Larissa Castle
| Larissa Castle | ||
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 Larissa Castle, general view |
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| Alternative name (s): | Argos Castle | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Argos | |
| Geographical location | 37 ° 38 '19 " N , 22 ° 42' 51.5" E | |
| Height: | 240 m | |
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The Larissa Castle , ( Greek κάστρο Λάρισα , also Argos Castle ) is a medieval castle west of the urban area of Argos on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece .
It is named after the hill it stands on; whose name is said to go back to Larissa , a figure in Greek mythology. Significant parts of the complex have been preserved, showing the development of the castle from the time of early Hellenism to the time of the Turkish occupation. The castle was used continuously from antiquity (initially as an acropolis ) until the 19th century.
history
There was a first fortification in Mycenaean times. Ancient masonry from the 5th century BC Can still be seen well in the base of the wall. In 146 the Romans and 395 the Visigoths conquered the castle under Alaric . Around 600 it fell into the hands of the Slavs who immigrated to the peninsula.
The Byzantines built a new fortification in the 12th century. It was conquered by the crusader Gottfried von Villehardouin in 1205 . He handed them over to the Duke of Athens , Otto de la Roche , for aid provided with weapons. From 1212 the castle was completely renovated using older building materials. In 1394 it was sold to the Republic of Venice , and in 1463 the Ottomans finally became the owners of the castle. In 1821 Dimitrios Ypsilantis captured the fortress in the Greek War of Independence . In the following period it no longer played a role in military actions.
Venetian pointed bastion on a round Turkish bastion 
Hellenistic masonry 
Masonry from Franconian times
literature
- Clovis Plehn: Crusader castles on the Peloponnese . Schnell & Steiner, Munich / Zurich approx. 1970, p.?.
- Dieter Hennig: Argos. In: Siegfried Lauffer (Ed.): Greece. Lexicon of Historic Places. CH Beck, Munich 1989, pp. 128-131, here p. 131.
- Alexander Paradissis: Fortresses and Castles of Greece. Efstahiadis Group, Anixi 1994, pp.?.
- Lambert Schneider: Peloponnese. Dumont art guide. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2006, p.?.
- David Nicolle : Crusader Castles in Cyprus, Greece and the Aegean 1191-1571. Osprey Publishing, Fortress No. 59, New York 2007, pp.?.