Penteskoufi is a small castle on a steep rocky hill opposite Acrocorinth .

History

The castle was built by the Franks in 1205, within a few months, to facilitate the siege of Acrocorinth.

Acrocorinth was held by the Byzantine lord Leon Sgouros who, in the turbulent years that followed the Fall of Constantinople in 1204, had proclaimed himself “king” of that part of Greece.

In the beginning of the siege, Sgouros had the possibility to get supplies and to launch surprise counter-attacks. One of the ways that the Franks found to respond, was the construction of Penteskoufi.

Acrocorinth was finally captured by the Franks in 1209 and after that, it seems that Penteskoufi did not play any major role.

Much later, in the beginning of the Greek Revolution in March 1821, one of the first actions of the Greek fighters was to get Penteskoufi in order to lay siege to Acrocorinth.

Some sources believe that this was the “Mount Escouve” castle mentioned in the Chronicle of the Morea. In this site we think that Mount Escouve was rather another castle which is presented in another page, here .

The general consensus is that this castle was not in use after the capture of Acrocorinth by the Franks. But the details of the construction reveal that the little fort, most probably, was maintained in a later period, perhaps by the Venetians (judging from the relatively good quality of the fortification). In this case, it must have been a bastion of the main castle, Acrocorinth.

Sources