Sparta and the Messenian Wars (History of Ancient Greece)

During the archaic and classical periods of Greek history, Sparta was arguably the most feared military power on the Greek mainland. The discipline and pure ferocity of Spartan soldiers on the battlefield was legendary. Whether it was their defeat of rival Argos at the Battle of Sapea or the Spartan force of 300 that fought heroically against Persian forces at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, few could question Spartan dominance on the battlefield, and fewer still would willingly challenge a Spartan army in a pitched battle without at best expecting heavy losses. Though they were feared by their enemies, the Spartans themselves dreaded one group of people more than anyone else. This group was not made up of elite soldiers from a rival polis, or even warriors from another land, but the serfs who farmed the fields of the Peloponnese. Yes, the people who were deemed the greatest threat to the Spartan state were the helots, also pronounced helots, from the region of the Peloponnese known as Messinia. The beginnings of the conflict between Sparta and Messinia are shrouded in legend. There's not a lot archeological material that scholars and historians can refer to. To help us to navigate through the complexities of this early history is my friend Milos from the channel WinexTV, who'll explain how the conflict between the two allegedly started. Messinia is a large hilly region in the southwestern Peloponnese, bonded by Trifilia and Arcadia to the north and separated from Laconia to the east by the Tigetus mountain range. With good seasonal rainfall, it is also one of the few places on the relatively rocky Greek mainland that is ideal for farming. The rivalry between Sparta and Messinia was said to have originated in the dim past, at a time when both states were getting established during the Dark Ages following the fall of the Mycenaean Greece. In what is largely a mythological backstory, the Dorian Sparta was established by the Heraclidae, a dynasty claiming descendants from the great mythical hero Heracles himself. Much like the Spartans, the Messinian kings were also considered to have been of the same origin, tracing their ancestry back to King Crisphantes, one of the Heraclidae himself and brother of Aristodemus, supposedly a direct ancestor to the kings of Sparta. However, unlike Sparta where the Dorians clearly dominated the political affairs, the rulers of Messenia eventually embraced the Achaean instead of the Dorian lineage, and thus the tension between the two neighboring states began its slow but steady rise. The worsening of the relations continued as the Messenian kings switched to the old Achaean religious practices and took part in Achaean and Ionian festivals, something that the Dorians and especially the Spartans highly disapproved of. On the other side, the Spartans themselves were conquering the Achaean settled territory in Laconia, compelling the native population to either become a non-citizen underclass called the periarchoi, or in the worst case, the state-owned slaves called the helots. In the following years, further incidents resulted in a temple dispute where one of the two reigning Spartan kings, Telechlus, was killed by the Messenian soldiers, followed by another dispute between the Messenian and Spartan delegations which ultimately resulted in another bloodshed and the mutual declaration of war which is traditionally dated to have taken place between 736 and 716 BCE. The Spartan army under King Alcmenes was thus assembled and marched towards Messenia. At the Messenian capital Stanniklerus, King Euphus received the news that the Spartans had captured the border town of Amphaea and gathered most of its capable male population under arms. The Messenian tactics initially consisted of preserving the well-defended positions, but as King Alcmenes eventually died over the course of war and the command of the army was transferred to his son and successor Polydorus and his co-king Theopampus, the Messenian army finally decided to sally out for the decisive battle. Unfortunately for Euphus, it ended up being a miscalculation on his part, as the Spartan army emerged victorious, crushing the Messenian force. The final Messenian defense was eventually defeated at Mount Tythomy and subsequently all of Messenia fell to the Spartan hands. The Spartan conquest of Messenia was told by various poets of the time, such as Tyroteus, to whom we attribute the following passage Under our king Theopampus, beloved of the gods, Through whom we took wide Messene, Messene good to plow, good to plant. For it they fought for nineteen years, ceaselessly, with ever valiant hearts, The spearmen-fathers of our fathers. But in the twentieth year our foes left the rich fields And fled from the great mountains of Ithomy. In the absence of contemporary historical records, passages like this are from where we get most of our information about what historians call the First Messenian War. Since there's little archaeological evidence to support the events as just described, scholars are naturally a bit skeptical. However, most do agree that by the beginning of the 7th century BC, Messenia had been completely subjugated by Sparta. Wars between city-states were common in ancient Greece, especially during the Archaic period. What was unprecedented, though, about the First Messenian War was that, instead of leaving once the conflict was over, the Spartans annexed all of Messenia into their own state and reduced its population to the status of state-owned serfs, most commonly known as helots. According to the 2nd century Greek geographer Pausanias, the Messenians revolted and a second, twenty-year war was fought between the two sides. Though not all agree, most modern scholars have dated this war to sometime between 650-630 BC, but again, there's little archaeological evidence to confirm the events that supposedly took place. Pausanias also wrote his account nearly 800 years after they took place, and he himself admits to having been forced to choose between several sources for the most accurate account of the conflict. In his most famous work, Description of Greece, Pausanias writes, The Messenian Aristomenes was the man who first and foremost raised the name of Messene to fame. He was introduced by Myron into his history, while to Rhiannes in his epic, Aristomenes is as great a man as is the Achilles of the Iliad to Homer. As their statements differ so widely, it remained for me to adopt one or other of the accounts, but not both together, and Rhiannes appeared to me to have given the more probable account as to the age of Aristomenes. According to Pausanias, Aristomenes was a Messenian freedom fighter who attempted to liberate his country from Spartan rule during the Second Messenian War. Forging an alliance with Argos and Arcadia, two of Sparta's most hated enemies, he was ultimately unable to force the Spartans to withdraw from Messenia. Despite this, the Messenians still honoured him as their greatest hero, even several centuries later, which Pausanias also commented on. Of the young men who had grown up in Messenia, the best and most numerous were around Andania, and among them was Aristomenes, who to this day is worshipped as a hero among the Messenians. The Messenians do not make Aristomenes the son of Heracles or of Zeus, as the Macedonians do with Alexander and Amon. Most of the Greeks say that Pyrrhus was the father of Aristomenes, but I myself know that in their libations, the Messenians call him Aristomenes, son of Nicomedes. He then, being in the full vigour of youth and courage, with others of the nobles, incited them to revolt. By the 6th century BC, it's estimated that the helot to free Spartan population was 7 to 1. This in the past had benefitted the Spartans well, because instead of their men focusing on farming like in most other Greek city-states, they could devote the vast majority of their time to military training, which ultimately had allowed Sparta to develop the most disciplined and respected infantry force in the entire Greek-speaking world. However, the Great Helot Revolt and the Second Messenian War had threatened this status quo, let alone terrified the free Spartan population, especially the elite Spartiates at the top of society. There were just too many of them, and though the revolt had been crushed, with the right leader and organization, the helots could once again pose a great threat to the internal stability of Spartan society that was much greater than that of any foreign army. And so, the Spartans lived in constant fear of a helot uprising and did everything within their power to intimidate and keep them subjugated. Sometime between 469 and 464 BC, a massive earthquake struck Sparta and devastated the city, killing much of its population. The helots used this event as an opportunity to revolt and perhaps finally obtain their freedom. Along with some perioikoi, groups of helots gathered in their traditional homeland of Messenia. Thinking that the rebellion would be easy to contain, the Spartans organized 300 men under the command of Aramnestos. However, at the short battle of Stenocleros, Aramnestos and all 300 Spartans were either killed or captured by the much larger helot and Messenian army, who, after generations of living under Spartan rule, had learned a thing or two about Spartan tactics and warfare. And so started the Third Messenian War. Shortly after the battle of Stenocleros, the Messenians gathered and fortified their positions on Mount Ithomi. With the effects of the earthquake still being felt and their recent defeat, it seemed that there was little the Spartans could do to put down this latest Messenian uprising. And so, the Spartans did the unexpected. They appealed for help from their allies, including the Athenians with 4,000 hoplites under the command of the famed general Cimon. Perhaps paranoid that Cimon and his men would switch sides and support the Messenians, the Spartan leadership dismissed the Athenians while keeping the rest of their allies in place. The Athenians took this as a great insult and soon not only broke off their alliance with Sparta, but also started courting Sparta's traditional enemies, including Argos. Meanwhile, the Spartans continued their siege of the Messenians on Mount Ithomi, but the latter would not yield. After what amounted to a few years, the two sides came to terms where the Spartans would allow the Messenians to safely leave Mount Ithomi if they agreed not to return to the Peloponnese. Of course, where would the Messenians go? Enter the Athenians, who helped to relocate the Messenians to the strategically located city of Naupactus, on the northern coast of the Gulf of Corinth. Here, they would play a vital role in another great conflict, the Peloponnesian War. That long war though, would ultimately end in catastrophe for Athens, with Sparta and its Peloponnesian allies being the victors. The Messenians in Naupactus would also eventually be expelled, and by 400 BC, Messenia was once again firmly under Spartan control. Despite its military victories and the expansion of its influence abroad, the Spartan population at home was declining due mainly to a falling birth rate. The previous wars with Athens and other Greek city-states had also weakened Sparta, that by 370 BC, its armies were too weak to stop a force led by the great Theban general, Epaminondas. After ravaging Laconia, Epaminondas liberated Messenia and set up an independent Messenian state, with a new city, called Messene, built upon Mount Ithomi, which had previously been the site of the Messenian resistance during the Messenian Wars. Due to its long, troubled relationship with its former masters, Messenia remained wary of Sparta for the rest of its independent existence, and generally allied with its enemies. For the most part, Messene and Messenia thrived for over a century but eventually got caught up in regional politics, much to its detriment, before ultimately being annexed by Rome in 146 BC. That pretty much ended Messenia's existence as an independent political entity. So I hope that this video gave you some more information with regard to the ancient conflict between Sparta and Messenia. I'd really like to thank the channel, WanexTV, for helping out with this video. If you're interested in some of the lesser-known history of the ancient Greek-speaking world, then be sure to check it out. I'd also like to thank GrenKick69, Jaap de Graaf, Pasta Frola, Michael Lewis, Daniel Allen, Danny Van Eck, WanexTV, Robert Morgan, Frank, Tim Lane, Sebastian Hurtado Correa, Michael Schudel, Franz Robbins, Brendan Redman, Faridun Dadachanji, Jimmy Daruwala, Cher Cam, Farhad Kama, and all of the channel's patrons on Patreon for helping to support this and all future content. Check out the benefits to being a Patreon member, and if you'd like to join, feel free to click the link in the video description. You can also follow History with Sai on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as continue to listen to special audio programs on the History with Sai podcast. 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