The Platamon Castle, an important part of the history of Pieria, is a Crusader castle (built between 1204 and 1222) in northern Greece (Macedonia) and is located southeast of Mount Olympus, in a strategic position which controls the exit of the Tempe valley, through which passes the main road connecting Macedonia with Thessaly and southern Greece. The tower (donjon), which overlooks the highway, is an imposing medieval fortress.

Important discoveries are the board of Hellenistic wall, that confirm the suggestion that on this position was the ancient Greek city Herakleion and the gate in the wall of the donjon. The core of the city Herakleion remains to be found, but it is posited that it is located on the northwest side of the castle's hill due to shells and coins found during recent excavations.

History

The place, which today is occupied by the castle, was used by the city of Herakleion (Ηράκλειον) in pre-Christian times.  Not only on the top of the castle hill, but also at the foot of the hill, were settlements that were assigned to this ancient city. Around 360 BC Skylax of Karyandar described the place as "the first Macedonian city behind the river Pinios". The Roman historian Titius Livius has a more accurate position determination. "Between Dion and Tembi lying on a rock," he described the place, which is identical with the position of the castle. But even earlier, since the Bronze Age, a settlement of the castle hill has been proved.

In the year 430 BC, The Athenians conquered the place to control from here the Thermaean Gulf to their possessions on the Chalkidiki. At the same time, the country's most popular north-south route runs along the hill. At the beginning of the 3rd century BC, the city and the now established port were destroyed. By what, or by whom, is not exactly known. A short time later the region was conquered by the Romans. In the year 169 BC, from Thessaly coming, they held their camp in the plain between Herakleion and Leivithra before starting their campaign against Macedonia. Of course the outstanding strategic importance of the hill was not hidden from them. Probably from this time comes the acropolis, the upper town, which was surrounded by a low wall. From the time around Christ's birth to the middle Byzantine epoch, in the 10th century AD, little evidence was found of the events at this time. The name Platamon for the close vicinity of the hill emerges for the first time. With this term Homer referred to a rock surrounded by the sea. In the 12th century, the city of Platamon is described and the castle as such is mentioned for the first time.

In 1204, Franconian knights founded the kingdom of Thessaloniki in the course of their conquest of Constantinople, which also included the castle of Platamon. They finally finished the bulwark, but had to clear it again in 1217 to make way for the Comnenes, a Byzantine aristocracy. The further history of the place remains changing and the castle always finds new masters. At the end of the 14th century the Turks came and were replaced by the Venetians in 1425. They remained until the 400 years of the Turkokratia in Greece began. The last battles took place in the Second World War. New Zealand troops who had moved into this area were bombed.

Source: wikipedia