Messene, Modern Greek Messíni, ancient city, southwestern Peloponnese (Modern Greek: Pelopónnisos), Greece, not to be confused with the modern township of the same name farther south. It was probably founded in 369 bce after the defeat of Sparta by Athens and the Boeotian League in the Battle of Leuctra (371) for the descendants of exiled Messenians as a fortified city-state independent of Sparta. The site dominates the Messenian plain; with Megalopolis, Mantineia, and Árgos, it formed a strategic barrier, conceived by the Theban Epaminondas, to contain Spartan ambition. The summit of Mount Ithómi, 2,618 ft (798 m) in altitude, served as the acropolis, but apparently it had been fortified earlier as well.
The Classical city withstood several Macedonian and Spartan sieges. After the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 bce, it was absorbed into the domain of Philip II of Macedonia, and it remained important under the Romans. Pausanias, in the 2nd century bce, visited the city and claimed its fortifications excelled all others of the Greek world. Nothing is known of Messene in the Middle Ages.
Since 1957, the Hellenistic agora, theatre, stadium, and council chamber have been excavated. The foundations of the small Temple of Artemis Laphria sit on the shoulder of the acropolis, which is crowned by a small 16th-century monastery. The best-preserved section of the ancient walls is on the northwest. The modern hamlet of Mavrommátion occupies a small part of the ancient site. Pop. (2001) 6,693.