Phryctoria
Ancient Greek mountaintop fire-beacon semaphore system.
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Phryctoria was a semaphore system used in Ancient Greece, consisting of towers built on selected mountaintops so that each tower (phryctoria) would be visible to the next, typically about 20 miles away. These towers were used for the transmission of a specific prearranged message by lighting a flame, which the next tower would see and then light its own, creating a chain of communication.
Quick Facts
- Field
- Ancient Greek communication and military signaling
- Nationality
- Ancient Greek
Facts from the source article.
Background
The phryctoriae were towers built on selected mountaintops so that one tower would be visible to the next, usually 20 miles away. A beacon was called phryctos (plural phryctoi), and the person in charge of beacon signaling was called phryctoros.
Did You Know?
- Polybius described an improved method by Aeneas Tacticus using two identical earthenware vessels filled with water to convey messages.
- In the 2nd century BC, Greek engineers Cleoxenes and Democletus invented the pyrseia, using two groups of five torches to encode Greek alphabet letters.
More in Ancient Greek military equipment
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Phryctoria (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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