Acrocorinth

The castle crowns an eminence of 550 m in height. During antiquity, the city of Corinth was built at its northern feet. The broad field of vision over the surrounding area from the castle make it a natural fortress of exceptional strategic importance. From Acrocorinth it was possible to keep an eye northwards on the Corinthian Gulf and east to the Argolid Gulf, while to the west and south, across the Peloponnesian mainland, ran a visual network connecting fortresses, reaching up also into Arcadia.

The rock was first fortified during the Archaic period (7th-6th centuries BC). The walls of Acrocorinth were tied into the enclosure that protected the lower city, so creating a powerful defensive system; Later on, the Long Walls were added to protect communication with the port of Lechaio. The fortifications of Acrocorinth were repaired in the 4th century BC or in the first half of 3rd, but suffered extensive damage during the levelling of Corinth by the Roman general Lucius Mommius in 146 BC. A possible refortification of parts was made in the 5th or 6th centuries AD, at which time the walls of the hill were independent from the contemporary Byzantine fortifications of the city of Corinth.

During the transitional period (7th century AD-843), Acrocorinth played an active role in the city of Corinth, which was then the capital of the theme of Greece (687-694) and later of the Peloponnese (786-788). However, the castle gained greater importance in the following centuries, at a time when the city became a major commercial and administrative centre. Indeed, in Middle Byzantine sources the city of Corinth is referred to as trading-post or town, to distinguish it from the city that had developed on the Acrocorinth, the so-called castle.

A critical period began for the city of Corinth with its capture by the lord of Nafplio, Leon Sgouros, in 1204 and the stiff resistance put up against the crusader army of Geoffrey Villehardouin, who took it in 1210. After its incorporation into the Principality of Achaia, Corinth became an important economic and strategic centre and the seat of the Latin bishop. The castle was intensively inhabited at that time, as is indicated by fragments of imported pottery and coins from the West of the 13th and 14th centuries. Gradually, from its 14th century heyday, the city began to decline, mainly due to the instability caused by the conflicts between the Mystra Byzantines and the Franks, by the raids of the Catalans and Turks, but also because of natural disasters such as the earthquake of 1320 and the plague epidemic in 1348. In 1358, the city came to the Florentine merchant dynasty of the Acciaioli, in 1395 to the despot of Mistra Theodore Palaiologos, then to the Knights of St John in the period between 1400 to 1404, at which point it returned to Theodore Palaiologos again, until its capture by the Turks in 1458.

Acrocorinth continued to be of strategic importance for the new conquerors, and extensively inhabited. The space between the second and third lines of circuit walls was intended for the Christian population to live in, whilst that within the inner enclosure was reserved for the Ottomans. The castle remained active in its defensive role during the first period of Turkish rule (1458-1687) and the second (1715-1827), as well as during the intermediate Venetian rule (1687-1715): repairs were carried out and new elements included because of the use of firearms.

Χρονολόγηση: Early Byzantine period (4th -7th centuries), transitional period (7th - 9th centuries), Middle Byzantine period (9th - early 13th centuries), Frankish/Late Byzantine periods (13th - 15th centuries), Ottoman/Venetian periods (15th - 19th centuries)

Acrocorinth is one of the biggest castles in the Peloponnese, with its extensive walls reaching a length of about 3 km. Although the current form of the fortification is the result of reconstructions and additions of mainly post-Byzantine date, yet the most extensive building operations were carried out in the Middle Byzantine period and particularly during the 12th century.

The Byzantine fortifications followed the line of the ancient walls on the brow of the cliff, incorporating parts of them as it is still visible today. On the western, and most vulnerable side of the hill, where the entrance to the castle was placed, an external enclosure was added. On this section of the hill, the interior precinct was shaped like a C, with two strong bastions, one at each end: these follow the ancient lay-out. In between there are six towers, two smaller and four stronger. The two central ones protected the imposing gate of the inner line. Strong towers stood by themselves in the castle as well, on the south-west and north-east hills.

Phases of repair and completion of the walls were undertaken by the Frankish conquerors after the fall of the city in 1210: these include the reconstruction of the foundations of the tower on the south-west hilltop. The first phase of another fortification line (the first, or most exterior, line) added at the west side of the hill (this was reconstructed at a later time) should also be attributed to the first half of the 15th century. With this new addition, the previous external Byzantine precinct became an internal fortification line (the second).

During the post-Byzantine era, repairs were made here and there to parts of the castle, as well as modifications introduced to modernize the fortifications because of the new military technology involving firearms. These interventions are scattered about various parts of the castle: the strengthening of the thickness of the second fortification line, the addition of cannon-embrasures and gun-slots to the walls and the positioning on the roofs of the towers of artillery platforms in the inner courtyard (the third fortification line). In the time of Ottoman control (1458-1687), the tower on the south-west hilltop took its current form, with the addition of two enclosures in the citadel, while alterations to the gates of the first two fortification lines, the construction of the moat and further stretches of walling outside the west walls, are attributed to the years of Venetian rule (1687-1715).

The Acrocorinth castle was proclaimed as an outstanding Byzantine monument in 1922, in accordance with the DB 02/25/1922 - Government Gazette 28/A/26.2.1922. Further, the castle is included in the archaeological site of Ancient Corinth (YA YPPO/GDAPK/ARC/ B1/Φ31/42301/2538/26-5-2005 - Government Gazette 756/B/06.06.2005). The first systematic excavations were made in the 1920s by the American School of Classical Studies, whilst the first intervention for the repair and reconstruction of the walls occurred in the 1970s under the aegis of what was then the 6^th EBA. Between 2000 and 2013, work was carried out under the third KPS and ESPA projects first by the 6^th EBA and then by the 25th to protect the monument and to provide safe passage for visitors in those sections of the castle with the most traffic.

The above information has been obtained from: D. Athanasoulis, Το Κάστρο Ακροκορίνθου και η ανάδειξή του (2006-2009), Ancient Corinth 2009/2014 (with previous bibliography)