Castle Toroni Halkidiki

1315 22/09/2020 71
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Castle Toroni Halkidiki

Castle Toroni Halkidiki. Ruins of a medieval fortification at Cape Lykythos, at the southern end of Toroni beach in Halkidiki. Traces of habitation from the early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) and remains of houses from the early Iron Age (11th - 8th century BC) were excavated on the peninsula. In antiquity there was one of the two citadels of Toroni with a strong wall. Thucydides mentions details about the fortification of the Spartans in Lekythos and mentions that there was a temple of Athena there. The ancient city was founded by the Chalcidians in the 8th century BC. century and developed into one of the most important ancient Greek cities of Northern Greece and the apple of contention between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians. Later, throughout the Byzantine period, there was a strong castle on the peninsula with a polygonal plan, built mostly with material from the ancient citadel. The edge of the peninsula towards the sea had its own fortification and communicated with the castle through an internal gate. A settlement had also developed outside the peninsula. The settlement and the castle were destroyed at some point in the 15th or 16th century. The area must have suffered a lot from pirate attacks and was in decline long before, while in the 14th century it belonged to Mount Athos. Structural, Architectural, Fortification Elements. Large parts of the fortification are preserved, as well as the ruins of a temple, in the basement of which there was a twin tank. It survived in much better condition until the end of the 19th century when the Turkish state allowed an Italian contractor to use the building materials of the fortification to pave the streets of Thessaloniki and Constantinoupole.