Penteskouphi
| Penteskouphi | ||
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 View from Acrocorinth to Penteskouphi Castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Mont Escouvé, Montesquieue | |
| Creation time : | Early 13th century | |
| Castle type : | Rock castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Archaia Corinthos | |
| Geographical location | 37 ° 53 '1.4 " N , 22 ° 51' 25.9" E | |
| Height: | 476 m | |
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Penteskouphi ( Greek Καστέλι του Πεντεσκούφι ) is a Frankish castle ruin in Korinthia in Greece . About 1.5 km to the west are the ruins of the village Penteskouphia near the chapel of Agios Andonios .
description
The castle is located on the 476 m high mountain Kastraki 1.25 km southwest of the main entrance of the Akrocorinth Castle . The castle measured about 17 m in west-east direction and about 35 m in north-south direction and had a size of about 500 m². The outer wall was about 2.50 to 2.00 m thick and had six loopholes that came from the second phase of use. In the north stood a tower with a base area of around 10.50 × 9.50 m. The first floor of the tower originally consisted of one room, but was later divided into two rooms of roughly the same size with a wall made of porphyry . Access to the tower was through a door in the south. The only entrance to the castle was to the east of the tower.
A distinction can be made between two construction phases: When the castle was built in Franconian times, roughly hewn limestone was used and clay bricks were placed in the spaces between. Carefully hewn stones made of porphyry were used for the renovation work. These probably date to the Venetian period (1687–1715) or possibly the Ottoman period .
history
After the Franks had conquered Corinth under Otto de la Roche , the Byzantine ruler Leon Sgouros withdrew to Acrocorinth. At the beginning he could still be supplied with food from the outside and inflicted great losses on the attackers with surprise attacks over two years. In support of the siege and to hit back by failures Built James II. Of Avesnes , according to the Chronicle of Morea Castle Montesquieue or Mont Escouvé opposite the main entrance of Acrocorinth. It is very likely that it is the Penteskouphi castle and the current name was derived from the corruption of Mont Escouvé.
In 1208 the siege had an effect. In order not to starve to death or fall through the hands of the Franks, Leon Sgouros is said to have mounted his horse and jumped at full gallop into the depths and died. Michael I Komnenos Dukas Angelos inherited Akrocorinth and put his half-brother Theodoros I Komnenos Dukas as administrator. When food was scarce, he had to hand over the castle to the Franks and moved to Argos , to entrench himself at Larissa Castle . After Acrocorinth was conquered, the castle was likely abandoned.
The castle was restored in the Venetian era and now served as an additional bulwark for Acrocorinth. At the beginning of the Greek Revolution , Greek freedom fighters conquered Penteskouphi in March 1821 and on January 26, 1822 it was finally possible to force the withdrawal of the Ottoman troops.
In 1879 a farmer discovered numerous votive tablets about 900 m northwest of Penteskouphi Castle . The following year Arthur Milchhoefer examined the site and recovered the tablets. During this excavation and one carried out by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1905, a total of around 1500 fragments of the so-called Pinakes of Penteskouphia were found .
literature
- Siegfried Lauffer : Penteskuphia. In: Siegfried Lauffer (Ed.): Greece: Lexicon of historical sites - from the beginnings to the present . CH Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-33302-8 , p. 527.
- Clovis Plehn: Crusader castles on the Peloponnese. Schnell & Steiner, Munich / Zurich 1983, ISBN 3795403049 , pp. 21-23.
- Antoine Bon: The Medieval Fortifications of Acrocorinth and Vincinity in Corinth. Results of Excavations conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens , Volume 3, Part 2, Cambridge 1936, pp. 128–281 ( online )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Ferdinand Gregorovius : History of the city of Athens in the Middle Ages. From the time of Justinian to the Turkish conquest. , Munich 1980, ISBN 3-406-07951-2 , p. 209
- ^ Ferdinand Gregorovius: History of the city of Athens in the Middle Ages. From the time of Justinian to the Turkish conquest. , Munich 1980, ISBN 3-406-07951-2 , p. 232
- ^ Ferdinand Gregorovius: History of the city of Athens in the Middle Ages. From the time of Justinian to the Turkish conquest. , Munich 1980, ISBN 3-406-07951-2 , p. 242