Choosing the Right Rock

Spending as much time sailing the coasts of the Mediterranean, you begin to understand what medieval cities wanted when they choose their locations. They liked access to the sea for easy trade, but they also knew that being near the ocean invited pirates and foreign invaders to your doorstep. So the next most important thing they looked for is a place where steep cliffs would make attacking the city very difficult. Monemvasia was built on such a location. Shear parched red rock cliffs 900 feet high on all sides and a large plateau at the top of those cliffs made a perfect location. To make this a little more inviting, it is an island that is connected to the mainland by a small narrow bridge. Throw up a castle and build a rock wall around the edge and you got yourself a city that will grow and prosper. The first fortress was built at Monemvasia around the 6th century BC. Its heyday however was during the Byzantine period between 1263 and 1394. But sometimes that prosperity is also the downfall of a city. Everyone wants a piece of that action. So like most important cities, it was conquered by the French, Turks, Venetians, the Pope, then Venetians, Turks, Venetians and Turks again. Kind of exhausting huh. I sometimes wonder how prosperous the world would have been if greed and power were not so woven into the history of civilization.