The castle existed before the conquest of the Peloponnese by the Turks. It is stated that many Greeks and Albanians with their families assembled here and rose in insurrection against Mehmed the Conqueror. But after only two days the besieged had to surrender. Mehmed sent the inhabitants to Istanbul, apart from 20 Albanians who had broken the promise they had given him during his conquest of the castle of Tarsos, that they would no longer fight against him. Making an example of them, Mehmed ordered their ankles and wrists to be broken. Because of this the castle was given the Turkish name of Tokmak Chissar, i.e. the Castle of Wrists and Ankles.
The castle is referred in a list of castles of 1463 as venetian.
As was previously mentioned, the exact location of the castle is problematic. The difficulty in locating it lies on the fact that there existed in Arcadia a castle that its name was similar to that of Roupeli. The name of that castle was Ruballo.The fact that some scholars identified the castle of Akrivi (which Mehmed conquered before Roupeli) with Akova, made it also difficult in finding the exact location of it.
On the contrary, the placing of the castle in Corinthia is supported in many facts: There is a village of Corinthia mentioned in the list of Alberghetti (18th century) which bears the name “Petri Roumelioti” and is located north-west of the castle of Agios Georgios (Polyphegos). Also, Roupeli is placed in the region of Agios Georgios not only in many old maps Roupeli but also in the list of castles of 1463. A final argument in favor of the regions of the castle of Polyphegos is the fact that the Albanias who surrendered to Mehmed were from Tarso which is nearer than other castles of Arcadia.
Χρονολόγηση: Frankish/Late Byzantine periods (13th-15th centuries)
