Paralio Astros

Paralio Astros is 4 km from Astros. The castle is located on top of the south part of the hill (Nisi) of Paralio Astros, north of the village. The position of the castle ensured the control of roads leading to Doliana, Astros and Leonidio. The strategic importance of the position was strengthened by direct communication with the port and by its view over the Argolid Gulf.

            On the north side of the hill,  the remains of the ancient wall of the acropolis of Thyrea are located. From early on, the position was known as Astro or Astros, because of the star-shaped promontory on which it was built; the hill itself is called Nisi. Formerly it was just as often referred to as Scala Astrous.

The identification of the location Astros and its castle, as well as their linkage with the names of Astritsi and Estella (= Astros, in Greek), confounded the historians and cartographers of the past, but also more recent researchers. The castle at Astros is mostly confused with the castle Estella, which according to the Aragonese version of the Chronicle of the Morea was built in 1256 by William de Villehardouin to control the unruly Tsakones. However, the castle Estella has now been identified as the fortress at Xerokastelli in the mountainous hinterland of north-east Kynouria.

It is argued that the position of the castle Paralio Astros had served for an earlier medieval castle, but in the absence of sufficient data this cannot be confirmed. Study of the castle remains allows two building phases to be distinguished. The first phase relates to the period between the 17th and the end of the 18th centuries; it may even be related to the recapture of the area in 1715 by the Ottomans, being built to control local movements. The second construction period is detected between 1824 and 1825, a time when the castle was reinforced and inhabited by those belonging to the Philiki Etairia of wealthy merchants from abroad, the brothers Zafeiropoulos.

An important moment for the history of the castle is the battle on 5-6 August 1826, where the fighters under Panagiotis Zafeiropoulos heroically faced the army of Ibrahim Pasha, led by Suleiman Pasha, and forced the Egyptian troops to flee.

Χρονολόγηση: Ottoman/Venetian period (15th-19th centuries)

            The castle consists of the inner city walls, square in shape, and two external enceintes to the west and east. The east outer-enclosure forms a rectangular courtyard; the west comprises two triangular bastions and two circular towers, equipped with a lower batter, a cordon and the parapet with its cannon-embrasures.

At the north-west point of the western outer wall-line there is an entrance protected by the tower to its east. Another gate, opened during the second phase of construction of the castle, is located in the middle of the eastern outer enclosure wall; access to this is via a stone staircase.

Gun-loops were opened in the first phase of construction of the castle in the walls of the external enclosures and the interior one. During the Revolution some of them were closed and new ones opened.

The inner enclosure was made in the second construction phase of the castle. Within this area rise the houses of the three brothers Zafeiropoulos. These spacious houses bear witness to the prosperity of their owners, and are without strong defensive features. Their safety was guaranteed by the fortified position of the castle, but also by that of the city walls too. 

The house of Panagiotis Zafeiropoulos, in the south-west corner of the enclosure, consists of a ground floor and a rectangular basement cistern. The building is founded on an earlier construction. The entrance to the house is via a stone staircase, supported on an arch. The first floor served as a living room, with dining and food preparation facilities; it had a fireplace.

The house of Constantine Zafeiropoulos is set at the south-east side of the enclosure: it consists of a rectangular floor-plan, and has an underground cistern. The first floor is divided into rooms: at the centre is a living space, in the west a kitchen and utility room with a fireplace, while to the east were a reception area and sleeping quarters.

The house of Ioannis Zafeiropoulos, on the north-east side of the castle, is a rectangular two-storey building, which adjoins on its the ground floor an L-shaped water reservoir to the south and to the northwest has a secondary rectangular space.

Within the castle are also located the remains of several auxiliary spaces, underground and above-ground cisterns and water pipes.

The castle is legally protected by YA YPPOT/GDAPK/ARX/ A1/Φ43/41015/2009/06.08.2012, Official Gazette 196/AAP/13-6-2012. The castle’s conservation status is overall moderate to relatively good. The external enclosures are damaged and collapses of masonry exist, which makes visiting these places dangerous. The house of Ioannis Zafeiropoulos is in poor condition, that of Constantine moderate, while the house of Panagiotis is the best preserved.

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