In this contemporary voyage of the here and now, the fortification of the Arcadian Gate is visible. A city like Ancient Messene had to be fortified in order to hinder attacks by its two neighbours, Arcadia and Laconia. Thus two entrance/exit gates were built, the Laconian and the Arcadian. The Laconian is situated toward the direction of Ancient Sparta and has not survived. But the Arcadian Gate constitutes a fortress and at the same time a road connecting Messene to Arcadia; evidence of this is seen by today's visitors, in chariot wheels' tracks on the soil.
Pausanias was the first to convey his experience from his voyage to Ancient Messene. He recounts that when he left the city, he took a direction towards Megalopolis through the Arcadian Gate. Taking the same pathway today, one passes through it once more. Thus we share some of the experiences of the ancient traveller of the 2nd century BCE. So many years after, his tour becomes a visitors' guide, both archaeological and mythical.
To the north east of the gate, there is a conjunction of two streams and three ancient roads there, a Y-shaped bridge was built, later called "Mavrozoumena". In recent excavations, this area provided many burial monuments, a fact that reinforces the probability that the city's fortification was constructed in parallel with these monuments. An element of double importance since it reveals a city which fortifies itself behind its deceased. The burial structures become marks, forts and tombstones. They stand one next to the other and evoke exceptional archaeological interest. Archaeological research assigned numbers to them: grave 1, 2, 3, etc. There are cist and tile-roofed graves of the Roman period (2nd to 6th century AD). The road acquires aesthetic value and the visitors wish it never ends since they stumble upon fragments of marble sarcophagi (2nd and 3rd century AD) made by workshops in Attica depicting battle scenes and heroes; works of art that honour the memory of defunct dignitaries.
