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Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
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  3. Peloponnesus
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  4. Messenia

Messenia

The first ruler of Messenia was Polycaon. Polycaon founded the city of Andania. Married to Messene, he named the whole region after his wife.

A few generations later, with the arrival of the Aeolid Perieres, the capital was moved to Arene. Pylas arrived shortly after, from Megara. Driven out of city of Megara, he founded Pylus on the Messenian coast. Another Aeolid named Neleus drove out Pylas from his city. Pylus became a capital at Aphareus' death in Arene. A new capital, Stenyclerus, was built at the time of the Heraclids. For the genealogical trees, see House of Messenia and the Aeolids in Messenia).

See the Aeolids in Messenia, for the history of the Messenia.

Major cities of Messenia were:

Andania

Andania

Arene

Arene

Pylus

Pylus

Related Information

Name

Messenia, Μεσσηνία.

Founder

Polycaon

Rulers

Polycaon and Messene; Perieres, Aphareus and Leucippus, Neleus, Nestor. The Heraclids rulers: are Cresphontes, Polyphontes, Aepytus, Glaucus.

Jimmy Joe Timeless Myths

By Jimmy Joe

Peloponnesus:

  • • Isthmus
  • • Sicyonia
  • • Argolis
  • • Achaea
  • • Elis
  • • Arcadia
  • • Laconia
  • • Messenia
Andania

Andania

Andania became the first capital of Messenia. It was founded and ruled by Polycaon and his wife Messene. The whole region of Messenia was named after his wife.

August 8th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Arene

Arene

Arene was a city of Messenia. The location of Arene is unknown. It was founded by Perieres, an Aeolid from Thessaly.

August 8th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Pylus

Pylus

Pylus or Pylos was founded by Pylas, exiled king of Megara. Pylas came to Messenia, and established a city on the southwest coast of the Peloponnesus. An Aeolid named Neleus drove Pylos out of his city, and became Pylus' second king. The city enjo...

August 8th, 1999 • Timeless Myths
Megara

Megara

Megara was a city situated on east side of the Isthmus of Corinth, a seaport to the Saronic Gulf. Its citadel was called Nisa . The city was founded by Car, son of Phoroneus. Later, Lelex, a descendant of Io, established a dynasty that ruled Megar...

August 8th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
House of Sparta

House of Sparta

The large family tree above combines the Houses of Laconia and Messenia together. The links between the two kingdoms come from marriages. The first link was when Polycaon, son of Lelex, migrated to Messenia and married the Argive princess, Messene...

July 28th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Arcadia

Arcadia

Arcadia was a large central region of the Peloponnesus. Arcadia was landlocked and mountainous. Either Pelasgus or his son Lycaon were said to be the first ruler of Arcadia. The region was named after Lycaon's grandson, Arcas, the son of Zeus and ...

August 8th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Perieres

Perieres

Perieres (Περιήρης) was the son of Aeolus and Enarete. He was the brother of Cretheus , Athamas , Sisyphus and Salmoneus . At the death of Polycaon, king of Messenia, people asked Perieres to rule the kingdom, since Polycaon had no son or heir. He...

April 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Laconia

Laconia

Laconia was the southernmost region of the Peloponnesus. Its principal city was Sparta. Lelex was the first ruler of Laconia. His people were known as the Lelegians . It wasn't until three generations later that Lacedaemon married Sparta, the daug...

August 8th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Tegea

Tegea

Tegea was a city in southeastern Arcadia. In the time of Aleüs and his descendants, it was the capital of Arcadia. Lycurgus and his brothers, Cephalus and Amphidamas, ruled Tegea and Arcadia together. Lycurgus' brothers and his son Ancaeüs were Ar...

August 8th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Argolis

Argolis

Argolis was the northeast region of the Peloponnesus. This region was a rich source of myths, with several powerful kingdoms within the region. Historically, Mycenae was the most powerful kingdom during the middle and late Bronze Age, and Argos wa...

August 8th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe

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