What I can see

The Byzantine castle consists of a fortified enclosure with towers, a citadel that is located at the highest point of the hill and in the centre of the hill there was a three-aisled basilica. The residential area was between the citadel and the enclosure. There were two more churches, one cruciform of the Paleologos dynasty period and a southwestern church, near the central gate. There were also 3 cisterns, workshops (on the west side) houses and cemeteries within the enclosures of the churches. For now, the archeological site is closed to the public and is under partial restoration.

What I can't see

It was a key castle for controlling the passage between central and eastern Macedonia, but also between Thessaloniki and Constantinople (Istanbul). It was also the centre of the ecclesiastical organization of the area during the Byzantine years (episcopacy headquarters in 900 AD). In order to build a castle, there had to be sufficient drinking water and this was among the basic preconditions of the defense policy of the Byzantine Empire. The most serious fortification took place during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-565) and the fortress was named Artemision. It received suffocating pressures from Slavic invasions (6th-7th century). In the 10th century, walls and towers were repaired, a hidden tunnel was constructed, and comprehensive and extensive restorations and constructions of buildings took place. During the Byzantine civil wars, it was a castle of strategic importance for the warring parties and after their end, especially during the Palaeologian period, it experienced great growth, traces of which we see to this day.

Bibliography