In antiquity, Gortynia was not known as we know it today. Up to the 11th century, we will follow, in the common Arcadian history, the story mainly of those small mountain communities that correspond to today's boundaries of the province, among which excelled Trapezounta, Harea, Thelpousa, Teuthis, Methydrio, etc.

However, the true and independent history of Gortynia, which is very curious and interesting, begins with the founding of the Monastery of Philosopher, and mainly from 1205, when it was conquered by the Franks and divided into two Baronies. It was referred to, during Byzantine times, as a "droggo" (subadministration, province) of Skortas (a variation of Gortys, in Slavic it is Gortsa), and the last drungarios was the famous Doxapatris.

Only Gortynia among the droggos of Morea attempted three times to shake off the Frankish yoke, something that no historian mentions, as well as many activities during the Turkish rule, when the Voivodeship of Karytaina replaced the baronies of Akova and Karytaina.

(. . .) [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]