Asclepieion of Ancient Messene: The Heart of a Free City

The Story of the Asclepieion of Ancient Messene

For centuries, the people of Messenia lived under the rule of Sparta. Their fertile land was taken, and many of them were forced to work it as helots, serfs bound to their Spartan masters. Their freedom came in 371 BC, when the Theban general Epaminondas crushed the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra. Two years later, in 369 BC, he invaded the Peloponnese and helped the Messenians found a new capital on the slopes of Mount Ithome. It was called Messene, and it was built to last.

The new city was protected by massive stone walls, about 9 kilometers long, with towers and gates that are among the finest examples of Greek fortification anywhere. Inside the walls, the Messenians built temples, a theater, a stadium and a marketplace. At the very center of the city, they created a magnificent sanctuary dedicated to Asclepius, the god of healing.

Asclepius had a special place in the hearts of the Messenians. According to the travel writer Pausanias, they claimed that the god was born in their land, and they honored his sons Machaon and Podalirius, the healers who served with the Greek army in Homer's Iliad, as Messenian heroes. For a people rebuilding their identity after centuries of oppression, the healing god was a fitting symbol of renewal.

The Asclepieion was more than a temple. It was a vast rectangular courtyard surrounded by colonnades, with a Doric temple and a great altar in the middle. Around the courtyard opened rooms and halls used for worship and for the city's public life, including a small theater for assemblies and a council chamber. Statues of gods and heroes filled the halls, many of them made by Damophon, a renowned sculptor from Messene. Together, these buildings made the sanctuary not only a place of worship but also the meeting place of the whole community, where religion and politics went hand in hand.

Messene flourished for centuries, through the Hellenistic period and into Roman times, when wealthy citizens continued to add new buildings and monuments. Unlike many ancient cities, Messene was never buried under a large modern town, and after it was abandoned, much of it remained in the countryside, slowly covered by earth and olive groves.

Modern excavations, led for decades by the Greek archaeologist Petros Themelis, have brought the city back to life in remarkable detail. The Asclepieion, the theater, the stadium with its colonnades and many other buildings have been uncovered and carefully restored. Today Ancient Messene is often described as one of the most impressive and best preserved ancient cities in Greece, and it remains far less crowded than the famous sites.

Visiting the Asclepieion is the best way to understand Messene. Walk across the courtyard, past the foundations of the temple and the altar, and step into the small theater where citizens once met. Then explore the rest of the city, from the great stadium to the Arcadian Gate in the walls, and visit the site museum. It is a place where you can still feel the pride of a people who won back their freedom and built a city to celebrate it.