jan 1, 743 BC - First Messenian War

Description:

The First Messenian War began in the mid-eighth century BCE, with ancient tradition dating its start to around 743 BCE, when long-standing conflicts between Sparta and Messenia finally erupted.

Spartan leaders used a minor incident as a pretext for war. One version of the war’s start involves Polychares, a Messenian Olympic champion, and Euaephnus, a Spartan entrusted with Polychares’s cattle; according to the story, Euaephnus sold the herd and killed Polychares’s son.

When Spartan leaders refused to punish him, Polychares killed several of their people in revenge, prompting them to demand his surrender.

The kings of Messenia refused and suggested an independent court instead. This failure to reach an agreement gave them the excuse needed.

Whether true or not, this story shows how a local dispute could trigger a full-scale war.

Sparta started fighting with a sudden attack on the Messenian border town of Ampheia when, without warning, King Alcamenes led a secret night mission that captured Ampheia and killed many people in their homes or at their altars.

This quick victory gave Sparta a strong position in Messenia and triggered the start of a long war.

For nearly twenty years, the resistance focused on Mount Ithome, a steep hill with natural defences.

Under King Euphaes, the Messenians endured a long siege and repelled several surprise attacks.

Early in the war, they were able to keep control of most of their walled towns while carrying out their own raids into Spartan territory.

In one fight near a ravine, neither side won. Slowly, however, Sparta’s larger army and military training wore them down.

The losses grew over the years, and their king Euphaes reportedly died in battle, after which leadership passed to Aristodemus.

Stories claim he gave up his daughter in response to an oracle’s claim that by doing so, he could acheive victory.

By about 724 BCE (the twentieth year by traditional count), Mount Ithome could not hold out any long, as starvation set in.

Soon, it finally fell to the attackers. As the winner, Sparta took control of Messenia’s fertile plains and divided them among its citizens, turning the native population into 'helots'.

These were serfs who were tied to the land who had to give much of their crops to their Spartan masters.

For Sparta, control of Messenia nearly doubled its land and provided a workforce for its farms, while at the same time it found itself ruling over a much larger, angry population.



This reality forced the city-state to maintain a strong military society and remain constantly alert for revolt.

Our knowledge of the First Messenian War comes from later writers and archaeological finds rather than records from that time.

On of our main sources, Pausanias, used sources that are lost to us today, including an epic by Rhianus and a history by Myron of Priene.

These ancient accounts mix fact and myth. For example, the story of the daughter’s sacrifice resembles tales from Greek lore.

However, archaeology shows expansion westward in this period and the existence by the seventh century BCE of a large helot class.

Added to timeline:

Date: