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Leuktron Castle
The castle of Leuktron () or Beaufort is a late medieval fortification in the southern Peloponnese. The fortress was built by the Prince of Achaea, William II Villehardouin, on the eastern shore of the Messenian Gulf, in order to keep at bay the Slavs, Slavic tribes living on Mount Taygetos. It is located close to the ancient settlement of Leuctra (Laconia), Leuctra and the modern village of Stoupa, on a large rock rising above the shore, forming a platform some long, wide, and less than high that extends from northeast to southwest. The curtain wall is constructed of irregular-sized stones mixed with brick fragments. Remnants of a square keep and a cistern are still visible in the interior. References Sources * * * Castles and fortifications of the Principality of Achaea Medieval Messenia 1240s establishments in Europe West Mani Medieval sites in Peloponnese (region) {{Greece-castle-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which separates the Gulf of Corinth from the Saronic Gulf. From the late Middle Ages until the 19th century, the peninsula was known as the Morea, a name still in colloquial use in its demotic form. The peninsula is divided among three administrative regions: most belongs to the Peloponnese region, with smaller parts belonging to the West Greece and Attica regions. Geography The Peloponnese is a peninsula located at the southern tip of the mainland, in area, and constitutes the southernmost part of mainland Greece. It is connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Corinth Canal was constructed in 1893. However, it is also connected to the mainland by several bridges across the canal, including two submers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Of Achaea
The Prince of Achaea was the ruler of the Principality of Achaea, one of the crusader states Frankokratia, founded in Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204). The principality witnessed various overlords during its more than two centuries of existence, initially, Achaea was a vassal state of the Kingdom of Thessalonica under Boniface I, Marquis of Montferrat, Boniface I of house Montferrat, then of the Latin Empire, Latin Empire of Constantinople under the houses of Flanders-Courtenay, which had supplanted the Byzantine Empire, and later of the Kingdom of Naples, Angevin Kingdom of Naples. During the Angevin period, the princes were often absent, represented in the Principality by their baillis, who governed in their name. After 1404 the principality became sovereign as the Genoese Centurione II Zaccaria bought from the Neapolitan crown the princely rights. The principality was one of the longest-lasting of the Latin states in Greece, outliving the Latin Empire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William II Villehardouin
William of Villehardouin (; Kalamata, 1211 – 1 May 1278) was the fourth prince of Achaea in Frankish Greece, from 1246 to 1278. The younger son of Prince Geoffrey I, he held the Barony of Kalamata in fief during the reign of his elder brother Geoffrey II. William ruled Achaea as regent for his brother during Geoffrey's military campaigns against the Greeks of Nicaea, who were the principal enemies of his overlord, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople Baldwin II. William succeeded his childless brother in the summer of 1246. Conflicts between Nicaea and Epirus enabled him to complete the conquest of the Morea in about three years. He captured Monemvasia and built three new fortresses, forcing two previously autonomous tribes, the Tzakones and Melingoi, into submission. He participated in the unsuccessful Egyptian crusade of Louis IX of France, who rewarded him with the right to issue currency in the style of French royal coins. In the early 1250s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messenian Gulf
The Messenian Gulf (, ''Messiniakós Kólpos'') is a sea that is part of the Ionian Sea. The gulf is circumscribed by the southern coasts of Messenia and the southwestern coast of the Mani peninsula in Laconia. Its bounds are Venetiko Island to the west and Cape Tainaron to the southeast. The western shores are mostly low-lying, fertile and well-developed, while the eastern shore is dominated by the southern foothills of the Taygetos and comparatively rocky and inaccessible, with few settlements. The Pamisos River flows into the gulf near the port city of Kalamata, which is the gulf's major urban centre. Places by the gulf * Koroni - west * Longa - west * Petalidi - northwest * Messini - northwest * Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ... - northeast * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavs
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Northern Asia, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states and Central Asia, and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe. Early Slavs lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th century AD), and came to control large parts of Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe between the sixth and seventh centuries. Beginning in the 7th century, they were gradually Christianized. By the 12th century, they formed the core population of a number of medieval Christian states: East Slavs in the Kievan Rus', South Slavs in the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Duchy of Croatia and the Banate of B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Taygetos
The Taygetus, Taugetus, Taygetos or Taÿgetus () is a mountain range on the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece. The highest mountain of the range is Mount Taygetus, also known as "Profitis Ilias", or "Prophet Elias" (Elijah). The name is one of the oldest recorded in Europe, appearing in the Odyssey. In classical mythology, it was associated to the nymph Taygete and it was named after her. During Byzantine times and up until the 19th century, the mountain was also known as Pentadaktylos (Πενταδάκτυλος; Greek for ''five-fingered'', a common name during that period). Geography Physical The Taygetus Massif is about long, extending from the center of the Peloponnese to Cape Matapan, its southernmost extremity. It contains the tallest mountain in the Peloponnese, the Profitis Ilias summit, reaching ; this is probably the classical Mount Taléton mentioned by Pausanias. The summit is an ultra-prominent peak. It is prominent above the Isthmus of Corinth, which sepa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leuctra (Laconia)
Leuctra or Leuktra (), also Leuctrum or Leuktron (τὸ Λεῦκτρον), was a town of ancient Laconia, situated on the eastern side of the Messenian Gulf, 20 '' stadia'' north of Pephnus, and 60 ''stadia'' south of Cardamyle. Strabo speaks of Leuctrum as a colony of the Leuctra in Boeotia, near the minor Pamisus, but this river flows into the sea at Pephnus, about three miles (5 km) south of Leuctrum. History Leuctrum was said to have been founded by Pelops, and was claimed by the Messenians as originally one of their towns. It was awarded to the latter people by Philip II of Macedon in 338 BCE, but in the time of the Roman Empire it was one of the Eleuthero-Laconian towns. Temples of Athena and Cassandra Pausanias saw in Leuctra a temple and statue of Athena on the acropolis, a temple and statue of Cassandra (there called Alexandra), a marble statue of Asclepius, another of Ino, and wooden figures of Apollo Carneius. Leuctra's site is located near the modern S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stoupa
Stoupa () is a village on the coast of the southern Peloponnese peninsula in Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Lefktro within the municipality of West Mani, in Messenia and the historic region of Mani Peninsula. Once a sleepy little town, in the past few years more and more tourists have discovered Stoupa. There are about 20 restaurants lining the road along the beach, a few small hotels, and many rental houses. Besides Greek tourists, who come mostly in August, British and German, as well as Dutch, French and Italian tourists visit in the summer season. Geography Stoupa is located in an area of Greece called Outer Mani. Approximately from Stoupa is the village of Agios Nikolaos (also known as ''Selinitsa'' meaning small moon), a working fishing village which also has a number of restaurants and guest houses but which attracts fewer tourists than Stoupa. Above Agios Nikolaos is the lovely small village called Riglia. Other places in the Mani region include Itylo () ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed a key part of the motte-and-bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England, Portugal, south Italy and Sicily. As a result of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, use spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries, including Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take a decade or more t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American School Of Classical Studies At Athens
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA; ) is one of 19 foreign archaeological institutes in Athens, Greece. It is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). CAORC is a private not-for-profit federation of independent overseas research centers that promote advanced research, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, with focus on the conservation and recording of cultural heritage and the understanding and interpretation of modern societies. General information With an administrative base in Princeton, New Jersey, and a campus in Athens, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens is one of the leading American research and teaching institutions in Greece, dedicated to the advanced study of all aspects of Greek culture, from antiquity to the present. Founded in 1881, the School is a consortium of nearly 200 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It was the first American overseas research center, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castles And Fortifications Of The Principality Of Achaea
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for ''pleasance'' and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
