“Communication And The Role Of The Medieval Tower In Greece: A Re-Appraisal”, 2022-09-19 ():
Little evidence has survived of the long-distance communication networks established by the Byzantines and Venetians in the medieval period. We know only of a chain of beacons established by Leo the Mathematician in the 9th century, an inscription found in the Peloponnese, and a Venetian network in the central Aegean.
This article reappraises the existing evidence and introduces new data following a study recently undertaken by the author of the topography of Negroponte (modern Euboea) and the medieval towers of Greece. Making extensive use of early cartographic sources, toponymic studies, and satellite imagery and telemetry, it identifies 142 tower and beacon sites on the island alone, and demonstrates, using archaeological evidence, how complex messages could be sent between towers.
The research also uncovers a new term—the pyrgari, which appears to apply to a circular beacon tower. Combining this new evidence and the topographic study, the article then delineates, using GIS mapping, 4 Middle Byzantine and Venetian long-distance communication networks.
The paper concludes by proposing a theoretical framework for the tower based on its role in communication and defense. Such work potentially helps us to understand in a more nuanced way the administrative and military organization of the Byzantine themata and the Venetian Empire.
The methodology also has potential for application in other regions: in essence, it looks at the landscape not as a collection of nodes—bishoprics, cities, and fortresses—but as a network of connections.