Modern Description:
Lamia Castle, the acropolis of the ancient town, stands on the summit of a rocky hill. It dominates the surrounding area and controls the valley of the Spercheios river as far as the Malian gulf, and the pass that leads through mount Othrys to Thessaly. The earliest part of the fortification dates from the 5th B.C., when Lamia became capital of Malis. During the Lamian War (323/2 B.C), the Athenian general Leosthenes was killed outside the walls of the city while besieging the Macedonians who were defending Lamia. In 191 B.C, the Roman consul Marius Aquilius Glabrio captured the city and savagely plundered it. At the time of Justinian the acropolis was probably included in the programme of repairs to the forts between Thessaly and Thermopylae. In the 13th and 14th centuries it passed to the Franks and Catalans. In 1466, it was finally captured by the Ottoman Turks, who retained possession of it until Lamia was liberated in 1833. At the time of king Otto, an army barracks was erected in the central square to be used by the troops guarding the border, which was then just north of Lamia. The Castle continued to be used for military purposes until the beginning of the Second World War. Since 1994, the Lamia Archaeological Museum has been housed on the first floor of the barracks, which was repaired for the purpose. The surviving parts of the ancient fortifications include parts of the base of the north-west and south-east corners and of the west side, which reveal that the original plan of the acropolis was probably not very different from the one that is now preserved. Other parts are preserved with isodomic masonry of trapezoidal or square blocks at various points of the base of fortification wall. In the present form, the fortification has the form of a right - angled triangle in plan, and its inner surface ends in crenelated battlements. The north and south sections are founded on bedrock, which reaches a height of approximately 10m in the south-west corner. The wall has two gates, one on the south-east and one on the north-east. The south-east gate, which was called 'Sidera' (Iron) was the main entrance. On the exterior it has an arched lintel of poros, surmounted by a relieving arch of brick. A small stone staircase links the gate with the passageway on top of the wall. The north-east gate also has a semi-cylindrical brick lintel. To strengthen the fortification wall, towers were erected at intervals, mainly close to the gates, at the corners of the wall, and in general at all vulnerable points of the fortifications. The internal area of Kastro is divided into three parts by two transverse walls of th Frankish/Catalan period. The three sectors were at different levels, providing an inner line of defence if the main gate was breached. The north section (Akropyrgio) is the highest and served as the last refuge of the defenders of the Kastro. Entrance to the Akropyrgio was by a gate with an arched lintel of poros block.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia_(city)Wikidata ID: Q192980Trismegistos Geo: 1220
Info: Odysseus 
(Odysseus, Greek Ministry of Culture)
