Messene

American

[me-see-nee] / mɛˈsi ni /

noun

an ancient city in the SW Peloponnesus; capital of ancient Messenia.

Messene British

/ mɛˈsiːnɪ /

noun

an ancient Greek city in the SW Peloponnese: founded in 369 _bc as the capital of Messenia

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The most impactful of these measures was the foundation of Messene, an impregnable city for the Helots right on Sparta’s doorstep.

From Slate • Jan. 16, 2024

In the seventh century BCE, Sparta conquered the land of Messene to its west and divided its farmland equally among the Spartiates.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

The next year they invaded the Peloponnese and liberated Messene from Spartan rule, depriving the Spartans of most of their helot labor there.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

From this point we entered at once into the great Langada pass, the most splendid defile in Greece—the only way from Sparta into Messene for a distance of thirty miles north and south.

From Rambles and Studies in Greece by Mahaffy, J. P.

Was it not Melanthus, an exile from Messene?

From Plutarch's Morals by Shilleto, Arthur Richard

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023