Karytaina: View of the Castle from E.

Department Archive
Collection BSA SPHS Image Collection
Reference No. BSA SPHS 01/0376.1689
Level Item
Description Glass negative, full plate size, a copy negative.
Dimensions 19 x 12.5 cm
Place Karytaina Frankish Fortress
Dates 1891-1897
Donor/Creator Leaf, Mr Walter
Scope and Content The original description in the SPHS register reads: "Karytaina: view of the castle from the East".
Notes Unknown date, but based on numerous images donated by Walter Leaf that were catalogued SPHS 1667 to 1700 that appeared in the 1897 slide catalogue in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, it probably dates no later than 1897. However, Leaf was known to visit nearby Megalopolis in 1891.Note many of these appear in his list of enlargements that was published in 1902.
Further information The barony of Karytaina was established in 1205 by Geoffrey I de Villehardouin and remained in Frankish hands until 1320/5 when it was captured by the Byzantines. The Frankish castle of Karytaina was built at a strategic point on the top of a hill that dominates the valley through which both Gortyna rivers, the Lousios and the Alpheios, run at the crossroads between Gortynia and Messenia, Olympia and Elis. It has been suggested that the castle was built using spolia from the ancient acropolis of Vrenthi. At the foot of the hill on which the castle stands lies the medieval settlement of Karytaina.
Related records [BRF/02/01/11/001], Karytaina Castle, 1891-1897