Α castle built on a steep rocky hill overlooking the plain of Messinia and the passages from Laconia to Messinia.

According to the French Antoine Bon, the castle was built by the Byzantines of the Despotate of Mystras around 1300.

History

The shape of the castle follows the formation of the terrain of the top of the hill. The location of the main gate may have been in the southwest corner. The wall is made of rough limestone, with heavy use of bricks on the north side.

On the inner surface of the eastern side of the wall, blind apsidomes are formed with a width of about 1.70m and a depth of up to 0.90m (photo 3, 7). This is a rather unusual feature that is also foun in the neighboring castle of Androusa and in less obvious places in Mystras and Geraki.

Inside the castle there are remains of various buildings, while at its northernmost end there are remains of a rectangular building (photo 6,9) which has been identified with the donjon, with dimensions 6m✖8m, and a little further south two cisterns.

At a short distance north of the south gate, the remains of a single-aisled church can be seen, which may have been dedicated to Agios Ioannis Profromos. The church, measuring 2.90-3.50 meters, was at the cemetery for the inhabitants and defenders of the castle. On the south side, outside the gate, a half-ruined anonymous cross-roofed church from the 14th century is preserved.

Sources