Messenia lies in the southwest region of the Peloponnese, bounded to the west and south by the sea, to the north by Elis along the Neda River, to the northeast by Arcadia, and to the southeast by the Taygetus range with Laconia beyond. The province includes the fertile central and eastern plain watered by the Pamisus River, and a narrow coastal plain to the west.
The earliest inhabitants of Messenia were thought by the Greeks of the Classical period to have been ‘Pelasgians’, as with other regions of Greece. When the Hellenic tribes moved into Greece, Messenia was settled by Aeolian Greeks. The Homeric poems suggest that during the Mycenaean period, eastern Messenia was subject to Menelaus of Sparta, while the western coast was ruled by the Neleids of Pylos. Later Greeks associate Pylos with the mythical king Nestor. After the death of Menelaus, according to Strabo (c.64-00-c.24), the Neleids obtained the whole of the country. When the Dorians conquered the Peloponnese, Messenia was taken by Cresphontes, who fixed his capital at Stenyclerus.
During the Archaic period the relative wealth of Messenia due its fertile soil and favourable climate attracted the attention of the neighbouring Spartans. The First Messenian War (c.743-c.724 BC) ended with the subjugation of Messenia by Sparta. When a Messenian uprising (c.685-c.668 BC) two generations later failed, the Messenians were reduced to helots. The Third Messenian War (464-455 BC), after the great earthquake of 464 BC, terminated in the surrender of the stronghold of Mount Ithome after a long siege. It was only after the defeat of the Spartans at Leuctra in 371 BC by the Theban general Epaminondas (c.418-362 BC) that Messenia was liberated and established its capital at Messene.
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