Glyppia

The castle is built on a low hill between the villages of Ag. Vasileios and Platanaki Kynouria. It was built on the site of ancient Glympias or Glyppias, 2 km to the north-west of Palaiochorio and close to the largely ruined monastery of Palaiopanagia. This hill had since antiquity a great strategic importance for Argos, as it controlled the road from ancient Kynouria to Laconia, through Parnon.

            Τhe acropolis of the ancient community of "Glympeion" as mentioned by Polybius or "Glyppias" according to Pausanias, which probably should be placed in neighbouring Palaiochori, is located οn the fortified hill.

To its north-west, a few traces of the ancient fortification built by the Argives probably in the 3rd century BC, can be identified. Also, in the area of the hill,  the battle between the Spartans and the Messenians in 218 BC took place. Part of a Roman statue, built into the entrance of the adjacent church of Palaiopanagia of Kastriotissa, attests to the continuous human presence hereabouts.

For the history of the castle built at this location in medieval times no data are saved. This position corresponds to Limbia in the Venetian list of castles of the Peloponnese in 1463, as published by Hopf. The castle itself is not mentioned in any later Ottoman or Venetian sources, but in the Venetian census of 1700 we find the neighbouring village of Ag. Vasileios (Ai Basili), belonging to the province of Tsakonia, and in the census of 1704, it goes now with the province of Mistras with the name of Limbia S. Vassili.

Χρονολόγηση: Frankish/Late Byzantine period (13th-15th centuries).

            The north, south and west sides of the hill are unassailable and only the eastern side is more level and easy of approach. On the hill, apart from the imposing tower that stands to this day, there are still preserved remains of buildings, including a single-roomed church and a fortified precinct wall which for the most part has now gone. The tower indeed formed an integral part of the enclosure, as is evidenced by traces of the junction of the wall with the tower on its sides.

The tower is square in plan and has four levels. The lowest houses a cistern: there are no openings in the walls. The entrance to the tower is on the outside and elevated: it connects with the first floor. In the walls of this level are two arrow-slits. Communication with the next level, a mezzanine, was via a removable stairway through a trapdoor in the wooden ceiling. The east and west walls of the mezzanine have blind arches, while in its walls is just another pair of arrow-slits. The wooden ceiling of the mezzanine employs the same ladder and trapdoor system to reach the last level, the main living space of the tower. The roof of this is vaulted and the walls have four openings. A final stairway and trapdoor led up onto the roof of the tower; the walls of which were topped with battlements.

Probably, the tower served as the residence of a local ruler: with the precinct, the whole would act as a refuge for the surrounding population in times of distress.

Στους μεσαιωνικούς χρόνους ανάγεται ο μύθος που σχετίζεται με τον πύργο και θέλει την πανέμορφη κόρη του βενετού καστελάνου να ελευθερώνει τον φυλακισμένο Έλληνα βοσκό, τον οποίο είχε ακούσει να παίζει φλογέρα. Η νεράιδα του κάστρου, όπως τη αποκαλούσαν, έκανε ένα δώρο στον βοσκό για να την θυμάται. Διέταξε να του κόψουν τα δάχτυλα και στη θέση τους να βάλουν χρυσά, ώστε να είναι πιο γλυκός ο ήχος όταν παίζει

In medieval times a legend became attached to the tower. The beautiful daughter of the Venetian castellan wished to secure the release of an imprisoned Greek shepherd, whom she heard playing the flute. The Fairy of the Castle, as the they used to call her, made a gift to the shepherd so that he would remember her. She ordered to cut his fingers off and in their place she gave ones of gold, so that the sound when he played would be even sweeter. (Sarantakis P. (2006), 149; Vagenas  Th. (1953), «Τα δάχτυλα του βοσκού», Χρονικά του Μορηά, τ. Β΄, 78-80).

The monument is legally protected by YA Ministry of Culture/ARC/B1/F30/46853/1024/ 10.18.1994 - Government Gazette 881/B/28.11.1994.

Ballas Α. (2001-2002), «Κάστρα της Κυνουρίας. Επισκόπηση των μεσαιωνικών κάστρων της Τσακωνιάς», Πελοποννησιακά ΚΣΤ΄ , 198-201

Hopf Ch.(1873), Chroniques gréco-romanes inédites ou peu connues, publiées avec notes et tables généalogiques, Berlin, Weidmann, 202

Peppas Ι. (1990), Μεσαιωνικές σελίδες της Αργολίδας, Αρκαδίας, Κορινθίας, Αττικής, Αθήνα, 174

Sarantakis P. (2006), Αρκαδία: Οι Ακροπόλεις – Τα Κάστρα & Οι πύργοι της σιωπηλά ερείπια μιας δοξασμένης γης, Αθήνα, 148-149

Sphikopoulos Ι. (1968), Τα Μεσαιωνικά κάστρα του Μορηά, Αθήνα, 202-204