The area has been populated already since the prehistoric times, although not to be identified as the place Pteleum in
ancient Elis that belonged to
Nestor in the
Catalogue of Ships in the
Iliad. Several tombs from the
Mycenean period survive between Pteleos (
Pteleum) and Agioi Theodoroi. The current settlement lies to the north and land-inward of the ancient and medieval settlements in the area. An ancient settlement, which survived until early
Byzantine times, was located on the southern coast of the Bay of Pteleos near the modern village of
Achilleion, where a mosaic floor and remains of two early Christian
basilicas have been found. The medieval settlement was located on the northern part of the Bay, near the modern village of
Pigadi, and is attested for the first time in 1192, when "wine from Pteleos" (οἶνος Πτελεατικός) is mentioned as being traded in
Constantinople. After the
Fourth Crusade (1204), the area passed under the control of the
Frankish Kingdom of Thessalonica, but in 1218 it was recovered by the
Despotate of Epirus. Epirote rule continued until it was occupied by the
Empire of Nicaea (and after 1261 by the restored Byzantine Empire) following the
Battle of Pelagonia, but it probably was more often under the control or influence of the autonomous Greek rulers of
Neopatras. When the
Catalans occupied Neopatras in 1319, in 1322 the
castrum Phtelei was taken over by the
Republic of Venice, with the agreement of the Byzantines and the inhabitants. The Republic installed a
rector (governor) and a
castellan, and administered the fortress as part of its colony of
Negroponte. In 1350 it was plundered by the Catalans and their
Albanian allies, but remained in Venetian hands as an isolated outpost on the mainland until 1470, when it was surrendered to the
Ottoman Empire following the
loss of Negroponte. Its inhabitants were deported to
repopulate Constantinople. Parts of the ruined medieval fortress survive to this day, southwest of Pigadi: a square
donjon, a
cistern, foundations of houses and a town wall, and the so-called
Alatopyrgos ("salt tower"), a watchtower on the coast. ==References==