Phryctoriae - Communication in ancient times
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Phryctoriae were communication towers used in Ancient Greece and later periods. Towers were built on mountaintops within sight of the next, typically 20 miles away. Messages were transmitted by lighting signal fires on successive towers. The document traces the evolution of phryctoriae from the Minoan civilization to the Byzantine era, when mechanical clocks were added to the system. It provides examples of phryctoriae ruins and reconstructions, and discusses how they enabled rapid long-distance communication by relaying signals tower to tower.
Phryctoriae - Communication in ancient times
- 1. Phryctoriae Erasmus 2nd TTLA in Athens 18 – 23 / 3/ 2109 ‘’Communication’’
- 2. Phryctoria (Greek: φρυκτωρία) was a means of communication used in Ancient Greece. Phryctoriae were towers build on selected mountaintops so that one tower (phryctoria) would be visible to the next tower (usually 20 miles away). The towers were used for the transmission of a specific prearranged message. Flames were lit on one tower and then the next tower in succession also lit flames. Many of these points are now lighthouses.
- 3. Last November, a school project was implemented for Greek pupils who lit 52 beacons (Phryctoriae) all over Greece.
- 4. The light of the phryctoriae awakens , driving away the darkness of the night and the invading enemies at the same time.
- 5. ‘The ancient phryctoria of Aeantion in the Salamina island’ Today, a few meters away there is a fire brigade The ruins of the phryctoria How a phryctoria functioned in ancient times
- 6. Let’s follow the evolution of phryctoriae in 5 steps.
- 7. Crete (Κρήτη) is the largest and most popular of the Greek islands. It was once the center of the Minoan civilisation (c. 2700– 1420 BC), which is the earliest known civilisation in Europe. STEP No 1
- 8. Phryctoriae of the Minoan era (Bronze Age) on the island of Crete Phryctoriae were a complex system of communication and defence at the same time, obviously the oldest in western civilisations In Crete the system cοvered about 1.100 km of coastline. The oldest among them were built in 1900 -1700 BC during the Protopalatial (Old Palace Period).
- 9. Aeschylus in the tragedy "Agamemnon" (458 BC) described how the message of the fall of Troy arrived at Mycenae with the use of phryctoriae. STEP No 2
- 10. Agamemnon’s phryctoriae covered 550 km from Troy to Mycenae via the following route (Troy)Τροία –(Idi) Ίδη –(Ermaio Limnou) Έρμαιο Λήμνου – (Athos of Aghio Oros) Άθως Αγίου Όρους – (Makisto in Evoia) Μάκιστο Εύβοιας (Messapio in Voiotia) Μεσσάπιο της Βοιωτίας – (Kithaironas) Κιθαιρώνας – (Aigiplagto) Αιγίπλαγκτο – (Arahnaio) Αραχναίο – (the Mycenae Palace)Παλάτι των Μυκηνών .
- 11. The story : 3,000 years ago, a message ran a distance of 550 kilometers in one night. Troy had fallen and Agamemnon, the king of the Achaeans, sent the happy news to his wife, Clytemnestra, who was waiting for him in Mycenae .... But how could this feat take place? It was Plamedes, one of the Greek heroes of the Trojan War, who invented this method of communication. The word phryctoria is complex and consists of the word “phrycto’’ meaning "torch" and the verb “oro“ meaning ‘’I see’’.
- 12. These were small wooden towers, which were placed on mountain peaks with good visibility. When a message had to be spread, the guards put fire on the woods so that the flames would be visible until the next phryctoria, which was on a hillside many miles away. Thus, through a chain of fires, the message reached its destination. Of course, the message had to be known beforehand. So, the inhabitants of Mycenae knew that when they saw the phryctoriae lit up, Troy would have fallen.
- 13. Τhe peak of Mount Athos
- 14. The Himaros tower on the island of Naxos (Cyclades) Hellenistic period (4th – 3ed century BC) In this case the space was sufficient to accommodate the necessary personnel and their supplies, even in a state of siege. Similar towers are widespread in the Aegean, but most of them are only the foundations, while the Himaros Tower is preserved at the impressive height of almost 15 meters. STEP No 3
- 15. Phryctoriae and Pyrseia Ιn the 2nd century BC the Greek engineers from Alexandria (Egypt), Cleoxenes and Democletus invented the ‘’pyrseia’’ ( πυρσεία ). The letters of the Greek alphabet were listed on a table. Each letter corresponded to a row and a column on the table. By using two groups of torches (five torches in every group), the left indicating the row and the right the column of the table, they could send a message by defining a specific letter through combination of light torches. STEP No 4
- 16. The coding system was as follows: α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω When they wanted to send the letter o (omicron), they opened five torches on the right set and three torches on the left set. Later, Polybius used the same system in his Polybius square. Each letter is then represented by its coordinates in the grid. For example : “ΑΘΗΝΑ’’ becomes "11 23 22 33 11". STEP No 4
- 18. The transmission of information through the use of phryctoriae continued during the Byzantine era. This period is no longer used in the expression of “phrythories", but ‘’kaminoviglatores“ , a word derived from the furnace (kamini = which kept the igneous fire) and the watch (vigla = observatory), and it means those who observe to operate the phryctoriae. STEP No 5
- 19. Course of the main beacon line between Constantinople and Loulon on the Cilician Gates covers a distance of 720 km. The distance from beacon to beacon is about 100 km. The line of beacons (phryctoriae) across Asia Minor connecting the Arab-Byzantine border at the Cilician Gates with the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in the 9th century. Based on modern experiments, a message could be transmitted through the entire length of the line within an hour.
- 20. Leon, the Bishop of Thessaloniki (829-842 AD) improved the system of sending information to the phryctoriae with the “Oronomio", a system synchronized with mechanical clocks subdivided into corresponding hours and combined with a numerical code of the most important news. Thus, if at the ninth p.m., the Loulon' phryctoria rose once the torch, this meant, "Enemy in sight“. Then, with the rise of a torch the news was successively up to Constantinople.
- 21. But if the torch at the same time would rise twice, this meant ‘’Attack’’. This system had been maintained for many years and in the year 1204 the Crusaders created a large network of “kaminoviglatores" from Constantinople to Taranto in Italy with stops in Thrace - Thessaloniki - Western Macedonia - Epirus - Corfu - Othoni. A tower (probably a ‘’kaminovigla’’) on the island of Andros (Cyclades)
- 22. Another way … Hydraulic telegraph An ancient hydraulic telegraph used by Aeneas to send a message The earliest one was developed in 4th-century BC Greece, while the other was developed in 19th-century AD in Britain. The Greek system was deployed in combination with semaphoric fires, while the latter British system was operated purely by hydraulic fluid pressure.
- 23. Reconstruction The system involved identical containers on separate hills, which were not connected to each other; each container would be filled with water, and a vertical rod would float within it. The rods were inscribed with various predetermined codes at various points along its height.
- 24. Reconstructed model, messages attached to rod To send a message, the sending operator would use a torch to signal the receiving operator; once the two were synchronized, they would simultaneously open the spigots at the bottom of their containers. Water would drain out until the water level reached the desired code, at which point the sender would lower his torch, and the operators would simultaneously close their spigots. Thus, by the time the sender's torch was visible, it could be related with specific predetermined codes and messages.
- 25. In Scandinavia they were probably first used in the Bronze Age. In Norway there are two known periods. The first up until the beginning of the 14th century and the second up until 1814. Α modern application in Scandinavia Revival
- 28. Berwick-upon-Tweed in the U.K. A traditional source of signal at the coast, on the city wall. The fire in the basket is lit to highlight the events in the city and to send a signal to the next location in the country. The wall was erected during Queen Elizabeth’s era, in the 16th century, but the signaling system has older roots. It was used to warn of attacks by both the Vikings, Scots and the Spanish Armada during the Napoleonic Wars.
- 29. Lord of the rings fire signal Lighting of the Beacons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhRFaY8A9cA Let’s finish this presentation with an excerpt from the film ‘’The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King’’, in which they use phryctoriae to transmit a message.