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416 MESSANA MESSENIA caused her to be put to death. The sentence was executed in A. D. 48, by a praetorian trib- une, in the gardens of Lucullus. By Claudius she was the mother of two children, Britan- nicus and Octavia. II. Statilia. the third wife of the emperor Nero, whom she survived, and the granddaughter of T. Statilius Taurus, who had been consul in A. D. 11. She was first married to Atticus Vestinus, but the tyrant caused her husband to be put to death, and espoused her in 66. M i:ss A . See MESSINA. MESSAP1A, the ancient Greek name of the peninsula forming the S. E. extremity of Italy, called by the Romans Calabria, a name applied in modern times to the opposite peninsula. (See CALABRIA.) The boundary separating it from Apulia on the N. "W. was not well defined, but Messapia consisted of what is popularly called the " heel of the boot." The peninsula was probably first known to the Greeks by the name of Japygia, which was afterward applied by them to all S. E. Italy, Herodotus speak- ing of Apulia as a part of Japygia, while Mes- sapia indicated the peninsula only. Later wri- ters make Japygia and Messapia synonymous, and confine them to the peninsula. The in- habitants were of two tribes, the Salentini along the S. W. coast near Tarentum, and the Calabri, whom the Greeks called Messapians, along the N. E. part. The latter were the more powerful, and the whole district came to be called after them by their Greek and Latin names respectively. It terminated at the S. E. in the rocky Japygian promontory (now Cape Leuca), standing boldly out into the sea. It was celebrated for its fertility, abounding in wine, olives, and other fruits. (See OTBANTO, TERRA D'.) The Calabrian horses were famous, and the Tarentine cavalry was long celebrated. Virgil says that the region was infested by pe- culiarly venomous serpents. The inhabitants were of Pelasgic origin, had attained a consid- erable culture, and possessed the cities of Hyria or Uria and Brundusium in the latter part of the 8th century B. C., when the Greek colony of Tarentum was founded. They fought against the Greek colonists for many years, defeat- ing the Tarentines in a great battle about 473, but were gradually overcome by the Greek civilization and corrupted by its luxury. They made a short resistance to the Romans, uniting with neighboring tribes under the command of Pyrrhus, but were overcome in a single cam- paign after his fall. They revolted to Hanni- bal in the second Punic war, but were soon subdued. Under the empire Messapia was united for administrative purposes with the province of Apulia. The Byzantine emperors retained a footing here during the invasion by the Goths and Lombards, and were not finally expelled till the llth century. MESSENE, the capital of Messenia in the Pe- loponnesus, founded by Epaminondas after his victory of Leuctra over the Lacedaemonians, 371 B. 0. It was at the foot of the hill of Ithome, the fortress of which formed the acro- polis of the new capital, and was surrounded by massive stone walls, flanked with towers, of which there are still considerable remains at the modern village of Mavromati. Messene with its acropolis was, next to Corinth, the strongest city of the Peloponnesus. It was supplied with water from a fountain called Clepsydra, the spring of which still exists 1 . MESSENIA, or Messene, the S. W. division of the Peloponnesus in ancient Greece, bounded N. by Elis, from which it was separated by the river Neda, and Arcadia ; E. by Laconia, the boundary line varying at various periods ; and S. and W. by the sea, which on the south forms the large gulf of Messenia, or, as it is now sometimes called, of Coron. It is a mountain- ous country, containing but two plains of any extent, the southern of which, traversed by the Pamisus, was called Macaria or the Blessed, on account of ^its great fertility. The valleys among the mountains were also fertile, and the whole country was renowned for the mild- ness of its climate. Among the few towns of note were Pylos, a seaport, Cyparissia, Corone (now Coron), Methone (Modon), Abia, Deraa, Stenyclarus in the northern plain of the same name, and the later capital Messene, besides the mountain fortresses of Ithome and Ira. The earliest inhabitants of Messenia were Le- leges and Argives. Polycaon, son of Lelex, is said to have given the country its name from Messene, his wife, daughter of the Argive Tri- opas. It was subsequently settled by ^Eolians. During the following period Messenia seems to have belonged partly to Pylos and partly to Lacedaemon. When the Dorians conquered the Peloponnesus, it became the possession of Cresphontes, who destroyed the kingdom of Pylos. Of the kindred Dorian states, Sparta, the eastern neighbor, soon developed its ag- gressive policy, and after various collisions and mutual inroads the first Messenian war broke out. It is said to have lasted 20 years, its prin- cipal Messenian hero and victim being Aristo- demus, and ended with the fall of Ithome and the subjugation of Messenia. After 38 years of subjection, the Messenians rose under the lead of Aristomenes, supported by Argos, Ar- cadia, and other states of the Peloponnesus, while their enemies received the support of Corinth. Aristomenes succumbed after a strug- gle of 17 years, and Ira fell. (See ARISTO- MENES, and TYRT^EUS.) In common chronology the first war is placed at 743-723 B. C., and the second at 685-668. The two great strug- gles are considered as sufficiently attested, but the particulars, which are highly poetical and rest on authorities of the 3d century B. C., are justly doubted. The consequence of the wars was the emigration of a large number of the inhabitants to Italy and Sicily, giving the name of Messene or Messana to the town of Zancle in that island, and the subjection of those who remained to the condition of helots. Together with the other slaves of Sparta, they