HESPERIA 74 (2005) PYLOS REGIONAL Pages 147-209 ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT, PART VII Historical Messenia, Geometric through Late Roman abstract In this article, the authors explore patterns in regional activity inMessenia, corner the southwest of the Greek P?loponn?se, from the Geometric to the cen end of the Late Roman period (ca. eighth century b.c. to seventh on tury A.D.). The analysis is based extant historical evidence, the campaigns of the Minnesota Messenia Expedition, and?above all?the results of the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project. These three data sets have been inte as far as in order to trace in the grated, possible, long-term changes region a and to provide foundation for further work in this still underexplored por s tion of Greece historical landscape. a a Messenia possesses varied and fertile topography, unique and check a ered history, and rich, if increasingly threatened, archaeological heritage. The region today is perhaps most celebrated, by scholars and tourists alike, for its Bronze Age remains: the Palace of Nestor and its Linear B archive, the tholos tombs of Peristeria and Nichoria (Fig. 1). But the centuries after the end of the Mycenaean palaces also pose interesting problems for the archaeology of Messenia. on assess The principal emphasis in the present study is presenting and to ing the contributions made the long-term history of Messenia by the work of the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project (PRAP).1 The goals, methodologies, personnel, and preliminary results of PRAP have been reviewed elsewhere, but two essential aspects of the project will be restated area a zone briefly here.2 First, the study comprised large (encompassing 1. This was as assistance study undertaken part support, and the received Stephen Hodkinson, Nino Luraghi, from other see Davis and for mate of the Pylos Regional Archaeological organizations, Graham Shipley sharing and as such owes thanks to all et al. 488. We also thank was Project, 1997, p. rial unpublished when this report the that have Robertson for her usual to organizations supported Rosemary written, and the project's codirectors that endeavor. for excellent work on and for comments on the Major funding illustrations; manuscript. Na Patrick 2. For PRAP has been provided by the Jennifer Gates, Livingood, project methodologies and tional Endowment for the Solemeto for et Humanities, and?especially?Julie results, see, especially, Davis al. 1997; et the National Geographic Society, and assistance with GIS analyses and data Zangger al. 1997; Davis 1998c. See the Institute for to Aegean Prehistory. management. We would like express also Bennet, Davis, and Zarinebaf For details of our to those institutions' gratitude Richard Catling, Shahr 2000; Lee 2001. ? The American School of Classical Studies at Athens American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org 148 SUSAN E. ALCOCK ET AL. Figure 1.Map ofMessenia, showing the principal places mentioned in the text. R. J. Robertson ca. some 250 km2) roughly centered around the Palace of Nestor, of which were 40 km2 intensively surveyed, including the Englianos ridge (the site of the Palace of Nestor), coastal areas north of the Bay of Navarino, and was to valleys east of the Adgaleon range (Fig. 2). Second, PRAP designed consider all periods of the past in their changing environmental settings. on monuments no means Although work post-prehistoric sites and is by unknown inMessenia, the investigations conducted by PRAP allow, for an a on a the first time, analysis of lengthy historical time span the basis of rigorously explored sample of the landscape. It could be ruefully argued that the study of the historical past of Messenia in particular requires such archaeological contributions. While can few parts of Greece boast the documentary richness of detail available for Athens and Sparta, Messenias peculiar historical trajectory leaves it to most especially vulnerable misunderstanding and neglect. The well known "fact" about the region, of course, is its unprecedented domina as tion by Sparta inArchaic and Classical times. External observers, such us Plato and Xenophon, tell something of the fate of Messenia and many of its inhabitants, the famed helots of antiquity. It is difficult, however, to overstate the limitations and biases of these sources, and the complete HISTORICAL MESSENIA 149 flit I \ M03_ jmmmJ^s^" Mouzaki Mt Airtat&nn I n'^'vieT ^ Metamorfosi) \ Vlasis |L^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^J ^^^^^A. K\(Y7^/ ? r^^Hora Settlement j o ,?k ^j0tfK???^ ?-'wL r~^X ^~X>Stenosia //^:::=:-^/Handrinou \ Figure 2. Region investigated by lack of independent Messenian testimony from this time period must be PRAP. Areas intensively surveyed Those who lived in the have become, in the famous and sites defined, 1991-1995. appreciated. region a without After liberation in 370/69 b.c. R. J. Robertson phrase, "people history."3 by Epaminondas and his alliance of anti-Spartan states, the Messenians be come an "visible" again, in outburst of civic foundation and monumental area? display?most famously atMessene, northeast of the PRAP study even and through the crafting and promulgation of local histories.4 But a the freed Messenia, minor player in the tangled world of Hellenistic never a politics, has attracted great deal of scholarly attention, and the same is true of Roman Messenia, part of the Roman empire along with the rest of Greece. to seen 3.Wolf 1982. In the minds of many Greeks had really begun inquire into in the results of excavations in the the own and at exam historians, domination by Sparta their past" (Lazenby Hope Asklepieion Messene; see, for to s see amounted the "loss" of Messenia Simpson 1972, p. 81); also Pearson ple, Alcock 2002a, pp. 164-173, and history: "In effect, Messenia had ceased 1962; cf.Alcock 1999. further discussion in this article, below. to a own 4. is have history of her before the The monumental display best i5o SUSAN E. ALCOCK ET AL Pylos / 11 Koryfasion? PRifUPfcgGION and areas walked IONIAN SEA ! Methoni Figure 3.Map indicating the survey territories of UMME (with subre gions indicated), the Five Rivers survey, and PRAP. R. J. Robertson can an as What intensive regional analysis, such PRAP's, offer to the are study of this unusual region? We in the strongest position to address not questions typically posed inMessenian historical scholarship, revolv as ing they do around life "on the ground" and not as viewed from an was external perspective. For example: What the nature of settlement and, by inference, of social organization and community structure in the re gion? How did alterations in political and administrative regimes affect where and how people lived?What economic change can be detected in the can to region, and how it be related the shifting political history? What contact are types of external visible in the regions material culture and what impact might such exchange have had upon local organization? What evidence emerges for ritual practice in this landscape? And how isMessenia or like, unlike, other parts of the Greek peninsula? answers to were The beginnings of these questions advanced by the University ofMinnesota Messenia Expedition (UMME).This multistage, an multidisciplinary project published, in 1972, the results of extensive surface of a to west exploration very large area, bounded the and south by to east the sea, the by the Taygetus Mountains, and to the north by the an area ca. Alpheios valley andTriphylia?in all, of 3,800 km2 (Fig. 3).5 In later stages, the project moved on to excavation and more localized survey at the site of Nichoria and its hinterland (the Five Rivers survey). Re were a gional data presented and analyzed in fashion admirable for its day, 5.McDonald and Rapp 1972. HISTORICAL messenia ?51 ar and the project has proved highly influential in the field of classical were chaeology.6 Survey directors honest, however, about their ability to our deal with the historical periods: "the focus of this study and of earlier on publications has been consistently the earlier material"; "our surface concen search and the general emphasis throughout this book has been on trated the Bronze Age."7 Moreover, UMME's extensive methods of reconnaissance left room to wonder whether the full spectrum of human to activity in the region?from major settlements small and isolated rural structures?could possibly have been observed.8 an a Perceiving PRAP as both "heir" to and as further stage in the a more work begun by UMME, PRAP investigators chose to follow in to tensive field methodology, and involve several ceramicists specializing to reassess in historical material, in order counter these problems and to cut UMME results. Potential benefits both ways, of course; compared with a more the wide-ranging earlier project, PRAP examined far restricted some territory, its intensively explored 40 km2 comprising only 1 percent of UMME's 3,800 km2 (see Fig. 3). Both investigations have something, if not same to as as the thing, offer, and throughout this report, far possible, UMME and PRAP results will be compared and integrated. we Before proceeding, should raise two important caveats about the present study. First, it should be admitted that knowledge of historical Messenian ceramic material?as with surface our always survey, principal source of evidence?remains limited, a circumstance due in part to the relative paucity of relevant excavated sites. Exacerbating this predicament, our were many of finds in poor condition, making identification difficult despite the best efforts of project ceramicists. Pieces that could be dated no more to or precisely than the "historical" phase, that remained simply our more "unknown," made up, in all, nearly 30 percent of than 20,000 or catalogued ceramic finds.