In the 9th century, during the

Arab–Byzantine wars The Arab–Byzantine wars were a series of wars between a number of Muslim Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. Conflict started during the initial Muslim conquests, under the expansionist Rashidun an ...

, the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

used a semaphore system of

beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

s to transmit messages from the border with the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

across

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

to the Byzantine capital,

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. According to the Byzantine sources (

Constantine Porphyrogenitus Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Ka ...

Theophanes Continuatus ''Theophanes Continuatus'' ( el, συνεχισταί Θεοφάνους) or ''Scriptores post Theophanem'' (, "those after Theophanes") is the Latin name commonly applied to a collection of historical writings preserved in the 11th-century Vat. g ...

and

Symeon Magister Symeon Logothete (or Symeon Magister) was a 10th-century Byzantine Greek historian and poet. Symeon wrote a world chronicle that goes from Genesis creation narrative, Creation to the year 948.It has been False attribution, misattributed to one Theo ...

), the line of beacons began with the fortress of

Loulon Loulon ( el, Λοῦλον), in Arabic known as Lu'lu'a ( ar, لولوة), was a fortress near the modern village of Hasangazi in Turkey. The site was of strategic importance as it controlled the northern exit of the Cilician Gates. In the 8th– ...

, on the northern exit of the

Cilician Gates The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m. The Cilician Gates ha ...

, and continued with Mt. Argaios (identified mostly with Keçikalesı on Hasan Dağı, but also with

Erciyes Dağı Mount Erciyes ( tr, Erciyes Dağı), also known as Argaeus (Greek: ) is a volcano in Turkey. It is a large stratovolcano surrounded by many monogenetic vents and lava domes, and one maar. The bulk of the volcano is formed by lava flows of an ...

near

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...

), Mt. Samos or Isamos (unidentified, probably north of

Lake Tatta Lake Tuz ( tr, Tuz Gölü meaning 'Salt Lake'; anciently Tatta — grc, ἡ Τάττα, la, Tatta Lacus) was the second largest lake in Turkey with its surface area and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world. It is located in the C ...

), the fortress of Aigilon (unidentified, probably south of

Dorylaion Dorylaeum or Dorylaion ( el, Δορύλαιον; tr, Şarhöyük) was an ancient city in Anatolia. It is now an archaeological site located near the city of Eskişehir, Turkey. Its original location was about 10 km southwest of Eskişehi ...

), Mt. Mamas (unidentified, Constantine Porphyrogenitus has

Mysian Olympus Mysians ( la, Mysi; grc, Μυσοί, ''Mysoí'') were the inhabitants of Mysia, a region in northwestern Asia Minor. Origins according to ancient authors Their first mention is by Homer, in his list of Troy, Trojans allies in the Iliad, and ac ...

instead), Mt. Kyrizos (somewhere between

Lake Ascania A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the World Ocean, oce ...

and the

Gulf of Kios The Gulf of Gemlik ( tr, Gemlik Körfezi) is an inlet of the Sea of Marmara in the Marmara region of Turkey. The gulf is located in the southwestern part of the sea. Mudanya, Gemlik Gemlik is a town and center of the Gemlik District of Bursa Pr ...

, possibly Katerlı Dağı according to

W. M. Ramsay Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, FBA (15 March 185120 April 1939) was a Scottish archaeologist and New Testament scholar. By his death in 1939 he had become the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor and a leading scholar in t ...

), Mt. Mokilos above

Pylae Yalova is a market-gardening town located in northwestern Turkey on the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara. The town has a population of 156,838, while the population of the surrounding Yalova Province is 291,001 . A largely modern town, it is ...

on the southern shore of the

Gulf of Nicomedia A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented ...

(identified by Ramsay with Samanlı Dağı),

Mt. Saint Auxentius Mount Auxentius (also known as Mount St. Auxentius, Mount Auxentios, or Mount Scopas), today known as Kayış Dağı in Turkish, is a mountain located in the eastern outskirts of Istanbul, Turkey, in Kayışdağı neighborhood. Its summit is 428 ...

(modern Kayış Dağı) south-east of

Chalcedon Chalcedon ( or ; , sometimes transliterated as ''Chalkedon'') was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the cit ...

(modern Kadıköy) and the lighthouse (''Pharos'') of the Great Palace in Constantinople.Toynbee (1973), p. 299 This main line was complemented by secondary branches that transmitted the messages to other locations, as well as along the frontier itself.Foss (1991), pp. 273–274 The main line of beacons stretched over some . In the open spaces of central

, the stations were placed over apart, while in

Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...

, with its more broken terrain, the intervals were reduced to ca. . Based on modern experiments, a message could be transmitted the entire length of the line within an hour. The system was reportedly devised in the reign of Emperor Theophilos (ruled 829–842) by

Leo the Mathematician Leo the Mathematician, the Grammarian or the Philosopher ( grc-gre, Λέων ὁ Μαθηματικός or ὁ Φιλόσοφος, ''Léōn ho Mathēmatikós'' or ''ho Philósophos''; – after January 9, 869) was a Byzantine philosopher and ...

, and functioned through two identical

water clocks A water clock or clepsydra (; ; ) is a timepiece by which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid into (inflow type) or out from (outflow type) a vessel, and where the amount is then measured. Water clocks are one of the oldest time-m ...

placed at the two terminal stations, Loulon and the Lighthouse. Different messages were assigned to each of twelve hours, so that the lighting of a

bonfire A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Etymology The earliest recorded uses of the word date back to the late 15th century, with the Catho ...

on the first beacon on a particular hour signalled a specific event and was transmitted down the line to Constantinople. According to some of the Byzantine chroniclers, the system was disbanded by Theophilos' son and successor,

Michael III Michael III ( grc-gre, Μιχαήλ; 9 January 840 – 24 September 867), also known as Michael the Drunkard, was Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian (or Phrygian) dynasty. ...

(r. 842–867) because the sight of the lit beacons and the news of an Arab invasion threatened to distract the people and spoil his performance as one of the charioteers in the

Hippodrome The hippodrome ( el, ἱππόδρομος) was an ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words ''hippos'' (ἵππος; "horse") and ''dromos'' (δρόμος; "course"). The term is used i ...

races. This tale is usually dismissed by modern scholars as part of a deliberate propaganda campaign by 10th-century sources keen to blacken Michael's image in favour of the succeeding

Macedonian dynasty The Macedonian dynasty (Greek: Μακεδονική Δυναστεία) ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056, following the Amorian dynasty. During this period, the Byzantine state reached its greatest extent since the Muslim conquests, a ...

.Toynbee (1973), pp. 299–300, 582ff. If indeed there is some element of truth in this report, it may reflect a cutting-back or modification of the system, perhaps due to the receding of the Arab danger during Michael III's reign. The surviving portions of the system or a new but similar one seem to have been reactivated under

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Romanization of Greek, Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; "born in the purple"), w ...

(r. 1143–1180).

Citations

General and cited sources

* * * {{Cite book , last = Toynbee , first = Arnold , authorlink = Arnold J. Toynbee , title = Constantine Porphyrogenitus and His World , year = 1973 , location = London and New York , publisher = Oxford University Press , isbn = 0-19-215253-X 9th century in the Byzantine Empire Beacon system Beacons Byzantine Anatolia History of telecommunications Semaphore Signalling lights Warning systems

See also

Citations

General and cited sources