Byzantines and Franks · Ancient Lerna
A castle rises on Pontinos
1175–1399 Disputed
On the summit where Pausanias had seen the ruined sanctuary of Athena, a fortress was built with an outer ward, a six-sided redoubt, a square keep and cisterns. When exactly is disputed: Wallace McLeod thought it Frankish work of the 14th century, while Varalis, Tsekes and Bountouris date the masonry to the late 12th or the first half of the 13th century. It became known as the castle of Kiveri (Civeri).
- Threads
- Ancient Lerna
- Certainty
- Disputed sources disagree; both versions shown
Pictures
Aerial view of the ruined Frankish castle walls on Pontinos hill, with the white chapel of Profitis Ilias. Visit Myloi
Pl. 114b 'Kiveri, Redoubt. Northwest Tower, from Northwest': the northwest tower of the redoubt of the castle on Mt Pontinos above Myloi, showing the line of a horizontal beam. Probably W.E. McLeod
Sources
- W. E. McLeod, «Kiveri and Thermisi», Hesperia 31 (1962), pp. 378–392
- Ι. Βαραλής, Κ. Μπουντούρης, Γ. Τσέκες, «Το Λατινικό κάστρο CHIVERI στους Μύλους Λέρνας» (conference Fortification architecture in the Peloponnese, Loutraki 2011), as cited by Argoliki Vivliothiki, «The Chamires castle» (10-09-2026)
- visitmyloi.gr, «Pontinos, a hill full of stories» (castle page)
Also in this period
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1347
A priest for the castle: the will of Gautier de Brienne
In his will of 1347, Gautier VI de Brienne, Lord of Argos and Nauplia and titular Duke of Athens, names his castle of Chamires. He left sixty hyperpyra a year, from the rent of a cloth shop in Argos, for a priest who had…
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1479
The castle on Pontinos falls out of use
After the Venetian–Ottoman war of 1463–1479 the castle was allowed to stay in Venetian hands on condition that it was not rebuilt. From then on it gradually disappears from the record; roofs collapsed and the walls began…