Pontikokastro

Pontikokastro (Greek: Ποντικόκαστρο), known in French as Beuvoir and Italian as Belveder during the late Middle Ages, is a Byzantine castle in Agios Andreas, Katakolo, in the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece.

Outline of the Pontikokastro/Beauvoir castle

History

The fortress of Pontikon—Pontikokastro, "castle of Pontikon", is a relatively recent name—is one of the oldest Byzantine castles in Greece. It is located in the northern part of Ichthys Bay, 100 meters from the coast, and is built on the ruins of the acropolis of ancient Pheia, dating from 700 BC.

Different views have been expressed about the name, with some claiming that Pontikon derives from the ancient Greek word pontos, "sea", because of its view over the Ionian Sea. Others claim it is due to the similarity of the shape of a mouse (pontikos). The most probable view is considered to be that of the folklorist Dinos Psychogios, that the name came from a corruption of the Latin "fonticum", meaning warehouse, because the castle was used as storage for crop wheat and other products.[1]

After the Fourth Crusade, the castle was conquered by the Frankish Crusaders who established the Principality of Achaea in ca. 1205.[2] They called it Beauvoir in French, Belveder in Italian and Bellovidere or Pulchrumvidere in Latin.[3] It originally formed part of the princely domain of Achaea, and along with the fortress and princely mint of Glarentza it was one of the two major sites from which Elis was governed.[4] Beauvoir was granted in 1289 to Hugh, Count of Brienne, in exchange for his half of the Barony of Karytaina, but Hugh soon exchanged it with John Chauderon for lands in Conversano. By 1303, however, it had returned to direct princely control.[5] During Ferdinand of Majorca's attempt to seize the Principality in 1315–16, Beauvoir was captured and held by his forces until after his defeat and death in the Battle of Manolada.[6] Beauvoir ceased to play an important role thereafter, and is scarcely mentioned in the subsequent periods of Ottoman and Venetian rule.[7] In 1391 it was taken over by the Navarrese Company, in 1427 by Constantine Palaiologos, and after that by Thomas Palaiologos. It was burned down by the Turks in 1470.

The castle walls form an elongated rectangle, mostly of Byzantine construction with traces of Frankish interventions. It encloses an area of about 1 acre, 90 meters in length and 55 meters wide. At the northwest corner there is a tower 12 m high and 8 m wide, with seventeen courses of circular and seven courses of rectangular masonry. The first two of the courses clearly date back to ancient Greek times. In the middle of the castle there is an oblong calculated cistern, measuring 5 meters from north to south, divided into two unequal parts by a partition wall, and four pairs of square holes from which the water came out sideways.

gollark: ```fsharpprintfn "Hacked with %s" "F#"```
gollark: ```pythonprint("Hacked with python 3")```
gollark: ```print "Hacked with Python 2 or Lua"```
gollark: (produced by the common Unix tool `haxxdump`)
gollark: 011d3b0 ecda fe42 f33d d112 2b8c 7e1d 24d2 11e5011d3c0 2475 ae6a bb0f 0c59 592b 3e75 6074 5f61011d3d0 ff42 a907 c773 c81f 3095 97ba 7fe2 5270011d3e0 c021 d886 1dfc 01eb f22a 0174 38cb ab3e011d3f0 2476 6efa 2bb0 6dde cd92 0222 5467 7221011d400 bb13 2647 77f7 8c51 6206 e40d 3c85 117c011d410 86bb 928f 2234 bb31 298e dd89 7209 6a00011d420 49b1 182b 52fc 6659 f720 c14c 7064 213c011d430 be13 5b7f 36db 9228 232a be39 1c9e 4065011d440 3e92 3fa8 a538 8a60 c599 7c88 9f72 9748011d450 8a5d fc83 b21b e48d 666a 8670 3d61 0225

References
  1. Κοτσανάς, Κωνσταντίνος (2007-05-16). Τουριστικός Οδηγός Ηλείας (in Greek). Πύργος [GR]. p. 57. ISBN 978-960-89792-1-5.
  2. Bon 1969, pp. 66, 663.
  3. Bon 1969, pp. 328–330.
  4. Bon 1969, pp. 87, 104, 330.
  5. Bon 1969, pp. 161, 164, 330.
  6. Bon 1969, pp. 192–193.
  7. Bon 1969, p. 330.

Sources

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