Peloponnese and Delphi
Delphi is located in upper central Greece, on multiple plateaus along the slope of Mount Parnassus, and includes the Sanctuary of Apollo, the site of the ancient Oracle. This semicircular spur is known as Phaedriades, and overlooks the Pleistos Valley.
Delphi was since ancient times a place of worship for Gaia, the mother goddess connected with fertility. The town started to gain pan-Hellenic relevance as both a shrine and an oracle in the 7th century BC.
Messene was probably founded in 369 bce after the defeat of Sparta by Athens and the Boeotian League in the Battle of Leuctra (371) for the descendants of exiled Messenians as a fortified city-state independent of Sparta. The site dominates the Messenian plain; with Megalopolis, Mantineia, and Árgos, it formed a strategic barrier, conceived by the Theban Epaminondas, to contain Spartan ambition. The summit of Mount Ithómi, 2,618 ft (798 m) in altitude, served as the acropolis, but apparently it had been fortified earlier as well.
Ancient Ilida (Elis) was one of the most important cultural centres of Peloponnesus in ancient times, and was the host city of the Games and the capital of Ilia.
Chlemoutsi (Chateau Clermont, Castel Tornese) is built on the summit of a hill with an extensive view to the plain of Elis and the Ionian Sea. It was established by the Prince Geoffrey I Villehardouin in 1220-1223 and it became the strongest fortress of the Frankish principate of Achaia.
