Mt Ithome, a traditional centre of Messenian resistance
Thucydides reports that following a severe earthquake in 464BC, Sparta’s helots - consisting of neighbouring peoples long forced to serve the Spartans - took advantage of their weakened masters to rebel and seek refuge on Mt Ithome
"(…) In which earthquake [of 464 BC] their helots, and from neighbouring towns the Thuriatae and Aethaeans, revolted and seized on Ithome. Most of these helots were the descendants of the ancient Messenians brought into servitude in former times"
(History of the Peloponnesian War)
Helot strength a source of Spartan nervousness
During the Theban invasion of Laconia in 370BC, according to Xenophon, the Spartans riskily sought to reinforce their army by recruiting helots
"It was also determined by the [Spartan] authorities to make proclamation to the helots that if any wished to take up arms and be assigned to a place in the ranks, they should be given a promise that all should be free who took part in the war. And it was said that at first more than six thousand enrolled themselves,
so that they in their turn occasioned fear when they were marshalled together, and were thought to be all too numerous"
(Hellenica)
Pausanias praises the mighty walls of Messene
"The Messenians have a city below Ithome. Not only Ithome shuts it in, but also Mt Eua … They say this mountain got its name from the Bacchic cry of ‘Euoi!’ that Dionysus and his women first uttered in this place. The walls of Messene are a complete circle built in stone, with towers and fortifications … If you take the walls at Ambrossos in Phokis and at Byzantium and at Rhodes, which are extremely well-walled places, the Messenian walls are stronger still. In the marketplace [agora] the Messenians have … a water fountain of Arsinoe … There are divine sanctuaries of Poseidon and Aphrodite, and the most memorable thing of all is a statue of the Mother of the Gods in Parian stone by Damophon"
(Guide to Greece, 2nd c AD)
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