A square tower known as "Koula" at the slopes of Ymittos mountain close to Asteriou monastery in the eastern outskirts of Athens .

History

The history of the tower is not known. There is no information about when it was built. Certainly, it was not Byzantine and rather not Frankish. The construction style appears to belong to the Ottoman period. This theory is supported by its name: “Kula”, which is of Turkish origin meaning tower (although the use of this name is not always combined with Ottoman towers).
It was probably one of the numerous Turkish Kules built by the Turks until the 18th century throughout Greece either to supervise their estates or as agha mansions or to serve military purposes.

The tower is reported being in ruins already in 1722.

Structure, Fortification & Buildings

The building is square with sides of length 4.5m. The surviving height is 6.25 meters. The thickness of the walls is 0.75m.

Only two floors remain today. In its original form, it must be three-storey with a height of about 8 to 9 meters.

The original entrance was on the south side at the height of the first floor. The inlet opening has dimensions 1,70m✖0,66m. Under this first entry, another door was later opened at ground level.


The ceiling of the first floor is vaulted and intact. The other floors are not saved, only fragments of the walls. At various points, irregularly, there are small holes in the tower walls that were probably used for rifle shooting.

Sources