The Citadel
of Amfissa has relics of three distinguished building orders: Greek, Roman and
Byzantine. At intervals there are blocks of stones of Pelasgic era. Its
bases are constituted by rectangular stones horizontally placed. On them the
Byzantines and later the Katalans built.The internal gate is extant, which is
constituted by two blocks of stones, which supports a third huge one. In the
north-west of the citadel, before the entrance of the exterior gate, there are
the extant parts of the walls, where we can distinguish relics of many eras.
The Greek surrounding walls are in good condition, almost in every part. In the
interior of the walls there are ruins of Frankish church, of another small
Byzantine church and of a small Roman temple. In the interior of the Citadel we
can see two round towers of Byzantine manufacture, from which the one is
devastated. The most well
maintained is called the Tower of the Queen. According to the tradition the Castle of Salona
is one of the castles of Orias, that is the castle of the beautiful and carries
the legend of a beautiful princess, which was killed. The true story about the
legend of the Castle of Salona is the following: In 1393 Salona
was governed on behalf of the Katalan widower of Louis, a priest, who was named
Stratos,was violent and greedy and oppressed the citizens. He abducted
Areti, the most beautiful nephew of bishop Seraphim. Seraphim incited the
Christians against Stratos and asked the Turks to occupy the city. Stratos went
in the Castle, killed Areti and prepared to leave. Then an uprising took place in the guard and a
citizen of Salona killed the tyrant and delivered his
head to the Sultan. According to the legend Areti was a princess, who
escapes from the Franc tyrant and so as not to fall in the hands of the Turks
falls off the tallest rock of the Castle and gets killed. The Castle will play
an important role in the Revolution of 1821. On 27th of March the city of Salona
is besieged and occupied by Panourgia and his lads. 600 Turks are in the
Castle. On the 10th of April, on Easter day, the Turkish are exhausted, hand
over their armament to Panourgia and they are arrested and killed. The Castle of Salona
is the first Castle that fell in the hands of the Greeks, a symbol of freedom.
