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Phryctoria (Greek:φρυκτωρία) was asemaphore system used inAncient Greece. Thephryctoriae were towers built 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. One tower would light its flame, the next tower would see the fire, and light its own.
InAeschylus tragedyAgamemnon, a slave watchman character learns the news ofTroy's fall fromMycenae by carefully watching afire beacon.[1][2]Thucydides wrote that during thePeloponnesian War, thePeloponnesians who were inCorcyra were informed by night-time beacon signals of the approach of sixty Athenian vessels fromLefkada.[3]WhenCnemus attackedSalamis Island, the Salaminians informed the Athenians and asked for help by beacon-fires.[4]
Polybius wrote thatPyrsourídas (Πυρσουρίδας) were beacons established byPerseus of Macedonia across the entire region, enabling him to receive rapid reports about events in different locations. The Byzantine encyclopediaSuda notes that this system was similar to the laterByzantine beacon network.[5]
Ιn the 2nd century BC, theGreek engineers fromAlexandria, Cleoxenes (Greek:Κλεόξενος) and Democletus (Greek:Δημόκλειτος) invented thepyrseia (Greek:πυρσεία). Πυρσεία from πυρσός which means torch.The letters of theGreek 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.[6]
The coding system was as follows:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Α | Β | Γ | Δ | Ε |
| 2 | Ζ | Η | Θ | Ι | Κ |
| 3 | Λ | Μ | Ν | Ξ | Ο |
| 4 | Π | Ρ | Σ | Τ | Υ |
| 5 | Φ | Χ | Ψ | Ω |
When they wanted to send the letterO (omicron), they fired five torches on the right set and three torches on the left set.
καὶ νῦν φυλάσσω λαμπάδος τό σύμβολον, αὐγὴν πυρὸς φέρουσαν ἐκ Τροίας φάτιν ἁλώσιμόν τε βάξιν500-400BC
So now I am still watching for the signal-flame, the gleaming fire that is to bring news from Troy and tidings of its capture