Acronafplia is one of the three magnificent castles of Nafplio, and the one with the richest history. The present form of the castle, although considerably altered by modern interventions, was mainly shaped during the Frankish and First Venetian periods, from the 13th to the 16th centuries.
Archaeological evidence has shown that the area of Nafplio was inhabited since at least the Early Mycenaean period (which began in 1700 BC).
In the 7th century BC, Nafplio was conquered by Argos and became its port, while in the 4th century BC, a fortified settlement with walls began to develop on the peninsula, starting high on the rock from the southwest side, continuing along the north side and ending at the end of the east side. The south side was initially not fortified because the steep cliffs provided sufficient natural protection. The ancient walls consisted of large carved stones, which came from the rocks of Acronafplia and were built using the technique of polygonal masonry.
When Argos declined, after the Roman conquest, Nafplio fell into such obscurity that Pausanias, in the 2nd century AD, found it deserted and almost uninhabited in his travels in Argolis. He only mentions the existence of a sanctuary of Poseidon at the top (of which remains have been found at the highest point of the peninsula).
Early Byzantine and Middle Byzantine period (4th century to the end of the 12th century)
The desolation of Nafplio continued throughout the Early Byzantine period. There is no mention of Nafplio in ecclesiastical documents of the early Christian period or in historical references to the major barbarian invasions of the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. It is not mentioned either in the Synecdemus of Hierocles (which lists all the cities of the empire in the 6th century AD) or in Procopius, who in his Buildings mentions all the fortresses and cities that existed under Justinian.
In the following centuries, we find some scattered references to Nafplio: A variation of the Chronicle of Monemvasia tells us that during the descent of the Avars-Slavs into the Peloponnese, in 583-584, a Byzantine garrison fortified itself and resisted in Nafplio. Also, in 727, when the turmarch of the Hellas theme Agallianos Kontoskelis revolted against the iconoclastic emperor Leo III, Nafplio was one of the cities that supported him by providing him with ships. In 963, Nikon “the repentant”, who came from Crete, landed in Nafplio and taught there for a short time before directing his missionary zeal to the rest of the Peloponnese.
These references are not very reliable because they are much later than the events. What we do know for sure is that at the end of the 9th century the “Bishopric of Argos and Nafplio” was created, under the Metropolis of Corinth.
In the 11th century we have, unexpectedly, a very important piece of information: In 1031, a fleet of Saracens from Africa plundered the coasts of the Peloponnese. The general of Nafplio, Nikephoros Karantenos, at the head of a Byzantine fleet, pursued them and destroyed most of their ships.
The relevant passage from the Byzantine historian Skylitzes is as follows: “The Saracens suffered badly at the hands of the Rhaetians and the patrician Nikephoros Karantenos, the governor of Nafplio, who defeated them and lost most of their ships.”
The same scene will be repeated in 1032 and 1033 with similar successes by Nikephoros Karantenos. The title “strategos of Nafplio” of Karantenos shows that from the beginning of the 11th century, perhaps even a little earlier, the military value of Nafplio had been upgraded. This assumption is reinforced by the fact that Nikephoros Karantenos was not simply a senior military officer, but a relative by marriage of Emperor Romanos III Argyros (1028-1034).
All of the above shows that from the 7th century at the latest, Acronafplia was re-inhabited (as evidenced by Byzantine architectural members and coins) and gradually developed so much that by the beginning of the 11th century it had become the seat of a general. It is certain that during this period – around the 10th century – a Byzantine castle was built on the rocks of Acronafplia.
During the 10th-11th centuries, the city, despite the fact that Argolis had been greatly troubled by pirate raids, gradually began to prosper. It became an early trading post for the Venetians, as evidenced by imperial chrysobulls of Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118) and later Alexios III Angelos (1195-1203). These chrysobulls granted or renewed trading privileges to Venice. The city was further strengthened in the 12th century with the creation of a new administrative unit, the “Horion of Corinth, Nafplio, Argos.” Within the framework of this administrative change, extensive fortification programs were carried out in these three cities.
Σγουροί Period (1180-1210)
Nafplio first gained primacy over neighboring cities during the period when the Sgouros family were the local lords.
In 1180, Emperor Manuel Komnenos appointed the wealthy nobleman of Nafplio, Theodore Sgouros, as lord of Nafplio. A few years later, in 1189, he succeeded in persuading Emperor Isaac II to elevate the Bishopric of Argos and Nafplio to an autonomous Metropolis.
In 1199, Emperor Alexios III Angelos commissioned Sgouros to build a fleet to protect the coasts of the Peloponnese and Central Greece from pirates. This mission allowed Sgouros to become an all-powerful local ruler and to strengthen himself militarily and economically by imposing a ship tax on other Greek cities and the Cyclades.
When Theodore Sgouros died, around 1200, his son Leo Sgouros inherited a strong and wealthy lordship with Nafplio as its capital. In 1203-1204, he expanded his territory by capturing Argos and Corinth (after first killing the Metropolitan of Corinth, who had blinded him and thrown him from the rocks of Acronafplia). In the following period, having de facto become independent from the central Byzantine authority, he invaded Attica and caused great destruction in Athens and Megara, but failed to capture the Acropolis. He continued north and captured Thebes and Larissa, but was forced to retreat when the Frankish Crusaders began their descent. Failing to stop the Franks at Thermopylae, Sgouros fortified himself on the Acrocorinth.
There, Leo Sgouros defended himself successfully, but in 1208 he committed suicide by falling, according to one version, with his horse from the cliff. The Acrocorinth, as well as the other cities of Sgouros’ territory, Argos and Nafplio, continued to resist the Franks for a little while longer with the help of the forces of the Despotate of Epirus.
Here are some additional details about the Sgouros period:
- Theodore Sgouros was a capable and ambitious ruler who took advantage of the weakening of the Byzantine Empire to expand his power.
- He was a skilled military leader and built a strong navy that helped him to protect his territory from pirates.
- He was also a patron of the arts and sciences and founded a number of churches and monasteries in Nafplio.
- Leo Sgouros was a more impulsive and reckless ruler than his father.
- He made a number of enemies, including the Byzantine emperor and the Frankish Crusaders.
- His death in 1208 marked the end of the Sgouros dynasty and the beginning of a new era for Nafplio.
The Sgouros period was an important time in the history of Nafplio. It was during this period that the city first began to emerge as a major center of power and influence. The Sgouros family left a lasting legacy on Nafplio, and their contributions to the city’s development are still evident today.
Frankish Period (1212-1389)
After the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the Franks of the Fourth Crusade, the conquest of the rest of Greece followed.
In 1205, Nafplio was besieged by Boniface of Montferrat, “King” of Thessalonica. Boniface was one of the leaders of the Fourth Crusade who received the rights to mainland Greece in the distribution of territories. The Peloponnese had been assigned to the Venetians, who, however, did not have sufficient land forces, so Boniface undertook to conquer the Morea on their behalf. However, Nafplio and the other cities of Sgouros (Argos, Acrocorinth) resisted successfully and escaped on that occasion, as Boniface was forced to withdraw due to a revolt against the Franks in Thessalonica.
Nafplio finally surrendered in 1210 after a persistent siege for over a year to Geoffrey I of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaia, thanks also to the help of 4 Venetian galleys that blockaded Nafplio from the sea.
The newly conquered Frankish territories of the Morea – Corinth, Argos, Nafplio – were ceded in 1212 by Villehardouin to his ally Otto de la Roche, Megas Kyris (Sire) of Athens, as a reward for the help he offered Villehardouin in securing his throne of the principality.
According to the surrender agreement, the Franks occupied the central level where the Frankish castle was built, while the Greeks kept the western part (“and the other, the weaker one, to be held by the Romans”) where the Roman castle remained. (Here we should remind ourselves once again, that until the 15th century the city of Nafplio was limited to the settlement on the two large rocks, there was no city lower down, as we know it today).
Early on, the Franks took care to strengthen the Frankish castle (photo 2) which was separated from the Roman castle by a partition wall on its western side reinforced with a square tower (the foundations of which are visible today, photo 29). In the Frankish castle, which became the military and administrative center, residences of the lords, cisterns were built and the fortification was modernized, while no significant interventions were made in the Roman castle. The Franks also remodeled the eastern wall of the old castle by converting the Byzantine towers which they reinforced and transformed from circular to polygonal.
In 1290, the Prince of Achaia, Florent of Hainaut, signed a peace treaty with the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II Palaiologos. Reflecting the climate of reconciliation of those days, the gate of the Frankish castle of Acronafplia was decorated with a mixture of Greek and Frankish symbols: with Byzantine-style frescoes depicting Saints of the Eastern and Western Churches and emblems of the Palaiologoi and the Duchy of Athens. The gate was named “Gate of Peace”. The expenses for this impressive construction were covered by the bailo of the Duchy of Athens, Hugh of Brienne (who was also the guardian of the underage duke).
The De la Roches remained lords of Argolis until 1308, when their possessions (including Acronafplia) passed to the House of Brienne, when the last male De la Roche died childless and was succeeded by his cousin (son of Isabella de la Roche) Gautier de Brienne. In 1311, Duke Gautier V de Brienne was killed in the Battle of Kephisos, when the Franks were defeated by the Catalan Company. In the following period, and for over 7 decades, the Duchy of Athens was under Catalan control, but Argos and Nafplio remained in the hands of the Brienne.
This was not at all easy, because the Catalans often made attempts to annex it, but Gautier’s widow, Joanna of Châtillon, handled the difficult situation skillfully by securing help from the French, the Angevin kingdom of Naples and from the Pope. At the same time, he entrusted the administration of the fiefdoms of Argos and Nafplio to the capable Gautier de Fourcherolles, Baron of Zogia (an unknown barony somewhere in Argolis). In 1324, after the death of Gautier de Fourcherolles, his nephew Nicholas Fourcherolles took over the management. During these years, despite the serious external threats from Catalans, Byzantines of Mystras and Turkish pirates, the region experienced a period of steady growth and prosperity.
In 1356, the last of the Brienne, Gautier VI of Brienne (also known as Guy, Gautier or Walter of Brienne) was killed at the Battle of Poitiers. He was childless and his titles (which included Nafplio and Argos) were inherited by his sister Isabella de Brienne, wife of Gautier III of Enghien.
Isabella gave her titles in Greece to her fifth son Guy d’Enghien, who in 1357 became Baron of Argos (and also Duke of Athens, on paper) and appointed two brothers, Peter and Averardo de Medici (Medici-Iatrou), as his trustees in the area. The mismanagement of the trustees caused the anger of the people and finally d’Enghien, in 1363, was forced to dismiss them and took over himself. Shortly before, in 1362, he had sent envoys to Venice through whom he declared the submission of Nafplio to Venice in order to gain the support of the Serenissima Republic in his conflict with the Catalans (from whom he aspired to one day take away the entire Duchy of Athens – he tried but failed in 1371).
In 1377, after a successful reign, Baron Guy d’Enghien died. He was succeeded by his minor daughter Maria, under the guardianship of her uncle Louis, Count of Conversano, who signed an agreement with Venice and consented to the marriage of Maria with Peter Cornaro (Cornaro), a Venetian of Argos, from a wealthy family of Venice. The couple lived in Venice while Louis ruled Nafplio until 1381.
In this way, in 1377-1378, the first period of Venetian rule in Nafplio began informally.
In 1388, the Lady of Argos-Nafplio Maria d’Enghien, after the death of her husband, sold her rights to Argolis to the Venetians for an annual grant of 700 gold ducats. However, before the Venetians could install a garrison, the Despot of Mystras Theodore I Palaiologos captured Argos and Nafplio. Theodore captured the two cities on behalf of, supposedly, the Duke of Athens Nerio Acciaiuoli who was his father-in-law and who, as the new Duke of Athens, claimed the traditional rights of the duchy in Argolis. The Byzantines held Argos until 1394, but Nafplio was surrendered by its inhabitants to the Venetians almost immediately, in 1389.
This is the year that officially marks the beginning of the Venetian era for Acronafplia.
First Venetian Period (1389-1540)
The main characteristic of the beginning of the Venetian rule was the terrible raids of the Turks in the Peloponnese, during which, however, Nafplio managed to remain unharmed (in contrast to the neighboring Argos, which the Turks devastated in May 1397). The intensive reinforcement of the fortifications in Acronafplia started much later, after the end of the First Venetian-Turkish War (1470) and while the Venetians had already suffered very serious territorial losses, having lost Argos (1463) and Chalcis (1470) to the Turks for good.
Vittore Pasqualigo (1471-1473) was sent to Nafplio as governor (podestà), accompanied by the engineer Antonio Gambello. These two are responsible for a series of fortifications that changed the face of Nafplio. The interventions of that time, which took into account the new requirements in fortification technology due to the innovative use of gunpowder and cannons, are as follows:
• A third castle was built in Acronafplia on the lowest and most eastern of the 3 elevated levels of the peninsula. This is the so-called Castle of the Towers (from torus=height). Its construction started in 1470 and was completed towards the end of the century. The interior of this castle is today occupied by the shell of the abandoned Xenia hotel (photo 1,3). In the northeastern corner of the Castle of the Towers, an impressive circular bastion (photo 3,24,26) has been preserved, which was built between 1493 and 1519.
• The Bourtzi fortress was built on the islet of Agioi Theodori to protect the port (construction started in 1471).
• The old fortifications in the Roman and Frankish castles were strengthened. The elevated side of the Frankish castle was reinforced with a transverse wall, the so-called Gambellο traverse, and was reinforced with a semicircular tower that protected the gate (photo 4,5,6,8).
A landmark of that era was the expansion of the city lower down, to the north, to the sea, using the technique of landfills and foundations on wooden stakes. It was a technique that had been widely applied in Venice itself and for this reason the then Provveditore Bartolomeo Minio requested in 1479 that the metropolis send him experienced Venetian craftsmen. The project was very successful and in this way, after 1480, a seaside plateau was created north and below the rocks of Acronafplia on which the “Lower Town” developed (the present-day historic center of Nafplio). The city authorities and the commercial center gradually moved there. At the same time, water supply and sewage networks were built, which were very advanced for the time and for the then Greek data.
It goes without saying that the Lower Town was protected by walls and bastions that began to be built after 1502. There was a sea wall on the north side (where Amalieas Avenue is today) with 3 sea gates. A small eastern wall guarded the only access from the land, at the neck of the peninsula, and was protected by a sea moat (basically at that point a strip of sea had not been filled in). In the middle of the eastern wall, the “Porta di Terraferma” (Gate of the Mainland) was created (photo 25,26). The harbor was initially protected by the bastion of Saint Teresa or Moschou which was located at the northernmost point of the filled-in peninsula (today Philhellenon Square).
The construction of the lower town and its fortifications significantly downgraded the importance of the old fortifications on the rocks of Acronafplia, while the settlement up there began to decline.
An indication of the growing importance of Nafplio is that from the 1470s the title of the city’s governor was upgraded from Podesta (Governor) to Provveditore (rendered as Provveditore or Proveditore).
In February 1493, the Venetian Senate proceeded to a new restructuring of the city’s administrative structure, this time following the model of the administration of the Venetian ports of Methoni and Koroni. Thus, two governors were appointed in Nafplio: one with the titles of captain and provveditore and the other with the titles of rector and provveditore. However, this duarchy caused serious problems and the scheme was abandoned after a few years. From 1519 until the end of the Venetian rule, the government had a head with the titles of bailo and captain, who was flanked by two high-ranking advisers.
In the meantime, Nafplio experienced economic development and a population explosion, especially after 1500, when all those who had lived there for more than 7 years were granted the right to be citizens of the Venetian Republic.
In the meantime, the Turks made occasional attempts to capture Nafplio. They had it under siege from 1463-79 and again from 1500-1503. It should be noted here that during the 16th century the city’s area had been reduced to the peninsula and survived only thanks to its supply from the sea, no longer having access to the Argolic plain. Kasim Pasha in 1537-1539 innovated by raising cannons on the Palamidi hill and bombarding the fortifications of Acronafplia from there, but the city held out.
Nafplio finally surrendered to the Turks in 1540, not so much because of the suffocating blockade, but because the Venetians had been defeated on the other fronts of the Third Venetian-Turkish War.
First Turkish Period (1540-1686)
Nafplio was surrendered to the Turks in 1540 with the peace treaty signed at the end of the Third Venetian-Turkish War. During the years of the Turkish rule, the poor – Turks and Christians – lived in the castle, while the residences of the officials and the wealthy were in the Lower Town. The Turks called Acronafplia “Its Kale” (acropolis).
The Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi, who visited the city in 1668, reports that there were many houses and a large mosque in the castle of Acronafplia, the Fatih, which was originally a Christian church dedicated to Saint Andrew, on the top of the hill.
During this period there were relatively few attempts to strengthen the castle’s fortifications. The most important addition was the construction of an autonomous fortification complex with a circular bastion at the protruding northwestern tip of the peninsula, above the sea. Five cannons made by Almergeti were later placed on this bastion, which is why it was named “Five Brothers”.
It is believed that the old mosque known as “Trianon” dates back to this period and is still in good condition in the center of Nafplio.
Second Venetian Period (1686-1715)
During the Sixth Venetian-Turkish War, the Venetians under Morosini recaptured a large part of the Peloponnese and on September 2, 1686, they captured Nafplio after fierce battles. Nafplio became the capital of the Venetian “Kingdom of Morea” (Regno di Morea).
Morosini, with a decree in 1686, expelled all the inhabitants of Acronafplia, demolished all the houses and the castle was now used exclusively for military purposes. Acronafplia will never have permanent residents again.
A little later, the Venetians proceeded to the reconstruction of the Land Gate (entrance to the fortified Lower Town), designed by the engineer Lassale, and for its protection the Grimani bastions (from the name of the then Provveditore) or San Antonio were built to the south and Dolfin or San Marco (under the administration of Daniele Dolfin, 1701-1704), to the north (which incorporated the Contarini tower of the First Venetian Period).
In addition, during the time of the Provveditore Alvise Mocenigo (1709-1711), the Mocenigo or San Sebastiano bastion was built as the landfills extended outside the sea walls.
In 1713, the Sagredo Gate was also built, to the north of the Roman castle, which allowed the army to access Acronafplia from the lower town. Also, in 1713, the Arsenal (arsenale), today’s Archaeological Museum in Syntagma Square, was erected on Sagredo.
And of course, the Palamidi fortress was built between 1711 and 1714, which further downgraded the importance of the Acronafplia castle.
The Venetians held Nafplio in high esteem and considered it a jewel of their eastern possessions. As the city’s historian Lambrynidis (1898) states: “All contemporary Venetian chroniclers praise the city of Nafplio with the most ornate epithets, calling it “the most famous city of the East, the noblest, most admirable and most beautiful city, the main fortress of the flourishing kingdom of the Peloponnese.” (“La più famosa de tutte le cità, la più nobile, la più splendida e bella cità, la capital piazza del florido regno della Morea”)»
Second Turkish Period (1715-1822)
The Turks drove the Venetians out of the Peloponnese in 1715 and recaptured Nafplio in the same year. In 1718, Nafplio became the capital of the Sanjak of Morea. This was the case until 1786, when the capital was transferred to Tripoli.
From then on, Nafplio declined. The population in 1799 (after a major plague epidemic) was 7,000, mainly Muslims with a few Jews, Greeks and Armenians (while in 1715 the population was 60,000 with no Muslims at all).
In 1730, the Aga Pasha Mosque was built in Nafplio, which 100 years later – from the autumn of 1825 to the spring of 1826 – was used as the seat of the Parliament of the Greek state and still survives with the name “Vouleftikon”.
In 1779, Hasan Cezayirli Pasha, in the context of dealing with the hordes of Albanians who were looting the Peloponnese after the Orlov Revolt, managed to capture them and exterminate them by throwing them from Palamidi. Since then, this coast, on the south side of Acronafplia, has been called “Arvanitia”.
Modern Times (after 1822)
On the night of November 30, 1822, the Greeks under Staikos Staikopoulos captured Palamidi and began to bombard Acronafplia with its cannons. On December 3, 3 days later, the Turks were forced to surrender the castle of Acronafplia to the generalissimo Theodoros Kolokotronis, who appointed the Spetsiot Anastasios Koutroumpis as the first garrison commander of the castle.
After the liberation, Nafplio was declared the capital of Greece. It remained the capital until 1834.
On January 7, 1828, Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Governor of Greece, landed in Nafplio. He was responsible for many works, such as the first School of Evelpides, the Agricultural School in Tiryns, etc. In 1829, he also took care of the maintenance and reconstruction of parts of the castle and built a large barracks in Acronafplia (on the site of the old Roman castle, where the prisons were later built and then the second Xenia), as well as a military hospital (on the site of the castle of the Towers, where the Xenia was later built). Kapodistrias, as is known, was assassinated on September 27, 1831 in Nafplio while entering the church of Agios Spyridonas.
On January 25, 1833, the first King of the Greeks, Otto, landed in Nafplio. Nafplio ceased to be the capital of Greece with a royal decree in September 1834, which was signed by the Regency of Armansperg, Kobel and Eudek, when Otto settled in Athens.
The sea walls of the Lower Town were demolished in 1867 to create Amalia Avenue. In 1894-5, the eastern walls on the neck of the peninsula were demolished and the moat was filled in to build a railway station.
At the end of the 19th century, large infantry barracks, military prisons and large underground rainwater tanks were built on the fortress. At that time, Acronafplia was the center of the Peloponnese garrison.
In 1926, the notorious prisons of Palamidi were transferred to Acronafplia and housed in the Kapodistrias barracks. Thus, the “prisons of Nafplio” were created, which was one of the 2 most notorious prisons in Greece (the other was Gedi Koule). In 1937, under Metaxas, the Acronafplia prisons also became political prisons. They operated there until about 1960.
In 1929, the impressive Dolfin bastion (on the north side of the neck of Acronafplia) and the other large Venetian sea bastion, the Mocenigo bastion, were demolished “to open up the space” and to build the 1st Primary School and the Nafplio High School in their place. Until then, the bastion had housed, since the foundation of the New Greek State, the army’s arsenal where weapons were assembled and ammunition and military supplies were produced.
During World War II, anti-aircraft gun bases were built on the highest point of Acronafplia, for the construction of which a large area of the archaeological site was leveled.
In 1960, by Royal Decree, Acronafplia was declared a “Tourist Public Estate” and it was decided, with the approval of the Archaeological Service, to build hotels on the rocks of Acronafplia. In 1961, the construction of the Xenia was completed, which occupied the site of the Kapodistrias barracks that had been built inside the castle of the Towers (this hotel was sold to a private individual in 2000, but today it stands abandoned and dilapidated). In 1971, a second Xenia, the Xenia Pallas, was built on the northwestern side, which was the old prison of Nafplio. It is still operating today (with a different name). For its construction, everything that had not been destroyed by the Roman castle until then was destroyed.
Access to Acronafplia is via an asphalt road from the old town of Nafplio, which follows the route of the old moat around the Grimani bastion.
