Agios Vasileios Castle

The scattered ruins of Agios Vasileios Castle sit south of the small town of the same name, on the western slopes of Mount Dafnia in the Corinth area. Built by the Franks shortly after their conquest of the Peloponnese, and certainly before 1250, it was a typical 13th-century Frankish fortification. A document by Niccolò Acciaiuoli, master of the region until 1365, records the castle as the district's centre, second only to Corinth, and gives the first known mention of the name Agios Vasileios. The Byzantines of the Despotate of Mystras held it briefly in the 15th century, and the Ottomans destroyed it in 1460 or earlier. Venice ruled it between 1463 and 1479, by which time it was already noted as ruined. The walls were never rebuilt, though the settlement endured. The enclosure measured 225 by 130 metres with six perimeter towers, of which two still stand; the others are traceable, and wall remnants survive on the south side. The west needed no defence, being a natural cliff. Inside lie ruins of stone houses.

Heritage data from Wikidata, compiled and verified in the Atika atlas.