Acropolis of Lyrkeia

The hill to the northeast of Lyrkeia (Kato Belesi) is known as Paliokastraki [old castle]. The new Corinth-Tripoli motorway passes its southern slopes. On its summit, the remains of a thick wall with gates bears witness to the fact that it was an important fortified position/ancient citadel from the Classical period, overlooking the valley cut by the Inachos River.

According to Pausanias, one of the gates of Argos, the Deiras gate, led to Lyrkeia, which was sixty stadia away, and was known from the myth of Lynceus and Hypermnestra. Tradition has it that Lynceus was the son of Aegyptus and Argyfia, and married Hypermnestra, the daughter of Danaus, with whom he had a son called Abas. Only Hypermnestra, out of all her Danaid sisters, refused her father's order to murder her husband on their wedding night. She would climb up to the acropolis at Argos and, using a torch, communicate with Lynceus, who had fled to Lyrkeia.

Multiple murders, social unrest, conflict, and politics all mix in this impressive myth from the Argos cycle, which research in the past had connected with Paliokastraki Hill, attributing the name of Lyrkeia to this location and the surrounding area. However, its distance from the acropolis does not sit well with ancient literature, as it is about one hundred stadia (18 km) from Argos, not sixty (around 11 km). A re-examination of sources, along with a study of the ancient topography of the area, led to the fortifications of Paliokastraki being identified with the acropolis of Orneai. The name of the city comes from its founder, Orneas, son of Erechtheas. Thucydides writes that the Orneates and the Kleonaioi fought alongside the Argives against the might of Sparta in the Battle of Mantineia (418 BC). However, the strategic position of Orneai intensified the traditional enmity between Argos and Sparta, and two years later, the Argives did not hesitate to destroy it. Orneai's involvement in the clashes with Archidamus III (352 BC) indicates that the area had most likely been re-populated. During the Hellenistic period, it was included among the cities belonging to Argos.

As regards the Argive city of Lyrkeion of historical times, this has been shown to be to the west of Argos on the left bank of the Inahos, in the area known as Synoro, a place where a lot of archaeological data (settlements, temples, burial grounds, ancient fortifications, inscription evidence) and the distance mentioned by the traveller, all combine to confirm this identification.