DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0277
XIII.] CASTLE TEMENOS, BYZANTINE AND VENETIAN. 223
Phocas, the victorious commander of the Byzantine
army, determined to build a fort " on a lofty and steep
hill at no very great distance from the city." He was
probably recalled to Constantinople by the Emperor
Romanus, before he had succeeded in effecting the
pacification of the island, although he had stormed and
plundered its principal city33. He built this fortress,
since " the place seemed safe and adapted for a strong-
hold, being separated from the neighbouring district
on each side by precipices and ravines, and having
constant springs of fresh water on its summit.'" When
the fortress was built, " he placed in it a sufficient
garrison, and called the city Temenos.11
This castle became celebrated in the Venetian his-
tory of the island, as the place of refuge of the Duke
of Candia, when Marco Sanudo, the Duke of Naxos,
boldly rebelled against Venice, and obtained for a while
possession of the principal cities of Crete, being abetted
in his struggle by the majority of the inhabitants of
the island31. It was also one of the old castles which
the Proveditor Foscarini, in the year 1576, advised the
Venetian Senate to fortify and garrison, when the Turks
were supposed to be on the point of making a descent
on Crete. The Proveditor, who spent several months
in the island, and speaks as an eye-witness of all that
he describes, mentions Temenos as famous for its anti-
quity, and adds, " e un monte fra diversi monti, e
tanto lontano per interposizione di profondissime valli,
che non pud esser da alcuna parte offeso. Ha due cima
—lassano in mezzo una valle dando forma alia fortezza
d'un porno granato aperto: della qual la corona par
che sia la parte piu alta sopra ; ma vi era anticamenie
una rocca che si vede hoggidi anco con molte mara-
vigliose cose."
33 He is said, by Leo Diaconus, ii. 8. to have returned to Constan-
tinople, Tiji/ vr/crov e^jxepoixrai airacra.v, 'Ap/nevLoov te Kai 'Pwfxaiwv /cat
(TvynXvOMV dvSpwv (paTpias ivoiKLtrdpLevo'S.
34 Foscarini, della Letteratura Italiana, in Cornel, ii. p. 243.
VOL. I. P
Phocas, the victorious commander of the Byzantine
army, determined to build a fort " on a lofty and steep
hill at no very great distance from the city." He was
probably recalled to Constantinople by the Emperor
Romanus, before he had succeeded in effecting the
pacification of the island, although he had stormed and
plundered its principal city33. He built this fortress,
since " the place seemed safe and adapted for a strong-
hold, being separated from the neighbouring district
on each side by precipices and ravines, and having
constant springs of fresh water on its summit.'" When
the fortress was built, " he placed in it a sufficient
garrison, and called the city Temenos.11
This castle became celebrated in the Venetian his-
tory of the island, as the place of refuge of the Duke
of Candia, when Marco Sanudo, the Duke of Naxos,
boldly rebelled against Venice, and obtained for a while
possession of the principal cities of Crete, being abetted
in his struggle by the majority of the inhabitants of
the island31. It was also one of the old castles which
the Proveditor Foscarini, in the year 1576, advised the
Venetian Senate to fortify and garrison, when the Turks
were supposed to be on the point of making a descent
on Crete. The Proveditor, who spent several months
in the island, and speaks as an eye-witness of all that
he describes, mentions Temenos as famous for its anti-
quity, and adds, " e un monte fra diversi monti, e
tanto lontano per interposizione di profondissime valli,
che non pud esser da alcuna parte offeso. Ha due cima
—lassano in mezzo una valle dando forma alia fortezza
d'un porno granato aperto: della qual la corona par
che sia la parte piu alta sopra ; ma vi era anticamenie
una rocca che si vede hoggidi anco con molte mara-
vigliose cose."
33 He is said, by Leo Diaconus, ii. 8. to have returned to Constan-
tinople, Tiji/ vr/crov e^jxepoixrai airacra.v, 'Ap/nevLoov te Kai 'Pwfxaiwv /cat
(TvynXvOMV dvSpwv (paTpias ivoiKLtrdpLevo'S.
34 Foscarini, della Letteratura Italiana, in Cornel, ii. p. 243.
VOL. I. P