Methóni

Methoni, known to the Venetians as Modon, guards a harbour on the southwestern coast of the Morea. Offshore islands shelter its anchorage, and the great castle projects into the sea. For ships travelling between Venice and the eastern Mediterranean, the port was a welcome stopping place; pilgrims bound for the Holy Land left many accounts of their visits.

Venice acquired Methoni and neighbouring Koroni in the early thirteenth century. Under Venetian rule the town prospered through trade with Egypt and the Levant, and Greeks, Latins, Jews and Albanians lived within its walls. In 1500 Sultan Bayezid II besieged and captured the fortress; its inhabitants were killed or sold into slavery. Venice recovered it in 1686, but lost it again in 1715. During the Greek War of Independence, Methoni remained an Ottoman stronghold and served as a base for Ibrahim Pasha's campaign until a French expedition took it in 1828.