The Castle of the Stream

The castle is on the way from Filoti to Kalando at a distance of 14 kms from Filoti and 7 kms from Kalandos, in the area of Ariovessa.

It is a cyclic building of the 4th century B.C., i.e. of the Hellenistic Era.

It is built on the quarry of the orthogonal carved marble stones, without cohesive material, and its height is about 15 meters.
The outer perimeter is 10.2 meters and the internal 7.12 meters.
Internally the castle was three-storied, as is deducted from the apparent beam sockets (dokothikes), and the moving from floor to floor was facilitated through marble steps that are still mounted to the wall.

The building has only one window at a height of 10 meters above the Entrance Door.
The externally visible openings with the shape of slots, that broaden internally to a shape of a triangle, are Polemistres (toxothyres) [(in the singular) Polemistra: an embrasure].
Another element that adds to the appearance of the building are Hydrorroes [ (in the singular) Hydrorroi: Gutter].

Such castles, in various numbers, are found also in other islands (Amorgo, Paro, Mykono, Tino, Kea, Kythno, Serifo and Sifno).

In Naxos itself, there are some other castles, with better preserved that of Plaka.

In Sifnos and Kea, where there has been more research, there have been found more than fifty (50) and seventy-three (73), respectively.

This castle system, within and across the islands, has not been studied adequately, but it is logical to surmise that it was a unified and complete system that obeyed to some central planning, so that the targeted aims were achieved.

These castles were probably used as:

a. Observatories (paratiritiria) for the detection of pirates or other enemies

b. “Fryktories”, i.e., points for dispatch of messages via fire and/or smoke, based on some code, to other set points of retransmission, in such a manner that the messages reach the final recipient.

Finally, the different use the castles in different historical epochs, cannot be excluded.

Next to the Castle of the Stream, there are two small churches and the ruins of an ancient settlement, with better preserved an olive oil mill.
The two small churches are Byzantine, built on the ruins of an Early Christian Basilica. One is dedicated to the Life-Giving Spring (Holy Mother), while the dedication of the second one is unknown.