Methone
METHO´NE (Μεθώνη, Steph. B.), a town of Pieria in Macedonia, on the Thermaic gulf, mentioned in the Periplus of Scylax (p. 26), and therefore one of the Greek colonies established in early times on this coast. According to Plutarch (Quaest. Graec. p. 293), a party of Eretrians settled there, who were called by the natives ἀπσσφενδόνητοι, and who appear to have come there nearly at the same time as the occupation of Corcyra by the Corinthians B.C. 730--720.
The town was occupied by the Athenians with a view of annoying Perdiccas, by ravaging his territory, and affording a refuge to his discontented subjects. (Thuc. 6.7.) It appears to have been in 354--353 B.C. that Philip attacked Methone, the last remaining possession of Athens on the Macedonian coast. The position was a convenient station for Athenian privateers to intercept trading vessels, not merely to and from Macedonian ports, but also from Olynthus and Potidaea. The siege was vigorously pressed by Philip; and the Methonaeans, who gallantly held out until all their means were exhausted, were at length compelled to surrender. The inhabitants were allowed to depart with one garment; but the walls were razed to the ground, and the land apportioned among Macedonian colonists. Philip lost the sight of one eye in this siege. (Diod. 16.31--34; Dem. Olynth. 1. p. 12, Philip. 1. p. 41, 3. p. 117; Plut. Par. 8; Luc. de Scrib. Hist. 38; Strab. 7. p. 330; Justin. 7.6.) Mr. Grote (Hist. of Greece, vol. xi. pp. 363, foll., comp. p. 488) is of opinion that this happened afterwards (B.C. 348), at another place called Methone, situated in the Chalcidic peninsula, near Olynthus and Apollonia. The epitomiser of Strabo (7. p. 330) places Methone at a distance of 40 stadia from Pydna. This statement does not agree with the position assigned by Leake (North. Greece, vol. 3. p. 435) to Methone at Elefthero-khóri, 2 miles from the sea; but the Epitome is not much to be depended on in this passage.
[E.B.J]METHO´NE
1.(Μεθώνη, Strab.; Μοθώνη, Paus., Scylax, p. 17: Eth. Μοθωναῖος, Paus, 4.18.1, and Coins; Μεθωναιεύς, Steph. B. s. v.: Mothóni, Modon), an ancient town in the SW. corner of Messenia, has always been an important place, both in ancient and in modern times, on account of its excellent harbour and salubrious situation. It is situated at the extreme point of a rocky ridge, which runs into the sea, opposite the island Sapienza, one of the group called in ancient times Oenussae. Off the outer end of the town, is the little insulated rock which Pausanias (Paus. 4.35.1) calls Mothon, and which he describes as forming at once a narrow entrance and a shelter to the harbour of his time: it is now occupied by a tower and lantern, which is connected by a bridge with the fortification of Mothóni. A mole branches from it, which runs parallel to the eastern wall of the town, and forms a harbour for small vessels. It seems to be exactly in the position of the ancient port, the entrance into which was probably where the bridge now stands.( Leake.) According to the unanimous testimony of the ancient writers (Strab. 8. p. 359; Paus. 4.35.1), Methone was the Homeric Pedasus, one of the seven cities which Agamemnon offered to Achilles. (Hom. Il. 9.294.) Homer gives to Pedasus the epithet ἀμπελόεσσα, and Methone seems to have been celebrated in antiquity for the cultivation of the vine. The eponymous heroine Methone, is called the daughter of Oeneus, the wineman( Paus. l. c.); and the same name occurs in the islands Oenussae, lying opposite the city. The name of Methone first occurs in the Messenian wars. Methone and Pylus were the only two places which the Messenians continued to hold in the second war, after they had retired to the mountain fortress of Ira. (Paus. 4.18.1, 4.23.1.) At the end of the Second Messenian War, the Lacedaemonians gave Methone to the inhabitants of Nauplia, who had lately been expelled from their own city by the Argives. (Paus. 4.24.4, 4.35.2.) The descendants of the Nauplians continued to inhabit Methone, and were allowed to remain there even after the restoration of the Messenian state by Epaminondas. (Paus. 4.27.8.) In the first year of the Peloponnesian War, B.C. 431, the Athenians attempted to obtain possession of Methone, but were repulsed by Brasidas. (Thuc. 2.25.) Methone suffered greatly from an attack of some Illyrian privateers, who, under the pretext of purchasing wine, entered into intercourse with the inhabitants and carried off a great number of them. (Paus. 4.35. § § 6, 7.) Shortly before the battle of Actium, Methone, which had been strongly fortified by Antony, was besieged and taken by Agrippa, who found there Bogud, king of Mauretania, whom he put to death. (Dio Cass.; Strab. 8. p. 359; Oros. 6.19.) Methone was favoured by Trajan, who made it a free city. (Paus. 4.35.3.) It is also mentioned by Mela (2.3), Pliny (Plin. Nat. 4.5. s. 7), Ptolemy (Ptol. 3.15.7), and Hierocles (p. 647).
Pausanias found at Methone a temple of Athena Anemotis, the storm-stiller,a nd one of Artemis. He also mentions a well of bituminous water, similar both in smell and colour to the ointment of Cyzicus, but of which no trace is now found. In 1124 Modon was conquered by Venice, but did not become a permanent possession of the republic till 1204. In the middle of the old Venetian piazza there still stands the shaft of an ancient granite column, about 3 feet in diameter and 12 feet high, with a barbarous base and capital, which appear to have been added by the Venetians, when they fixed upon the top of it, in 1493, a figure of the Lion of St. Mark. Five years afterwards it was taken by the Turks, and remained in their hands till it was recaptured by Morosini. In 1715 the Turks again took possession of it, and retained it till the last Greek revolution, when it was wrested from them by the French in 1828. Like other places in Greece, which have been continuously inhabited, Modon contains few ancient remains. Some Hellenic foundations may be traced in the city-walls, and ancient sepulchres may be seen above the suburb. (Leake, Morea, vol. 1. p. 429, seq.; Boblaye, Récherches, &c. p. 113; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. 2. p. 169, seq.)
2.A town of Thessaly, mentioned by Homer (Hom. Il. 2.716) as belonging to Philoctetes. Later writers describe it as a town of Magnesia, but we have no further particulars respecting it. (Scylax, p. 25; Strab. 9. p. 436; Plin. Nat. 4.9. s. 16; Solin. 100.14; Steph. B. s. v.)
3.More properly called Methana, a town and peninsula of Troezenia. [METHANA]
(Μεθώνη). (1) A town at the southwest corner of Messenia, with an excellent harbour, protected from the sea by a reef of rocks, of which the largest was called Mothon.
(2) A town in Macedonia on the Thermaic Gulf, founded by the Eretrians, and celebrated from Philip having lost an eye at the siege of the place.
(3) Or Methāna, an ancient town in Argolis, situated on a peninsula of the same name, opposite the island of Aegina.
A city on the coast of Pieria, it is distinguished from other cities of the same name by being called “Methone of Macedonia” (Dem. 50.46) but more usually “Thracian Methone” or “the one in Thrace” since in Classical times the N shore of the Aegean up to the Thermaic gulf was still called Thrace, whence Thracian tribute, etc. According to Plutarch (Mor. 293B) it was colonized by the Eretrians, but the site had an earlier founder, Methon, “ancestor of Orpheus,” which indicates an original foundation by Thracians who were driven from here by the Macedonians (see Edessa). Methone was a member of the first Athenian Alliance, included in the Thracian tribute lists. It was under pressure from the kings of Macedonia until 354 B.C. when Philip II destroyed it and distributed its land among his Macedonians. During this siege Philip lost his right eye. Methone thereafter is not heard of as a flourishing city, although it is mentioned by later writers (Skyl. 66; Strab. 7. frag. 20, 22). They place Methone generally N of Pydna, at 40 stades distance, according to Strabo. Travelers and archaeologists locate it near modern Eleutherochori. There have never been any systematic excavations. Some surface discoveries and small finds have been made in the area, but not sufficient to settle the question indisputably. Among the finds are inscriptions referring to the tomb of Olympias. The small finds are in the Thessalonika Museum and in the Archaeological Collection of Katerini.
BIBLIOGRAPHYLenk, “Methone,” RE 15.2 (1932); B. D. Meritt et al. in ATL (1939), III (1950); H. B. Mattingly, “The Methone Decrees,” CQ 11 (1961) 154-65; Γέρας Α. Κεραμοπούλλου, ἔκδ. Ἑταιρείας Μακεδονικῶν Σπουδῶν (1953).
PH. M. PETSASA town on the site of Homeric Pedasos at the SW tip of the Messenian peninsula. A mole, first built in the 2d c. A.D., reinforced the bar which runs out to the rocky islet of Mothon and protects the natural harbor; the islet is now occupied by the ruins of a mediaeval fort. There are ancient blocks in the town wall on the side toward the harbor as well as in the foundation of the bridge which provides the only approach from the land side. The acropolis was more than 2 km to the E. Pausanias reported seeing a Temple of Athena Anemotis and a Shrine of Artemis, as well as a spring of water mixed with pitch, but none of these has been identified. Marble fragments and coins from the area attest to the continued existence of the town and its status as a free city in the time of Trajan. In 1962, some of the many wrecks off Methone were investigated by underwater archaeologists; the material brought up by the divers was taken to the Pylos museum. (See also under Shipwrecks.)
BIBLIOGRAPHYPaus. 4.35; J. G. Frazer, Paus. Des. Gr. (1898) III 452; P. Throckmorton & J. Bullitt, Expedition 5.2 (1963) 17f.
M. H. MCALLISTER- Paus. 4.3.10, Paus. 4.18.1, Paus. 4.23.1, Paus. 4.27.8, Paus. 4.35.1-8, Paus. 8.1.1
- formerly called Pedasus: Paus. 4.35.1
- given to Nauplians by Lacedaemonians: Paus. 4.24.4
- made free by Trajan: Paus. 4.35.3
- Paus. 4.35.1