Larissa

The castle of Argos, known as Larissa since antiquity, is set at the top of the hill west of the modern town of Argos, whose peak has an altitude of 287.16 m. It controls the Argolid plain and oversees the Argolid Gulf.

The history of the fortifications on the hill of Larissa starts in prehistoric times and continues right up to the period of the Greek Revolution of 1821. The hill has always been used as a fortified vantage point and last line of defence for the city.

In antiquity Larissa was part of the fortifications of Argos. The city walls of the ancient Greek city extended to include the hill of Deiras and Larissa, on top of which the citadel of Argos was constructed.

In the Early Byzantine years, the 5th-6th centuries, repairs were carried out to the ancient walls to shape medieval Argos into two centres: the Lower City and Larissa, where would have been sited the headquarters of the military authority. From the pre-Christian fortifications of ancient Larissa there are preserved only parts today, embedded in the later walls (see the 3-dimensional models).

In medieval times the castle is first mentioned on the occasion of its capture in 1203 by the Byzantine ruler of the area, Leon Sgouros. After his death in 1209 it was in the charge of the brother of the despot of Epirus, Theodoros Angelus, who quit it the next year in favour of Geoffrey Villehardouin. The latter gave it in 1212 to the de la Roche family, the Dukes of Athens, while in 1309 the castle passed to the House of de Brienne and d'Enghien. In 1388 Maria d'Enghien sold Argos and Nafplio to the Venetians. Before the last had a chance to take possession, first Nerio Acciaioli, the then Duke of Athens and after him Theodore I, despot of the Morea, occupied Argos for a few years.

In 1394, by which time Argos was flourishing economically, the city finally came to the Venetians who immediately begin work on the fortifications. In 1397, the Lower City of Argos, which had its own wall, was occupied by a lightening attack by the Ottomans, during the invasion of Yakub-Bey. Although Larissa was strong, was considered impregnable and in its matérial even included firearms, it was quickly handed over by the Venetians to the Ottoman officials. Destruction and desolation followed: the Ottoman troops took with them when they left thousands of the city’s residents to strengthen the population in some areas in Asia Minor. The Venetians on their return resettled the region and took care for the strengthening of the fortifications of the castle. However, the position of the military governor at Argos was dispensed with, and the administration was run by simple castellans, with the commander-in-chief of the wider area now located in Nafplio. After 1442 independent commanders were again nominated for the castle of Argos, a development due more to the concern about the growing Turkish threat. The city, however, was delivered without a fight to the Ottomans, by treason, in 1462, but recaptured a short time later by the Venetians.

In 1463, the Ottomans returned to the region. The Venetians, retreating from their positions in the Corinthia and the Argolid, fortified Nafplio. The Argives, understanding that there was no hope of outside aid, surrendered the city as they considered the walls too weak to withstand any siege. Although the city was destroyed and the Argives carried off – again – and en masse to be settled in Istanbul this time, it seems that Argos gradually recovered and undertook fortification works. As early as 1467, the construction of the tower is attested to and the establishment of a garrison, apparently in the castle, as its acquisition by the enemy could still be considered as not a foregone conclusion, for the Venetians did not recognize the Ottoman possessions in the Peloponnese as an undisputed fact until 1479. Two centuries later, in 1668, the Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi visited Argos: in talking about the castle as a building of the Venetians, he describes its high tower, refers to a mosque of the Conqueror, to 150 abandoned houses in the citadel (because of an outbreak of plague) and 80 houses both Ottoman and Greek around the perimeter the castle. The image of the city appears an idyllic one, with an exceptional climate, numerous scattered houses and gardens, vineyards, wells, mosques, baths, schools, shops and an inn.

Shortly afterwards, in 1686, the city was recaptured by the Venetians under Morosini. Argos suffered considerable damage during the fighting and the expulsion of the Turks. The settlement in the castle precincts is recorded as damaged. Houses, shops and lands were granted by the Venetian administration to settlers or rented by local stakeholders. Around 1700 an explosion destroyed the central cylindrical tower of the castle that was being used as a powder magazine; in its place was later built the bastion extant today. Shortly before the invasion of the Ottoman troops into the Morea in 1715 the Venetians flattened part of the fortifications of Argos to render it useless to the advancing Turks, and removed themselves once more to the stronghold of Nafplio with its new-built Palamidi. The second Ottoman period lasted until 1821, the starting date of the Greek Revolution for independence. Larissa was then for the last time caught up in the scene of battle.

In the early 20th century there started the excavations of W. Vollgraff, mainly revealing the interior, but also eliminating in this way many remnants of the medieval times.

Χρονολόγηση: The most visible phases of the castle belong to the Middle and Late Byzantine periods, and to those of the Venetian and Ottoman rule.

In the castle walls of Larissa may be distinguished phases belonging from the Mycenaean to the late Ottoman period. The lines of parts of the enclosures changed many times, according to the needs and the specific historical circumstances. The ancient material was utilized either in situ or as replacements in certain cases. The towers, of a square floor plan during the Byzantine period, sometimes changed their format after conversion in the Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman periods.

Today there exist two enclosures, one internal and one larger external one. The inner enclosure, the citadel of the castle, is almost hexagonal, and occupies the top of the hill. The outer enclosure, very expansive in the Byzantine period took in the citadel and plenty of space on its south side.

This account starts with the Citadel and the buildings of the Byzantine period. On the south side, where is now the bastion, there were recently discovered traces of an old, large quadrangular tower, which played a governing role being positioned beside the central gate, which is blocked today. A second small gate was set in the south part of the west wall. At the north end of the citadel are preserved the foundations of a large church, or rather a three-aisled basilica, dating between 6th and 10th centuries. Above its remains was founded a smaller single-nave church and this survives today in ruins. According to the founding inscription the church may be identified as one dedicated to the Virgin Mary, donated by Bishop Nikitas and built in 1174. Also inside the citadel there are two cisterns.

The large, oval outer perimeter follows the ancient line on the west and south sides. Periodically it was enhanced by three-sided and four-sided towers. In the southern part of the west side is revealed the last and the main gate of the Byzantine castle, whose interior would have had a vaulted passageway. The paved road outside that led to it has been identified. Among the buildings of the external enclosure the large vaulted cisterns are notable. Their size indicates the place was utilized by the urban population too, not merely that of the military garrison and the authorities.

In the walls, the Byzantine phases are to be found in the lower parts or in the gaps between the archaic phases. In some places they are identified as being of common rubble masonry with a few bricks at the joints, elsewhere they take the form of rows of rough-worked blocks of the local limestone, with pieces of brick inserted into their horizontal joints.

During the Frankish rule (1209-1389) and that of the Despotate of Mystra (1389-1394) repairs were made to the walls of the citadel (e.g. the northern wall) without any changes in their overall layout. To this period there dates a large and elongated building on the east side of the citadel, which had two floors. To the north it is also associated with, and butts onto, another two-storey building of tower-like form, which stood next to the Byzantine church. This large building was a secular structure, perhaps the home of the Frankish castellan. The great eastern cistern in the external enclosure possibly dates to the same period.

The First Period of Venetian rule (1394-1463) coincides with a watershed change in military technology: the introduction of firearms that caused radical changes in fortification-systems the world over. In Larissa the broad external enclosure was bisected, with the construction of a dividing wall, with two sections, linking the citadel to the east and west exterior perimeter walls. At the same time, the southern vulnerable part of the outer wall was slowly abandoned. The west part of the partition wall is supported by one quadrangular and one almond-shaped tower, one at either end. The eastern part is strengthened with one quadrilateral, one three-sided and one cylindrical tower. In these new towers for the first time at Argos appeared small cannon embrasures. The gateway for the northern part of the precinct opened at the end of the partition wall, near the citadel.

Concurrently the fortifications of the citadel too were renovated. On the inside the buildings damaged by the Turkish invasion of 1397 were levelled, and the ground surface heightened (this does not exist today because the excavations of the 20th century were taken down to the bedrock). The perimeter wall was also raised above the new, higher level and reinforced with new three-sided and cylindrical towers. In the towers were fashioned spaces for small firearms. After the infilling of the citadel, the Byzantine gate was sealed and a new one created in the new elevation, west of the old.

Finally, outside the Byzantine exterior north wall was constructed the complex of the twin towers, also with facilities for the placing of firearms.

During the Ottoman (Period One: 1463-1685 and Two: 1715-1821) and the Second Venetian (1686-1715) period between them, the defences of Larissa were enhanced. The Ottomans in 1467 erected a large cylindrical tower, as their conflict with the Venetians was continuous and Venetian Nafplio was located in the immediate vicinity. This tower dominated the castle, as is substantiated both by the engravings that immortalized it and also by its existing ruins. The Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi informs us that the tower had eight floors, a stone cupola with a lead coating and was of a very great height; it could be compared only to that of the Galata tower in Instanbul. West of the central cylindrical tower they formed a little later a new low and circular tower-bastion, replacing the older tower.

There was also constructed a new wall, in the form of an outwork with a passageway, running from the cylindrical tower to the west tower of the eastern partition wall. By means of this construction there was created a closed ‘antechamber’ to the entrance of the castle, one that protected both the castle gates, that to the citadel and that to the northern external enclosure. In this outwork the new outer gate of the castle was opened, adjoining the cylindrical tower of the eastern partition. The gate took the form of vaulted passageway with a cobbled surface and benches on either side. It was secured with two doors: one on the outside and the other on the inside ends of the passage. A little later, beyond the gate was built yet another, second gate as a further defensive move. The space between the two gates was left uncovered, so that it could serve as a killing-field, being within range of shots from the roof of the tower and of the passage.

Among the other constructions of this period, the inside the castle saw the presence of a mosque.

The walls of the old external enclosure on the south side were by now dilapidated and of no purpose.

The castle remained in this form until 1700, when an explosion destroyed the large central cylindrical tower of the castle: it was being used as a powder magazine. In its place was built a little later the surviving bastion. Perhaps then, the enclosure of the southern yard was invested partly to strengthen and partly to accommodate the geometry of the bastion. This form the castle maintains today.

Follow the three-dimensional tour on the page, so as to wend your way through the different historical phases of the castle.

Larissa Castle is counted as an outstanding Byzantine monument (VD 02.25.1922, Government Gazette 28/A/26.02.1922) and is automatically protected by archaeological law (N. 3028/2002). Previously and from time to time repair works were undertaken by the Ministry of Culture, but these efforts were disjointed and mainly aimed at preventing total collapses. Between 2010 and 2015, with ESPA funding, there was conducted a project: "Promotion - Organisation of the archaeological site of Larissa castle, in the municipality of Argos, the south Argolid", with a € 400,000 budget. Numerous issues of the castle were dealt with: work was conducted on the inside and out. Among other matters, pathways were established, restoring the natural ground levels to as they were before the first excavations, whilst securing those parts dangerous for visitors. Moreover the labours revealed many features that were hidden in embankments tens of meters deep. The castle, an important and integral part of the long history of one of the oldest cities in Greece, and also part of a network of exceptional and important monuments, enjoys a very high volume of visitors (as Mycenae, Tiryns and the Palamidi): it takes its place as an archaeological site worthy of its history and its position in this network of monuments.

D. Athanasoulis (2011), Το κάστρο Λάρισα, Πρακτικά του Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου Οχυρωματική Αρχιτεκτονική στην Πελοπόννησο. 5ος–15ος αι., Loutraki, in press.

K. Andrews (2006), Castles of the Morea, New Jersey (reprint), 106-115.

A. Bon (1969), La Morée Franque, Paris, 491-492, 674-676, pl.134-139.

A. Portelanos, I. Rouvelas (2000), Μελέτη Αρχιτεκτονικής Τεκμηρίωσης Κάστρου Λάρισας Άργους, Argos.

G. Tsekes (2001), Κάστρο Λάρισα», Ενετοί και Ιωαννίτες Ιππότες, Δίκτυα Οχυρωματικής Αρχιτεκτονικής, Athens, 104-106.

N. Fotopoulos (2011), Ο κεντρικός πύργος του Άργους. Νέα στοιχεία για τη μορφή και την ιστορία του, Πρακτικά του Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου Οχυρωματική Αρχιτεκτονική στην Πελοπόννησο. 5ος–15ος αι., Loutraki, in press.