We know quite a bit about mythological Sparta by reading Pausanias, the great traveler who visited many places in Greece and wrote in detail about his impressions of everything he saw and heard.

Pausanias tells us that, as he was told in Sparta, the first king of this land was Leleges, and the inhabitants were called Leleges after his name.

Leleges had two children, Myles and Polykhaon. As the eldest, Myles was to become king after the death of his father. Polykhaon married the daughter of the king of Argos, Triopas, named Messene. Messene was a very beautiful and extremely ambitious woman.

She insisted that her husband become king and, since this was impossible to achieve in Sparta, she convinced Polykhaon to leave and settle somewhere else. Thus, after crossing Taygetus, they reached a very beautiful and fertile land, with vast plains.

There they built a city which they named Messene, and Polykhaon became king of his new land, also named Messenia in honor of his beautiful wife, Messene.