Old Navarino castle
The Old Navarino castle (Greek: Παλαιό Ναυαρίνο) is a 13th-century Frankish fortress near Pylos, Greece. It is one of two castles guarding the bay on which it sits; the other is the Ottoman-built New Navarino. It is frequently known simply as Palaiokastro or Paliokastro (Greek: Παλαιόκαστρο or Παλιόκαστρο, "old castle").[1] It occupies the site of the Athenian fort at the 425 BC Battle of Pylos.
Name
In Frankish times, under the Principality of Achaea, it was known as Port-de-Jon' ("Cane Harbour") or Port-de-Junch in French, with some variants and derivatives: in Italian Porto-Junco, Zunchio or Zonchio, in medieval Catalan Port Jonc, in Latin Iuncum, Zonglon/Zonglos (Ζόγγλον/ς or Ζόγκλον/ς) in Greek, etc.[2][3] In the late 14th/early 15th centuries, when it was held by the Navarrese Company, it was also known as Château Navarres, and called Spanochori (Σπανοχώρι, "village of the Spaniards") by the local Greeks.[4]
History
The castle sits atop an imposing 200-metre (660 ft) rock formation on the northern edge of the bay, flanked by sheer cliffs; the naturally defensible site has probably been occupied since classical times.[5] Although there are no physical barriers to access, the castle ruins have been declared "closed" because the structure is considered dangerous.
In 1204, following the
The fortress remained relatively unimportant thereafter, except for the
In 1423, Navarino, like the rest of the Peloponnese, suffered its first Ottoman raid, led by
In 1572/3, the Ottoman chief admiral (
After the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in March 1821, the Greeks captured the New Navarino fortress and slaughtered its garrison on the first week of August 1821. The area remained in Greek hands until 1825, when Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt captured the old castle on 29 April, followed by New Navarino on 11 May.[1] The Ottoman-Egyptian garrison remained there until it was handed over to the French troops under General Nicolas Joseph Maison in spring 1828. The French found the old castle essentially a ruin.[1][5]
References
Sources
- Bées, N. & Savvides, A. (1993). "Navarino". In ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
- Bon, Antoine (1969). La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe (in French). Paris: De Boccard.
- Savvides, Alexis G. K. (1991). "On Pylos-Navarino-Zonklon in the Byzantine period, late 6th-early 13th centuries". Vyzantina. 16: 335–338.
- Savvides, Alexis G. K. (1992). "Notes on Navarino in the Frankish, Venetian and early Ottoman periods". Ekklisiastikos Faros. 74: 68–72.
- Wolpert, Aaron D. (2005). "The fortress of Anavarin-i Atik". In F. Zarinebaf; J. Bennet; J.L. Davis (eds.). A Historical and Economic Geography of Ottoman Greece: The Southwestern Morea in the 18th Century. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens. pp. 223–240. ISBN 978-0-87661-534-8.