Kastrologos

Castles of Greece
 

Psinthos, Rhodes, Dodecanese,South Aegean

Castle of Psinthos

  
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Location:
At the center of the village Psinthos of Rhodes, next to the church
Region > Prefecture: Greek Map
South Aegean
Dodecanese
Municipality > Town:
City of Rhodes
• Psinthos
Altitude:
Elevation ≈ 275 m 
(Relative Height≈0 m)
Time of Construction   Origin
perhaps 12th -13th cent  
Late-BYZANTINE
Hon 
Castle Type   Condition
Castle Ruins  
In Ruins
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vestiges of a castle built in the center of the village of Psinthos. The visible ruins of a two-storey building with ground floor vaults were part of a larger defensive complex whose building material -and possibly another part- have been incorporated into the structure of the neighbouring parish church a few yards to the north.

Although the present state of the ruins and the lack of systematic research cannot allow further discussion, it is probable that the castle's function was the protection and control of economic activity in a particularly fertile agricultural area.


The text above is from the webpage ΟΔΥΣΣΕΥΣ of the Greek Ministry of Culture. The classification as castle by the Ministry is the reason that this ruined building is included in Kastrologos.

There are other descriptions of the building as defensive structure: The German traveller, artist and researcher Albert Berg (1862, p. 97) wrote that in Psinthos “as in most [of the Rhodian] villages, the foundations of a destroyed tower from the time of the Ioannites Knights’ rule can be found’ (German original text: “wie in den meisten Dörfern finden sich die Fundamente eines zerstörten Thurmes aus der Zeit der Johanniterherrschaft”), and the Italian archeologist Giuseppe Gerola (1914, p. 320) mentioned the Kastro as “Fortilizio” with reference to barrel vault have been preserved.

The presence of the castle is not recorded in documents from the period of the Knights of Rhodes (14-16th century). That means that the castle, if there was ever one there, was not in use during that period. It must have been older, probably from the Late-Byzantine period.


First entry in Kastrologos:    November 2015
Last update of info and text:   January 2022
Last addition of photo/video:  January 2022

Sources

  • Website ΟΔΥΣΣΕΥΣ - Greek Ministry of Culture - Psinthos Castle
  • Website psinthos.net - Το κάστρο της Ψίνθου και τα λίγα που γνωρίζουμε για αυτό σήμερα
  • Information sent by Mr. Ioannis Dedes
  • Research and photos 7,8 (2007) by Dr. Michael Losse (contribution Dec 2021)

    Sources

    Berg, Albert: Die Insel Rhodus, aus eigener Anschauung und nach den vorhandenen Quellen historisch, geographisch, archäologisch, malerisch beschrieben und durch Originalradirungen und Holzschnitte nach eigenen Naturstudien und Zeichnungen illustrirt von Albert Berg. Braunschweig 1862, p. 149-150.
    Gerola, Giuseppe: I monumenti medioevali delle 13 Sporadi. In: Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente, Vol. I, 1914, pp. 319-356.
    Losse, Michael: Die Burgen und Festungen des Johanniter-Ritterordens auf Rhódos und in der Ägäis (Griechenland) 1307-1522. (Publisher: Nünnerich-Asmus Verlag) Mainz 2017.