Acropolis of Ancient Asine

The acropolis of ancient Asine crowns the rocky, triangular peninsula of Kastraki, a little over a kilometre east of Tolo in the Argolid. The site was inhabited from the early Bronze Age and flourished in the Mycenaean, Protogeometric and Geometric periods; Homer mentions the city in the Iliad, and it later inspired Giorgos Seferis’s poem “King of Asini”. The surviving walls largely date from around 300 BC, when Demetrius Poliorkitis is thought to have built them, though they were repaired in the 6th century, probably under Justinian, and again by the Sgouros family after 1204. The Franks completed the fortifications with rectangular crenellations, and the Venetians, who bought the region in 1388, made further repairs during their two occupations, the second beginning with Morosini’s landing at Tolo in 1686. The citadel remained in use until the 19th century, and Italian forces added guard posts during the Second World War. The fortification, some 450 metres around, encloses a plateau of roughly 13,000 square metres; the Hellenistic walls survive only in part, with later medieval and Venetian work visible alongside.