Almost all of this and the following posts are based on Pausanias, who wrote the earliest extant continuous history of Messenia. His sources were primarily two authors: Rianos of Bene in Crete who wrote a long poem about the Second Messenian War in the mid-third century BC, and Myron of Priene who wrote in prose about the First Messenian War and may have been a contemporary of Rianos. He also appears to have learned most of the legends that were current in Messenia when he visited there in the second century AD and it seems likely to me that many of those must reflect oral traditions handed down from much earlier times; the travails of a people in exile or slavery can do a lot to preserve old traditions and ways.

So, we find ourselves in the mid-eighth century BC (if the dating for Eumelos is correct) when Phintas was king of Messenia and Teleklos was king of the Agid line in Sparta. It was at this point that the first hostilities occurred between the two countries. There are, of course, two stories. Both agree that the trouble began at the sanctuary of Artemis of the Lake (Artemis Limnotis), which was on the border between Lakonia and Messenia, probably on the Messenian side. This particular sanctuary was much disputed throughout history; Tacitus mentions it (Annals 4,43) when Tiberius mediated a disagreement over a settlement on the issue made by Augustus.

The Lakonian story is that the Messenians raped some Lakonian virgins at a festival there and then killed Teleklos when he tried to stop them. Adding to the crime, the girls did away with themselves from shame. The Messenian story is that Teleklos had designs on Messenia and plotted to kill the leading men of the country. He gathered a troop of still beardless youths whom he dressed as virgins (this almost sounds like part of some ritual or other), armed them with daggers and brought them to the Messenian leaders when they were resting at the festival. The Messenians fought them off and managed to kill Teleklos as well. In defense of their story, the Messenians say that the plan was public knowledge and that is why the Lakonians never sought vengeance for the death of Teleklos. “Those are the stories: believe one or the other according to which side you want to be on.” (Paus. IV.4.3)

The first war began a generation later; Alkamenes and Theopompos were kings of Sparta and Antiokhos and Androkles were kings of Messenia. There was a Messenian Polykhares, a winner at the fourth Olympics (768 BC), who had a herd of cattle, but insufficient land for grazing them. He handed them over to Euaiphnos the Spartan to graze and the two made an agreement on splitting the profits. Euaiphnos sold the cattle to some merchants who had landed on the Lakonian coast and told Polykhares they had been stolen by pirates. When he was exposed, he begged for forgiveness and convinced Polykhares to send his son along to pick up his share of the money. Once in Lakonian territory, Euaiphnos murdered the boy. Polykhares besieged the kings and magistrates of Lakonia for justice and, when he got none, went mad and began killing every Spartan he could lay his hands on. Neither side would surrender their criminal to the other and the Messenian kings were divided over submitting the case for arbitation to another body. This dispute broke out into brief civil war in which the more aggressive king was killed. The Messenians sent to Lakonia offering arbitration, but the Lakoninans were having none of it. They swore an oath not to stop fighting until Messenia was theirs and began the hostilities without formally declaring war or sending heralds to announce their intentions.

The fighting began in the second year of the ninth Olympiad (743 BC). The Lakonians made a surprise night attack on the border town of Ampheia and wiped it out. The Messenians immediately went under arms and began training in a manner similar to that of the Spartans. Meanwhile the Lakonians made numerous raids but only carried off loot, not wishing to damage land and goods they already thought of as theirs. They had no success against the Messenian cities and stopped attacking them. Messenia raided the Lakonian coast and the farms around Mt. Taygetos. This went on for four years, when the Messenians finally marched out with their full army and the Lakonians responded in kind. The Messenians camped against a deep ravine and fortified. There was an inconclusive battle between cavalry and peltasts (light infantry), but the hoplites were unable to get at each other. The Lakonians finally gave up and went home.

The next year the Lakonians marched under both kings and supported by “men from the subject provinces” (perioikoi is presumed) and a band of Cretan mercernary bowmen. The Messenians met them. The Lakonians had superior numbers and skill and there was a savage and bloody battle, brought to an end only by nightfall. Neither side was willing to resume hostilities the next day and neither side erected a trophy. After this the Messenians removed themselves en masse to Mt. Ithome and sent to Delphi asking what to do. The oracle responded that they must sacrifice a virgin from the family of Aipytos to the underworld gods. They did this in a somewhat haphazard fashion (it was more murder than sacrifice), but the Lakonians were dispirited by the oracle and returned home.

Six years later, the Lakonians marched again. The allies of both sides failed to appear and there was another indecisive battle, although the Messenian king was fatally wounded. The war continued as small-scale banditry and seasonal raids. After five years of this both sides agreed to a set battle. The Lakonians had Corinth as an ally and the Messenians had the whole Arkadian army and picked detatchments from Argos and Sikyon. The Lakonians broke and retreated, taking heavy losses. They sent to Delphi and were told: