No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2017
The well-known fortified Troupakis-Mourtzinos complex includes a building that has not yet received proper attention. It is a rectangular, vaulted hall measuring 6.22 by 4.04 m., without any special features. However, one may observe a row of quadrilateral holes that pierce the outside of the walls at their mid-height, slightly below the base of the vault. On the basis of this particular detail, the building is identified as a gunpowder storeroom, while its function is examined in the context of the period when it was constructed; finally it is compared to other similar buildings within or outside the confines of Messenia.
1 The overall restoration of the buildings was completed in 2014; it was carried out by the Directorate for the Restoration of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments, under the supervision of Alexandra Frantzi and Aikaterini Kontou and the guidance of Andreas Karkadouris. The respective study was undertaken by Athina Christofidou. I thank them all for their fruitful collaboration.
2 Michaelidis, M. and Christofidou, A., ‘To συγκρότημα των Τρουπάκηδων-Μούρτζινων στην Πάνω Καρδαμύλη της Μάνης’, in Eπώνυμα αρχοντικά των χρόνων της Τουρκοκρατίας (Αthens 1986) 143–64Google Scholar. Saitas, Y., ‘Μάνη’, in Filippidis, D. (ed.), Πελοπόννησος Β′ - Στερεά Ελλάδα (Αthens 1995) 106–17.Google Scholar Bouza, Ν., ‘The fortified complexes of the kapetanies: the example of the Troupakis-Mourtzinos clan’, in Kalamara, P. and Roumeliotis, N. (eds), Settlements of Mani (Athens 2004) 156–72Google Scholar.
3 The bibliography concerning the invention and diffusion of gunpowder is rich. The most recent monograph that cites all respective references is Andrade, Τ., The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History (Princeton, ΝJ 2016)Google Scholar. Also Partington, J. R., A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder (Cambridge 1960;Google Scholar Baltimore 1999).
4 Bitoumis, G., Η μπαρούτη της Δημητσάνας από τον 17ο αι. μέχρι σήμερα (Athens 1989)Google Scholar, Panagiotopoulos, V., ‘Oι απαρχές της πυριτιδοποιίας στη Δημητσάνα’, Ιστορικά 9/16 (1992) 3–32 Google Scholar, Papadopoulos, S., Mπαρούτη, μπαρουτόμυλοι και ο αγώνας του ’21 (Athens 1997)Google Scholar.
5 A very useful article is Vlachostergios, Ι., ‘Πυριτιδαποθήκες της Θεσσαλίας: μία πρώτη προσέγγιση’, in Mazarakis-Ainian, A. (ed.), Αρχαιολογικό Έργο Θεσσαλίας και Στερεάς Ελλάδας 3 Google Scholar (Volos 2012), I, 559-65.
6 Konstantios, D., Το κάστρο των Ιωαννίνων (Αthens 1997) 36 Google Scholar, fig. 32. Kalogianni, Ι., ‘Gunpowder magazine’, in Brouskari, E. (ed.), Οttoman Architecture in Greece (Athens 2008) 171.Google Scholar
7 Vlachostergios, ‘Πυριτιδαποθήκες’, 565.
8 Kontogiannis, N. and Grigoropoulou, I., Το κάστρο της Μεθώνης (Αthens 2009) 39 Google Scholar, fig. 36.
9 Kontogiannis, N., ‘Assessing the cities of Messenia in the newly-founded Greek Kingdom: the medieval walled town of Koroni based on early nineteenth-century architectural plans’, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 38/2 (2014) 230 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, fig. 14.
10 Kontogiannis and Grigoropoulou, Το κάστρο, 49, fig. 45, Kontogiannis, N. and Aggelopoulou, I., ‘The Venetian city of Modone in SW Peloponnese: the archaeological evidence’, in Proceedings of the International Conference Venezia 2005 – Annales Mediterranea (Koper 2006) 228.Google Scholar However, Koroni's gunpowder storeroom differs considerably. Among other things, it lacks the typical rectangular holes and its interior is supported with pilasters.
11 Mylona, Z., Το κάστρο της Ζακύνθου (Αthens 2003) 38–9.Google Scholar