Larissa (Argos)
| Kastro Larisa | |
|---|---|
| Part of Larisa | |
| Argos | |
Kastro Larisa
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 Kastro Larisa
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| Coordinates | Coordinates: 37°38′19″N 22°42′52″E / 37.6386111111°N 22.7143055556°E |
| Type | Castle |
| Site information | |
| Open to the public |
Yes |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Site history | |
| Materials | Stone |
| Events | Various Hellenistic & Roman conflicts (involving previous fortifications); Fourth Crusade, Ottoman–Venetian Wars, Greek War of Independence involving present structure & additions |
Larisa (Greek: Λάρισα, also Κάστρο Λάρισα, "Castle Larisa") is the ancient and medieval acropolis of Argos, located on a high rocky hill, within the town's boundaries. According to Strabo, it is named for a group of Pelasgians. The summit is occupied by the ruins of a Byzantine-Venetian castle, below it, roughly midway down the slope of the mountain, is Panagia Katakekrymeni-Portokalousa monastery, and the Monastery of Agia Marina (Saint Margaret) at Argos, a nunnery. The site was fortified and in continuous use for nineteen centuries.
In Mycenean times, the principal settlement and temple were on the Aspis hill, to the north of Larisa. This community that kept its main cemetery on the col of Deiras, between them, which in classical time became the location of the Deiras Gate. The eastern slope of Larisa and the flat ground to its east was settled in the Late Bronze Age by the Dorians, and their settlement and temple became the nucleus of Classical Argos.
Long walls (analogous to the Athenian Long Walls) connecting to Nauplion were begun circa 421 B.C. by Athenian masons. At one point, in fear of a threatened Spartan invasion, the Argives committed unskilled men, women and slaves to work on the wall; despite these efforts, the wall was only half-completed when Argos was attacked by King Agis II of Sparta, whose men pulled down all the walls.
Argive history is somewhat sketchy for part of the next century due to unsettled conditions there — according to an Athenian court case of Pseudo-Demosthenes, the Argolic Gulf was full of pirates who sold their stolen goods in the agora at Argos with impunity — but at some point before 272 B.C. the city was re-walled, as it had walls and gates when it was attacked by Pyrrhus of Epirus, who was killed there after he and his men were trapped when the gate through which they wished to retreat was blocked by the corpse of a slain war elephant.
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Wikipedia