Thermisi

The castle at Thermisi, three kilometres north of the village of the same name, stands on two rocky outcrops, with a third, smaller rock nearby left unfortified. Its name derives from the ancient temple of Demeter Thermasia, which once stood by the lagoon rather than on the heights. The date of its construction is uncertain, though it was certainly standing by 1347, when it appears in the will of Gautier VI de Brienne, titular Duke of Athens and lord of Argos and Nafplio. Most likely it was built in the 1320s, when the Franks of Argolis, fearing the advancing Byzantines of Mystras, raised both this castle and that of Kiveri. The few surviving ruins, including traces of a possible Middle Byzantine church, now look more Venetian than Frankish, for the castle served the Venetians for a century and a half from 1394. They finally destroyed it in 1715, and it was never used again.