The Tower of Amfikleia is a late medieval

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

Amfikleia Amfikleia ( el, Αμφίκλεια, before 1915: Δαδί - ''Dadi'') is a town and a former municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Amfikleia-Elateia, of which it is a municipal unit ...

, in

Phthiotis Phthiotis ( el, Φθιώτιδα, ''Fthiótida'', ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is border ...

, central

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Amfikleia (formerly Dadi), occupies a strategic location on the northern slopes of

Mount Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...

and south of the Boeotic Cephissus. The tower is located on the site of the

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

of ancient Amphicleia, which today is occupied by the cemetery of the modern settlement. The tower measures by , making extensive use of

spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin: 'spoils') is repurposed building stone for new construction or decorative sculpture reused in new monuments. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built ...

ashlar blocks from the acropolis for the first six courses of masonry at its base (corresponding to the ground floor) and then as

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

s. In total, the tower survives to a height of about . The walls are thick at its base, and thin about at each of the two surviving above-ground floors. The first floor is supported by ledges offset from the north and south walls, extending from the ground to about in height. The entrance was above ground, at the level of the first floor, on the southern face of the tower near its eastern corner. The doorway, which survives in part, preserves sockets for a closing bar. The other faces of the tower feature slit windows.

References

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* * * {{coord, 38, 38, 32.4, N, 22, 34, 53, E, display=title

Duchy of Athens

Buildings and structures in Phthiotis