monument of Aristomenes, and the temple of Serapis and Isis, as near the theatre.
On the summit of Ithome, Pausanias mentions the Temple of Jupiter, and the Fountain Clepsydra,
which is on the road to it. This fountain is still most abundant, and a noble stream of water even
now pours down into the principal street, and affords a supply sufficient for a numerous popu-
lation."
Ithome rises from a fertile plain, which lies to the east. At some distance to the south is the
Messenian gulph, to the west is the plain of Arcadia, to the north it is bounded by a line of hills.
The whole range of Ithome has the Mount Eva to the south, which rises to a point: between Ithome
and Eva is a pass defended by a species of fort. The citadel crowns the summit of Ithome ; on the
west side lies the modern village of Mavromati, occupying part of the site of the ancient city. The
ruins have hitherto been but cursorily examined; the notice of the voyage of the Abbe Fourmont, who
visited this spot a century ago, is contained in a few lines0, and it is to be regretted that the disturbed
a Messenica, L. IV. 0. XXVII. ont fait l'etonnement de Pausanias: cet auteur les compare a.
b Ut supra, o. xxxi. celles de l'ancien Byzantium, de Rhodes, et de Babylone. II en
c " Cette ville a ce que Ton en voit aujourdhui a ete la plus reste encore 38 tours dans leur entier. M. Fourmont suivit pen-
grande du Peloponnese. Les murailles, ouvrage d'Epaminondas, dant une heure de chemin la partie de ces murailles, qui com-