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Castle Numbers and Statistics |
Numbers and Statistics about the Castles in Greece (and in this site)
The Big Picture:
The number of medieval and post-medieval castles in Greece is probably more than 600 1200.
Several sources agree on this number, which however seems to be more a good guess than an accurate figure since there are no complete and organized data on the subject. So it remains to be proved, hopefully in the course of our project deployment.
The number of Castles included in this site is, for the moment, 1119.
From these, the number of important castles is 60. These are the best known and better-preserved castles. In the special -and somehow subjective- evaluation system which is used in the data base of KASTROLOGOS, this group includes all castles with 3 stars and above.
The project is still in progress, but the most important castles are already here. The remaining castles are either minor fortifications or structures mostly in ruins.
Geographical Distribution:
The castles per region (Periphery):
- Peloponnese (216)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- South Aegean (147)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Central Greece (120)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Crete (93)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Central Macedonia (92)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- West Greece (90)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- North Aegean (89)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Attica (59)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- East Macedonia & Thrace (59)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Epirus (44)||||||||||||||||||||||
- Thessaly (35)||||||||||||||||||
- Ionian islands (35)||||||||||||||||||
- Athos (31)||||||||||||||||
- West Macedonia (9)|||||
The Greek prefectures (or counties) with the most castles:
- Dodecanese (94)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Euboea (62)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Laconia (59)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Chios (58)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Messenia (55)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Cyclades (53)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Arcadia (47)||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Achaea (43)||||||||||||||||||||||
- Serres (40)||||||||||||||||||||
- Chania (33)|||||||||||||||||
- Boeotia (33)|||||||||||||||||
Comment on the above list: In Dodecanese, all the castles are Ioannite, in Cyclades almost all are Venetian. In Chania are either Venetian or Ottoman forts. In Laconia-Arcadia-Messinia most are Frankish. In Chios, the majority are Genoan coastal watchtowers.
In Evia, which is unexpectedly at the top, there are castles from all periods but mostly from Frangokratia (Frankish occupation).
The counties with only one castle: Grevena , Imathia , Kozani , Karditsa , Pieria , Florina , Kilkis ,
As of October 2015, when the castle of Setina in Florina was registered, there are not anymore Greek prefectures without at least one castle in Kastrologos.
Finally, the Greek Municipalities (in Greece, a very broad term for a city) with the most castles are:
- Chios (58)
- Rhodes (45)
- Anatoliki Mani (23)
- Kalavryta (20)
- Naxos (19)
- Dytiki Mani (17)
- Kymi-Aliveri (16)
- Tripoli (16)
- Zakynthos (15)
- Corinth (15)
- Monemvasia (15)
- Dirfys-Messapia (13)
- Aristotelis (13)
- Messini (12)
- Chania (11)
- Nafplion (11)
- Sintiki (10)
- Pylos - Nestor (10)
- Thebes (10)
- Volvi (10)
- Evrotas (10)
- Megalopoli (10)
- Dytiki Lesbos (10)
- Rethymno (9)
- Argos-Mycenae (9)
- Chalkis (9)
- Gortynia (9)
- Cythera (8)
- Mandra-Eidyllia (8)
- Livadeia (8)
- Patra (8)
- Kos (8)
- Preveza (8)
- North Kynouria (8)
- Marathon (8)
- Mantoudi-Limni-Agia Anna (8)
- Zacharo (7)
- Serres (7)
- Andros (7)
- Istiaia-Aidipsos (7)
- Visaltia (7)
- Tilos (7)
- Kalymnos (7)
- Igoumenitsa (7)
- Karystos (7)
- Sfakia (7)
- Kavala (7)
- Mytilini (7)
- Sikyon (6)
- Volos (6)
- Aktion-Vonitsa (6)
- Ierapetra (6)
- Santorini (6)
- Kissamos (6)
- Tanagra (6)
- Kentriki Kerkyra (6)
- Missolonghi (6)
- Kalamata (6)
- Lemnos (6)
- Agrinio (6)
- Sparta (6)
- Troizinia - Methana (6)
- Souli (6)
- Thasos (6)
- Nea Zichni (6)
- Agia (6)
- Sitia (6)
- Sparti (5)
- Anatoliki Samos (5)
- Iasmos (5)
- Gortyna (5)
- Pangaio (5)
- Heraklion (5)
- Nisyros (5)
- Aigialeia (5)
- Delphi (5)
- Komotini (5)
- Epidaurus (5)
- Symi (5)
- Alexandroupolis (5)
- Megisti (4)
- Dytiki Achaea (4)
- Erymanthos (4)
- Andritsaina-Krestena (4)
- Farkadona (4)
- Aegina (4)
- Archanes-Asterousia (4)
- Arta (4)
- Xanthi (4)
- Aliartos - Thespies (4)
- Pyrgos (4)
- Filiates (4)
- Thessaloniki (4)
- Amfipoli (4)
- Malevizi (4)
- Paros (4)
- Sami (4)
- Lefkada (4)
- Parga (4)
- Faistos (4)
- Apokoronas (4)
- Maroneia-Sapes (4)
- South Kynouria (4)
By Type
Distribution of the Greek castles in various types:
- Castle171
- Castle Ruins162
- Tower150
- Tower House99
- Castle-Monastery77
- Watchtower73
- Coastal Fortress55
- Ruined Tower45
- Ancient City38
- Fortress35
- Medieval Settlement34
- Small Fort34
- Fortress-state30
- Byzantine City28
- Dry-Stone Fortification23
- Island Citadel20
- Cave Fort12
- Fortified Church9
- Ancient Tower9
- Natural Fort8
- Cross-Wall7
By Historic Origin
The «Historic Origin» is defined by the rulers of the castle in the historic period in which the castle obtained its current form, the one that is -more or less- preserved until today.
Distribution of the Greek castles by historic origin:
- BYZANTINE222
- VENETIAN175
- FRANKISH152
- Late-BYZANTINE117
- OTTOMAN92
- ANCIENT68
- Post-BYZANTINE64
- GENOAN61
- IOANNITE54
- MODERN GREEK53
- Early ΒΥΖΑΝΤΙΝΕ34
- Unknown20
- CATALAN7
The picture is different if we take into account only the most important castles (those with more than 3 stars in our evaluation)
- VENETIAN18
- BYZANTINE17
- FRANKISH7
- OTTOMAN6
- IOANNITE4
- Late-BYZANTINE3
- GENOAN3
- ANCIENT1
- CATALAN1
Centuries
Distribution of the Greek castles according to the century that they have been constructed (or reconstructed):
- 4th cent.16 castles|||||||
- 5th cent.11 castles|||||
- 6th cent.31 castles|||||||||||||
- 7th cent.15 castles||||||
- 8th cent.18 castles||||||||
- 9th cent.12 castles|||||
- 10th cent.28 castles||||||||||||
- 11th cent.20 castles||||||||
- 12th cent.23 castles||||||||||
- 13th cent.172 castles|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 14th cent.166 castles|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 15th cent.161 castles|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 16th cent.72 castles|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 17th cent.46 castles|||||||||||||||||||
- 18th cent.63 castles||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 19th cent.71 castles|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The above picture does not include castles for which it is not known when they were built. The ancient castles are not included either.
We must point out that the chronology of the castles that existed before the 12th century is, as a rule, problematic and uncertain, with the exemption of the castles of the 6th century, built during the reign of Justinian. This does not mean however that the dating of the rest is 100% accurate.