The city
Legend
has it that the city of Nafplio
was founded by Nauplius, son of Poseidon and Amymone, daughter of King Danaus
of Argos. His
son was the hero Palamedes, who gave his name to the high rocky mound to the
southeast. The city was founded on a small peninsula 85m high, 900m long and roughly
400m wide. In modern times it was named Akronafplia in replacement of its
Turkish name (Iç Kale).
It was accessible only from the north, via the neck of Arvanitia, a spit of
land created by silting. From the start, the city served as the port of Argos and always lay in its shadow and
under its influence.
Nothing is known of Nafplio’s history in Early Byzantine times. However, the
city was probably populated by people from the surrounding areas on account of Slavic
raids in the late 6th century. In the early 10th century
the people of Nafplio laid claim to the reliquary of Bishop Peter from the city
of Argos, which
still honours him as its patron saint. Later in the same century Saint Nicon
the Repenter passed through Nafplio while on his mission to the Peloponnese. In 1032, Nicephorus Karantinos, patrician
and general of Nafplio, defeated the Arabs in a sea battle. By the 12th century
the city had emerged as a place with an important role: testimony from the Arab
geographer al-Idrisi is supplemented by references to the region’s monastic
centres in the constituent documents of Areia Monastery, compiled by Bishop Leo
of Argos and
Nafplio, and by the fact that the diocese was upgraded to an archdiocese in
1189. At the same time, Leo Sgouros, son of a powerful local family, became
ruler of Argos
and Corinth,
before besieging Athens
and conquering Larissa in Thessaly. The Franks
of the Fourth Crusade drove him to suicide at the end of the siege of
Acrocorinth, and then laid siege to Nafplio. Five years later the city
surrendered to Geoffroi de Villehardouin, who ceded it to Otto de la Roche, Duke
of Athens, in 1212.
In the
Byzantine period the late classical citadel enclosing the west part of the
Akronafplia peninsula was reinforced on the west, north and east sides. To the
south, the mound was so steep and inaccessible that it had no need of
fortification. Only a few structural remains of the Byzantine city inside the walls
have been brought to light. The small three-nave church excavated in the south
part of the castle was probably dedicated to Agios Theodoros the Commander, as
indicated by a steatite representation of the saint, which is a unique example
of a Byzantine miniature. To the north, the sea reached the edge of the rock
and it is assumed that on this side, which was partially hidden and sheltered
from the winds, a small seaport facility would have been built. Over time a
number of workshops, shops and humble dwellings were built there.
In the
Frankish period (1212-1389), an intermediate wall was built to divide the castle
into two unequal parts, a larger one to the west and a smaller one to the east,
towards the neck of Arvanitia. The west section, known in sources as the Romeiko
(Greek) castle was virtually isolated, since communication with the outside was
only possible via the east castle, where the Franks founded their military and
administrative buildings. The east gate, the main entrance to the Frankish
castle, was protected by two round towers on the corners. After the dramatic
events of the 14th century between the Franks and the Byzantines in
the Peloponnese, in 1389 Marie d'Enghien, last
heir of Nafplio, sold the castle to the Serene Republic.
In the
first period of Venetian rule, development of the port and an economic boom led
to population growth. This spiralled in 1500, when the Serene Republic ruled
that residents who had remained in the city for over seven years could obtain
citizenship. A drainage program involving wooden poles and beach embankments was
carried out in order to meet the new demands, resulting in reclaimed land and a
pier. Thus Akronafplia became a citadel, and the new land to the north the
lower city. It then became necessary to carry out infrastructure projects and
build new fortifications. On the one hand, the city's water supply was secured
using a duct to bring drinking water from the ancient Kanathos spring, next to Areia
Monastery, while brick sewers carried waste water to the sea. On the other, the
lower city was enclosed by strong walls that hugged the new coastline. In 1470
the Venetians built the Castello di Toro, a third castle for greater
protection, to the east of the two earlier ones on the citadel. Designed by
Antonio Gambello, it was built according to the latest specifications (with a
sloping scarp, a horizontal cornice and circular low bastions), so as withstand
the new siege techniques imposed by the use of gunpowder and cannon. In the
same period fortifications were built on Bourtzi, the small island off the
city’s seafront.
After the
end of the Venetian-Turkish War, Nafplio and Monemvasia were ceded to the
Ottomans. In the first Ottoman period (1540-1686), Nafplio was divided into
five districts, with the Ottoman population residing mainly in Akronafplia and
its foothills and the Greeks in the rest of the lower city. The homes depicted
in old engravings are all built up the hillside, with projecting wooden sun
rooms on the upper floor. Fountains, the seraglio of the Pasha of Morea (Mora
Valesi) and the mosques in the city market (e.g. the present day Trianon) were
all built in this period.
In 1686
the city was retaken by the Venetians, who initiated a major building and
fortification project that lasted until 1714. Commander in chief Francesco
Morosini turned Akronafplia into a military citadel. Work on the Palamidi fortifications
began in 1690, when the walls of Akronafplia and the lower city were completed
and reinforced with ramparts, bastions (Grimani Bastion), the imposing Land Gate,
which was protected by a moat, and the great cistern in the north-west corner
of the lower city. To facilitate communication with the lower city, Provedditor
Agostino Sagredo built a new gate on the north side of the citadel. Some of the
most important buildings were erected at this time, such as the Armoury (1713),
which now houses the Archaeological
Museum.
Although Nafplio was designed to be impregnable, in 1715 it was seized by the
Ottomans, who turned it into a typical Muslim city, complete with baroque
buildings, mosques and seminaries, fountains and baths. The city fell to Greek
revolutionaries on 30
November 1822, and became the first capital of the newly
established Greek
Kingdom.
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