land”; mazzes, “greater” (neut. acc. sing.), the first two syllables of the Latin maiestas; while tepise (3rd sing. aorist indic.) “placed” or “offered”; and forms corresponding to the article (ta-＝Greek τὸ) seem also reasonably probable.
Some phonetic characteristics of the dialect may be regarded as quite certain; (1) the change of the original short ŏ to ă (as in the last syllable of the genitive kalatoras); (2) of final -m to -n (as in aran);. (3) of -ni̭- -ti̭- -si̭- respectively to -nn- -tθ- and -ss- as in dazohonnes “Dasōnius,” dazohonnihi “Dasōnii”; dazetθes, gen. dazetθihi “Dazetius, Dazetii, ” from the shorter stem dazet-; Vallasso for Vallasia (a derivative from the shorter name Valla); (4) the loss of final d (as in tepise), and probably of final t (as in -des, perhaps meaning “set,” from the root of Gr. τίθημι); (5) the change of original dh to d (anda = Gr. ἔνθα and bh to b (beran = Lat. ferant); (6) -au- before (at least some) consonants becomes -ā- (Bāsta, earlier βαῦστα). (7) Very great interest attaches, to the form penkaheh—which Torp very probably identifies with the Oscan stem pompaio—which is derivative of the Indo-European numeral *penque “5.”
If this last identification be correct it would show that in Messapian (just as in Venetic and Ligurian) the original velars were retained as gutturals and not converted into labials. The change of o to a is exceedingly interesting as being a phenomenon associated with the northern branches of Indo-European such as Gothic, Albanian and Lithuanian, and not appearing in any other southern dialect hitherto known. The Greek Ἀφροδίτα appears in the form Aprodita (dat. sing., fem.). The use of double consonants which has been already pointed out in the Messapian inscriptions has been very acutely connected by Deecke with the tradition that the same practice was introduced at Rome by the poet Ennius who came from the Messapian town Rudiae (Festus, p. 293 M).
It should be added that the proper names the inscriptions show the regular Italic system of gentile nomen preceded by a personal praenomen; and that some inscriptions show the interesting feature which appears in the Tables of Heraclea of a crest or coat of arms, such as a triangle or an anchor, peculiar to particular families. The same reappears in the Iovilae (q.v.) of Capua and Cumae.
For further information the student must be referred to the sources already mentioned and further to W. Deecke in a series of articles in the Rheinisches Museum, xxxvi. 576 sqq.; xxxvii. 373 sqq.; xl. 131 sqq.; xlii. 226 sqq.; S. Bugge, Bezzenbergers Beiträge, vol. 18. A newly discovered inscription has been published by L. Ceci Notizie degli Scavi (1908), p. 86; and one or two others are recorded by Professor Viola, ibid. 1884, p. 128 sqq. and in Giornale degli Scavi di Pompei, vol. 4 (1878), pp. 70 sqq. The place-names of the district are collected by R. S. Conway, The Italic Dialects, p. 31; for the Tarentine-Ionic alphabet see ibid. ii., 461.
For a discussion of the important ethnological question of the origin of the Messapians see W. Helbig, Hermes, xi. 257; P. Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache, pp. 262 sqq., 272 sqq.; H. Hirt, Die sprachliche Stellung der Illyrischen (Festschrift für H. Kiepert, pp. 179–188). Reference should also be made to the discussion of their relation to the Veneti by C. Pauli in Die Veneter, p. 413 sqq., especially p. 437; and also to R. S. Conway, Italic Dialects, i. 15. (R. S. C.)
MESSENE, an ancient Greek city, the capital of Messenia,
founded by Epaminondas in 369 B.C., after the battle of Leuctra
and the first Theban invasion of the Peloponnese. 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 Spartan 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 (2630 ft.) served as the acropolis, and was included within
the same system of fortifications as the lower city. Messene
remained a place of some importance under the Romans, but
we hear nothing of it in medieval times and now the hamlet of
Mavromati occupies a small part of the site.
Pausanias has left us a description of the city (iv. 31–33), its chief temples and statues, its springs, its market-place and gymnasium, its place of sacrifice (ἱεροθύσιον), the tomb of the hero Aristomenes (q.v.) 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 512 m. 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. high set at irregular intervals: these have two storeys 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 Ithome and Eua, and the northern or Arcadian gate. Of the former but little remains: the latter, however, is excellently preserved and consists of a circular court about 20 yds. in diameter with inner and outer gates, the latter flanked by square towers some 11 yds. apart. The lintel of the inner gate was formed by a single stone 18 ft. 8 in. in length, and the masonry of the circular court is of astonishing beauty and accuracy. The other buildings which can be identified are the theatre, the stadium, the council chamber or Bouleuterion, and the propylaeum of the market, while on the shoulder of the mountain are the foundations of a small temple, probably that of Artemis Laphria.
See E. Curtius, Peloponnesos, ii. 138 sqq.; W. M. Leake, Travels in the Morea, i. 366 sqq.; J. G. Frazer, Pausanias’s Description of Greece, iii. 429 sqq.; W. G. Clark, Peloponnese, 232 sqq.; A. Blouet, Expéd. scient. de Morée: Architecture, i. 37–42, Plates 38–47; E. P. Boblaye, Recherches géogr. sur les ruines de la Morée, 107 sqq.; C. Bursian, Geographie von Griechenland, ii. 165 sqq. (M. N. T.)
MESSENIA (Gr. Μεσσήνη or Μεσσηνία), the S.W. district
of the Peloponnese, bounded on the E. by Mt Taÿgetus, on the
N. by the river Neda and the Arcadian Mountains, on the S.
and W. by the sea. Its area is some 825,000 acres, considerably
less than that of Shropshire or Wiltshire. Historically and
economically its most important part is the great plain,
consisting of two distinct portions, watered by the river Pamisus
(mod. Pirnatza) and its affluents. This is the most fertile tract
in Greece, and at the present day produces oranges, citrons,
almonds, figs, grapes, and olives in great abundance and of
excellent quality. The plain, is bounded on the north by the
Nomian Mountains (mod. Tetrási, 5210 ft.) and their westerly
extension, on the west by the mountains of Cyparissia (4000 ft.),
a southern continuation of which forms the south-west peninsula
of the Morea, attaining its greatest height in Mt Mathia (mod.
Lykódimo 3160 ft.). Off the south coast of this peninsula
lie the three, Oenussae islands and the islet of Theganussa
(Venetikó). In spite of its long coast-line, Messenia has no good
harbours except the Bay of Pylos (Navarino), and has never
played an important part in Greek naval history.
The earliest inhabitants of Messenia are said to have been Pelasgians and Leleges (qq.v.), of whom the latter had their capital at Andania. Then came an Aeolo-Minyan immigration, which apparently extended to Messenia, though the Pylos of Nestor almost certainly lay in Triphylia, and not at the site which in historic times bore that name. In the Homeric poems eastern Messenia is represented as under the rule of Menelaus of Sparta, while the western coast is under the Neleids of Pylos, but after Menelaus’s death the Messenian frontier was pushed eastwards as far as Taygetus. A body of Dorians under Cresphontes invaded the country from Arcadia, and, taking as their capital Stenyclarus in the northern plain, extended, first their suzerainty and then their rule over the whole district. The task apparently proved an easy one, and the Dorians blending with the previous inhabitants produced a single Messenian race with a strong national feeling. But the fertility of the soil, the warm and genial climate, the mingling of races and the absence of opposition, combined to render the Messenians no match for their hardy and warlike neighbours of Sparta. War broke out—in consequence, it was said, of the murder of the Spartan king Teleclus by the Messenians—which, in spite of
