File:Fortification tower and wall of the Castle of Aigisthena on August 27, 2020.jpg

English: "The fortress of Aigosthena commands the homonymous eastern bay of the Corinthian Gulf. The site appears to have been in use from Geometric to Byzantine times. The fortress was built in the second half of the 4th century B.C. and constitutes one of the best-preserved ancient fortresses in Greece.

It is comprised of the acropolis and the lower town, which was fortified by long defensive walls stretching out to the sea.

The acropolis was built on a low hill, 450m. distant from the sea. It is rectangular, measuring 190x80m., and is enclosed by a circuit wall with towers. The eastern side is preserved to a great height. It is reinforced by four towers and it has a sally-port.

The most impressive feature of the fortress is the SE tower. It is square (side approximately 9m.) and some 18m. in height, three-storeyed with a gable roof.

The acropolis was connected to the harbour through long walls, of which only the northern one is visible today, with at least seven towers and two gates.

At Aigosthena there is evidence for the cult of the hero and soothsayer Melampus, whose sanctuary is thought to be below the acropolis in the area within the long walls.

The unremitting habitation throughout the Early Christian period is evidenced by the five-aisled basilica dated at the 5th century A.D. In the 11th century the chapel of Virgin Mary or St. Anna was built over the ruins of the basilica of ancient building material. During the Post-Byzantine period the site of the Acropolis contained a monastery, of which the ruins of the monks' cells and also the katholikon (main church) the small church of St. George, have been preserved.

In 1981 the powerful earthquake of the Alkyonides Islands on the Gulf of Corinth brought about serious damage and collapses over the entire fortress.

In 2011 the Project "Restoration-Consolidation of the SE Tower of the Ancient Fortress of Aigosthena" funded by the Regional Programme "Attica 2007-2013" in the context of the National Strategic Reference Framework was launched and was implemented by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens with direct labour operations. Work aimed at the restoration and complete reconstruction of the monument in the form it was originally in during antiquity.

In 2013 restoration work on the NE tower of the acropolis began. The Project "Restoration-Consolidation of the NE Tower of the Ancient Fortress of Aigosthena" was funded by the Regional Programme "Attica 2007-2013" in the context of the National Strategic Reference Framework and was implemented by the Directorate of for the Restoration of Ancient Monuments in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens."

Textː Site marker in the courtyard of the Church of Saint George.