Ruins of a fortification on the rocky hill “Pyrgos” over the village Sidirokastro of Laconia, west of Gytheion

History

According to Drandakis, the castle is Byzantine (Drandakis, 1993). Perhaps it was one of the castles built by the Byzantines to control the areas of the Slavs in the 9th or 10th century.

A Sidiro-kastro is mentioned in the Venetian list of castles of 1463 but probably this was another castle, the Sidirocastro in Messenia.

In an incident of 1415 reported by Isidorus of Monemvasia, Sidirokastro was one of the castles destroyed by the order of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. Several castles were destroyed then, in an effort to stop the conflicts between the Greek lords of Mani.

Another report by the Venetian official Barbo mentions that the Maniotes in 1571 attacked and captured the castles of Bardounia and Sidirokastro in an episode of the 4th Ottoman-Venetian war.

Structure, Fortification & Buildings

It is a small castle covering an area of around 2000 sq.m. with a 62m perimeter. Perhaps this was the keep of the original byzantine castle or the part that was repaired by the Turks.

At the slopes of the hill, outside the castle, is a byzantine chapel of Agios Georgios dated around the 10th century.

Sources