Árgos

Argos stands on the fertile plain of the Argolid, beneath the hill of Larissa and its ancient citadel. In Mycenaean times it was a stronghold alongside nearby Mycenae and Tiryns; in the classical age it rivalled Sparta for mastery of the Peloponnese. Its long history left monuments from Greek, Roman and later centuries among the fields and streets of the town.

After the Fourth Crusade, Argos belonged to a Frankish lordship with the port of Nauplia. Venice acquired the town in 1394, but an Ottoman raid in 1397 carried away part of its population. The Venetians encouraged Albanian settlers to cultivate the land, granting them tax exemptions, and men from the district served as mounted stratioti in Venetian armies. The Ottomans captured Argos in 1463. Under their rule the town grew in quarters whose winding streets and gardens gave it a different shape from the ancient city beneath the citadel.