{"product_id":"messenia-land-of-the-liberated","title":"Messenia: Land of the Liberated","description":"\u003cp class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor three hundred and fifty years, Sparta ruled Messenia by force. Then it lost everything — and Messenia rose from the ashes.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMessenia: Land of the Liberated\u003c\/em\u003e traces one of the ancient world’s rare stories of genuine restoration — from the Bronze Age Palace of Nestor near Pylos, through conquest and generations of enslavement under Sparta, kept alive only by memory and resistance, to the moment a Theban general broke Spartan power for good and helped found a free city built to last. The story continues through Venetian fortresses, an Ottoman olive economy, and Kalamata — one of the very first cities to rise in the Greek Revolution of 1821 — all the way to the naval battle fought in Pylos Bay itself that helped secure Greek independence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd yes — this is also the story behind the olive on your table. Kalamata’s own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOMPANION VOLUME\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the liberated side of a story told in two books. \u003cem\u003eLaconia: Land of the Conquerors\u003c\/em\u003e tells the same history from Sparta’s side of the mountains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e15 chapters. Conquest, endurance, and a liberation that actually held.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"EAΠTO","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48606587093214,"sku":"EB-LOC-003","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0758\/5074\/4030\/files\/Messenia.png?v=1786917581","url":"https:\/\/eapto.com\/products\/messenia-land-of-the-liberated","provider":"EAPTO","version":"1.0","type":"link"}