Editing Messene (section)

===Bronze Age Messana===

During the Bronze Age the palace at Pylos controlled Messenia politically and economically. A [[Linear B]] tablet from there, [[Pylos|PY]] Cn 3, mentions a region called ''Mezana'' in local [[Mycenaean Greek]] (Linear B: {{lang|gmy|𐀕𐀼𐀙}}, ''me-za-na''), from which groups of men named from places in the Peloponnesus each contributed one ox (Linear B: {{lang|gmy|𐀦𐀃}}, ''qo-o''; also denoted by the BOS [[ideogram]], i.e. {{lang|gmy|𐀘}}) to an official, possibly a priest in the Zeus-sanctuary, named *''Diwijeus'' (Linear B: {{lang|gmy|𐀇𐀹𐀋𐀸}}, ''di-wi-je-we'' <small>[[dative|DAT]]</small>; the word could be, instead of an [[anthroponym]], an [[adjective]] meaning "priest in the Zeus-sanctuary").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-ideograms/bos/|title=BOS}} {{cite web|url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/di/di-wi-je-u/|title=di-wi-je-u|work=Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B|last=Raymoure|first=K.A.|publisher=Deaditerranean|access-date=2014-03-21|archive-date=2016-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210359/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/di/di-wi-je-u/|url-status=dead}} {{cite web|title=PY 3 Cn (1)|website=DĀMOS: Database of Mycenaean at Oslo|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/4372|publisher=[[University of Oslo]]}}</ref> These groups were members of the coast-watchers, a military or quasi-military unit that presumably were stationed to guard various locations on the coast. Their failure is attested by the burning of Pylos a few months later by unknown assailants from the sea. The watchers include some Olumpiaioi (Olympians) from Orumanthos (Mt. Erymanthos). John Bennet expressed the opinion that by Mezana is meant Messana, a Mycenaean Greek form of Messene. He supposed that the region around [[Ithome]] would already have had that name, to be reutilized by Epaminondas a thousand years later.<ref>{{citation | first=John | last=Bennet | contribution=The Linear B Archives and the Kingdom of Nestor | title=Sandy Pylos: an Archaeological History from Nestor to Navarino | editor-first=Jack L. | editor-last=Davis | location=Austin | publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] | year=1998 | pages=132–133}}</ref>