Ancient Plevrona, also called Pleuron, was located on a hill a little northwest of Messolonghi, in the area of Aetolioarkania, a region that had great importance in ancient times. The name comes from Pleuron, the son of Aitolos, who gave his name to the region. In the Iliad it is mentioned that the city provided 40 ships for the Trojan War. (7th/8th century B.C., Mycenaean period). Plevrona also had a port down by the lagoon with its own fortifications.
The region of Aetolia-Arcania is not known to many, although it has a lot of important ancient sites, including the city of Oiniades with a huge city wall, an incredibly well preserved ancient shipyard and a beautiful theater.
Initiatives have been formed to promote these (and more recent) cultural treasures and local features to a wider audience and to promote them in an ecologically-sustainable way, for example "Messolonghi by locals" (www.messolonghibylocals.com) . They also provide guides who show the ancient sites with great competence, knowledge and broad horizons and organize tours.
Ancient Plevrona was destroyed and rebuilt on a hill north of it on a much larger scale in the third century BC, 10,000 people lived here - Mycenae, so famous today, was not much larger.
The city wall made of huge ashlar-shaped stones is 2km long and has 11 gates and 36 square towers. The city plan with theater, temples, agora, baths and stadium/gymnasion corresponds to the classical Greek system. Especially well preserved is the huge water supply system: There was no water inside the walls, it was piped in from a spring outside, distributed there into various pipes and kept ready in a huge reservoir (33x22m) built directly into the rock.
What you can also see and experience in an impressive way: the excavation and uncovering of the ancient walls and objects is a real Sisyphean task that lasts for years; archaeologists are at work to make more and more ancient treasures accessible to the visitors. And this is true for numerous ancient sites in Greece.
Apart from the archaeologists at Plevrona, the only other creature we encountered on the huge site was a turtle.
View from Plevrona over the lagoon and Messolonghi Guide Georgios from Messolonghi by Locals City wall made from huge ashlarshaped stones One of the eleven gates Stadion/Gymnasion Huge water reservoir Market/Agora
