Angelokastro (Corfu)

Angelokastro (Greek: Αγγελόκαστρο, English translation: "Castle of Angels" or "Angelos's castle") is one of the most important Byzantine castles of Greece. It is located on the island of Corfu at the top of the highest peak of the island's shoreline in the northwest coast near Palaiokastritsa (, English translation: "Old castle place") and built on particularly steep and rocky terrain.

The origin of its name is not completely clear, with some historians mentioning that in 1214 Michael I Komnenos Doukas, Despot of Epirus, sometimes called Michael Angelos, annexed Corfu to Epirus and following his death, Michael II Komnenos Doukas, often called Michael Angelos in narrative sources, further fortified the area and named it after himself and his father: Angelokastro. The Despots were related to the Komnenoi dynasty of Byzantine emperors. Today foreign language tourist signs in the area refer to it, wrongly, as St. Angelo's castle.

Angelokastro is one of the most important fortified complexes of Byzantine Corfu. It forms an Acropolis, translated as city on the edge, that surveyed the region all the way to the southern Adriatic and therefore presented a formidable strategic vantage point to the occupant of the castle.<ref name="Society of Byzantine...
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