Asine () was a town of

ancient Messenia Messenia () was an ancient district of the southwestern Peloponnese, more or less overlapping the modern Messenia region of Greece. To the north it had a border with Elis along the Neda river. From there the border with Arcadia ran along the to ...

, which was built by the Dryopes, when they were expelled from Asine in the Argeia. In one of the early wars (740 BCE) between the Lacedaemonians and the Argives, the Asinaeans joined the former when they invaded the Argive territory under their king

Nicander Nicander of Colophon (; fl. 2nd century BC) was a Greece, Greek poet, physician, and grammarian. The scattered biographical details in the ancient sources are so contradictory that it was sometimes assumed that there were two Hellenistic authors ...

; but as soon as the Lacedaemonians returned home, the Argives laid siege to Asine and razed it to the ground, sparing only the temple of the Pythaëus Apollo. The Asinaeans escaped by sea; and the Lacedaemonians gave to them, after the end of the

First Messenian War The First Messenian War was a war between Messenia_(ancient_region), Messenia and Sparta. It began in 743 BC and ended in 724 BC, according to the dates given by Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias. The war continued the rivalry between the Achae ...

, a portion of the Messenian territory, where they built the Messenian Asine. Asine stood on the western side of the

Messenian Gulf The Messenian Gulf (, ''Messiniakós Kólpos'') is a sea that is part of the Ionian Sea. The gulf is circumscribed by the southern coasts of Messenia and the southwestern coast of the Mani peninsula in Laconia. Its bounds are Venetiko Island ...

, which was sometimes called the Asinaean gulf, from this town. Asine was distant 40 stadia north of the promontory Akritas, 40 stadia from Colonides, 15 miles from Methone, and 30 miles from

Messene Messene (Greek language, Greek: Μεσσήνη 𐀕𐀼𐀙 ''Messini''), officially Ancient Messene, is a local community within the regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') of Messenia in the region (''perifereia'') of Peloponnese (region), P ...

. The Messenian Asine continued to be a place of considerable importance from its foundation at the close of the First Messenian War till the sixth century of the

common era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

, when it is mentioned by Hierocles. It is spoken of by

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

as a town of the Dryopes, and its name occurs in the history of the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

, and in subsequent events. When the Messenians returned to their own country after the

Battle of Leuctra The Battle of Leuctra (, ) was fought on 6 July 371 BC between the Boeotians led by the Thebes (Greece), Thebans, and the History of Sparta, Spartans along with their allies amidst the post–Corinthian War conflict. The battle took place in the ...

, 371 BCE, the Asinaeans were not molested by them; and even in the time of Pausanias (2nd century) they still gloried in the name of Dryopes. Its site is located near the modern Koroni, which is situated upon a hill jutting out into the sea above Cape Acritas. The ancient town of Corone was situated further north; and it has been reasonably conjectured that the inhabitants of Corone removed from their town to the deserted site of Asine, and carried with them their ancient name – such a migration of names not being uncommon in Greece.

References

{{coord, 36.7943235, N, 21.9618071, E, format=dms, display=title, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/23296.html Populated places in ancient Messenia Former populated places in Greece

See also

References