BOUPHAGION
(Palaiokastro) Arkadia, Greece.
A town situated, according to Pausanias, at the sources
of the Bouphagos river. It has long been identified with
a fortified hill site, commanding the road from the plain
of Elis to the plain of Megalopolis, near the springs of
Papadaes. There are remains of inner and outer circuits,
with both rectangular and round towers, and gates protected by flanking walls. The masonry, of local grayblue limestone, is well fitted, of coursed rectangular or trapezoidal blocks with the exception of a few large,
unshaped stones; it has been dated late 4th or early
3d c. B.C. by comparison with similar work (a few large
blocks remaining from the archaic period) in the S
fort at Gortys. A triglyph, a limestone column drum,
and a few scraps of wall are the only traces of other
structures.
Not far away at Haghios Nikolaos is another small
fort overlooking the same route; it lies W of Gortys
above the village of Vlachorafti at the highest point of
the range. There seem to be remains of two circuit walls
with towers. The masonry is generally similar to that
at Palaiokastro.
A third fort in the same area overlooks Gortys and
Haghios Nikolaos and commands one of the few routes
to E Arkadia. Natural outcroppings were supplemented
with large unshaped blocks, two or three courses of
which are preserved in several places. There is a cross
wall at the narrowest point and a projecting rectangular
tower. The remains, with the exception of three cut
limestone blocks, appear to be from the archaic period,
as does an inscribed stele found at the foot of the slope.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Paus. 5.7.1, 8.26.8, 8.27.17; W. L.
Leake,
Morea (1830) II 67f, 92; J. G. Frazer,
Paus. Des.
Gr. (1898) IV 303; P. Charneux & R. Ginouves in
BCH
80 (1956) 522f
PI.
M. H. MC ALLISTER
