DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0276
222
kani-kasteli and the rhoka.
[chap.
The word Kasteli here, as elsewhere, denotes the
existence of a ruined middle-age fortress on the spot.
I ascended to the summit of the remarkable hill on
which it was situated. An old priest, with a venerable
white beard, served as my guide to the remains. He
spoke of "the Turk,11 whom he called, in good polemical
phraseology, " the forerunner of Antichrist29": I should
rather have expected to hear him described by the old
Papas as Antichrist himself, than as his forerunner,
I had been told, before leaving the Kastron, of the
Rhdka which I ought to see at Kani-Kasteli80. My
reader must remember that rocca means a castle or
fortress81, as in Dante's " Sicura quasi rocca in alto
monte.11 The appellation bestowed on this castle by
the Venetians32 is therefore still possessed by its site,
for my old guide tells me that the loftiest summit is
called the Rhdka.
The space contained within the walls of the fortress
is considerable, and includes two rocky summits, one to
which the Papas has conducted me, and another, not
quite so high, a little to the south-east. A single line
of walls runs round them both, but this loftier summit
was also fortified by an inner wall. After passing the
outer line, in ascending, we observed remains of a church.
I also noticed two cisterns. There are some slight
remains of buildings between the two summits.
I have no doubt but that the Rhdka here is the
Castello Temenos of the Venetians, the foundation of
which, however, ascends to the year 961, when the
Cretans, under their Saracenic leaders, were vanquished
by the forces of the Greek Emperor. Nicephorus
29 'O Ylpo&pojxos tov AvTixpto-Tou. Michael Psellus, writing in the
eleventh century, says, de operat. daemon, p. 25. Kaipos e</>ecmj/ce vvv,
ot6 fiidrrovcriv dvdpwiroL yetpov Kai twv Qriplwv' to yap tov 'Avtl\p'l<ttov
KpaTos eyyvs eirl dvpcus yK£i.
30 'Airo tJ?) 'ApydvaLS elvai e£i p.i\ia ets to Kaiu-KacrTeXt, birov eitpl-
(tkctcll tj 'Po'/ca, were the words of my informant.
31 Properly its meaning is rather more general: see Boccaccio, in the
Vocab. della Crusca, v. Rocca. 32 Rocca.
kani-kasteli and the rhoka.
[chap.
The word Kasteli here, as elsewhere, denotes the
existence of a ruined middle-age fortress on the spot.
I ascended to the summit of the remarkable hill on
which it was situated. An old priest, with a venerable
white beard, served as my guide to the remains. He
spoke of "the Turk,11 whom he called, in good polemical
phraseology, " the forerunner of Antichrist29": I should
rather have expected to hear him described by the old
Papas as Antichrist himself, than as his forerunner,
I had been told, before leaving the Kastron, of the
Rhdka which I ought to see at Kani-Kasteli80. My
reader must remember that rocca means a castle or
fortress81, as in Dante's " Sicura quasi rocca in alto
monte.11 The appellation bestowed on this castle by
the Venetians32 is therefore still possessed by its site,
for my old guide tells me that the loftiest summit is
called the Rhdka.
The space contained within the walls of the fortress
is considerable, and includes two rocky summits, one to
which the Papas has conducted me, and another, not
quite so high, a little to the south-east. A single line
of walls runs round them both, but this loftier summit
was also fortified by an inner wall. After passing the
outer line, in ascending, we observed remains of a church.
I also noticed two cisterns. There are some slight
remains of buildings between the two summits.
I have no doubt but that the Rhdka here is the
Castello Temenos of the Venetians, the foundation of
which, however, ascends to the year 961, when the
Cretans, under their Saracenic leaders, were vanquished
by the forces of the Greek Emperor. Nicephorus
29 'O Ylpo&pojxos tov AvTixpto-Tou. Michael Psellus, writing in the
eleventh century, says, de operat. daemon, p. 25. Kaipos e</>ecmj/ce vvv,
ot6 fiidrrovcriv dvdpwiroL yetpov Kai twv Qriplwv' to yap tov 'Avtl\p'l<ttov
KpaTos eyyvs eirl dvpcus yK£i.
30 'Airo tJ?) 'ApydvaLS elvai e£i p.i\ia ets to Kaiu-KacrTeXt, birov eitpl-
(tkctcll tj 'Po'/ca, were the words of my informant.
31 Properly its meaning is rather more general: see Boccaccio, in the
Vocab. della Crusca, v. Rocca. 32 Rocca.