Modern Description:
The Peninsula is a continuation of the range of Mt. Drakonera; it extends some 2300 m. in a north-south direction and is up to 400 m. wide. The terrain is still very difficult; although the draining of the swamp and the construction of roads now makes it easy to reach the base of the peninsula, the route to the promontory is still pathless, very steep, and very rocky, so that the two kilometer trip takes well over one hour. Remains are visible on and near Kynosoura in several places. A. A wall cutting the peninsula off from the land. It is built on the northern slopes of the northernmost peak of Kynosoura (peak 81), beginning at the sea on the east and running almost directly westward up the slopes to a point slightly west of the peak; its total length is 211 m. Here the hill descends in steep cliffs to the sea at the west, and no trace of the wall remains; it is probable that it was carried no further, since it would have served no useful purpose in this already inaccessible terrain. The wall is well built of undressed local stones-apparently the sole product of this inhospitable peninsula. They are laid without mortar to form a wall 2.60-2.90 m. thick; in places the wall is preserved to a height of 2.00m. There are now two openings through the wall, where modern goat tracks cross it, the western one being 2.60 m. wide, the eastern 2.00 m. wide; no jambs are now preserved, and it is unsure whether either or both of these represent ancient gateways. If not, there was no passage through the wall.70 B. The hill to the north of the base of the peninsula (height 62 on Karten von Attika, Bl. XVIII) is protected on its southern side by a rubble wall. The wall begins at the coast on the east and climbs westward up the southern slopes of the hill. Following the contours of the hill, it turns northward, continuing to a point on the western side of the hill where it suddenly turns to the west and starts down the hill. Soon after this corner it disappears, and, if more ever existed, there is now no trace of it. This wall, whose total preserved length is 202 m., is built of unworked stones of moderate size. It is very poorly preserved, being seldom more than one or two courses high; the rear face is difficult to find in most places, and it may be that only the outer face was built with any care. Where the rear face is preserved, the wall has a thickness of 1.40 m. C. On the north side of the same hill is another stretch of rubble wall analogous to that on the south side. A stretch of only 158 m. is preserved, running in a generally east-west direction, all at nearly the same height on the hill. It is now impossible to determine whether the wall originally continued from either of the ends which are preserved. The hill falls quite steeply to the sea on the east, and perhaps no additional defense was thought necessary on this side. At its western end this wall, like the south wall (B), simply fades out. Again the wall is built of unworked stones of moderate size, and, like the south wall, it is very poorly preserved, seldom to a height of more than 0.50 m. Near the center, however, a good stretch of wall preserves both faces, and there it averages 2.50 m. in thickness. In scale, therefore, it is nearer to wall A than to wall B. D. Just behind wall C is a 23-meter stretch of another, earlier wall. While technically rubble, it is built of much larger stones and with a good deal more care. It has a constant thickness of 2.00 m. and is preserved to a height of 2.20 m. at its highest point. The line of this wall runs under that of wall C at both ends of the preserved stretch, and it was apparently destroyed by the builders of wall C when it intersected or coincided with their line; larger stones in wall C near either end of wall D seem to support this suggestion. ... E. A hitherto unnoticed wall is found on the north slope of the southernmost hill of the peninsula (height 16 on Karten von Attika, Bl. XVIII, cf. Fig. 8, inset). It has now practically no preserved height, being visible only as a line of rubble on the slopes of the hill. From its location it must have faced north, and it must, therefore, have been intended to defend the promontory against attack from the land. Occasionally the original faces of the wall can be seen, and these indicate that it was ca. 2.40 to 2.50 m. thick. About 15 m. south of the wall, on top of the southernmost hill, are remains of several buildings, preserved to a height of from 0.50 to 1.70 m. These could well be modern. About 40 m. south of these buildings, on either side of the peninsula, are structures that appear to be towers or watch posts. They are 2.60 m. east-west and 2.40 m. north-south, with the side facing the land open. The walls are of rubble ca. 0.65 m. thick. Whether or not any of these remains at the tip of the peninsula are ancient is not now evident. The only pottery visible is late Roman or Byzantine in date, but even this is so scarce and so loosely associated with the walls as to be far from conclusive. It is possible that this wall and its towers should be associated with the same events that led to the building of the northern wall A. ... The sherds from Kynosoura show that the site was occupied in the late Classical or early Hellenistic periods.
Trismegistos Geo: 60767
Info: McCredie, Fortified Military Camps 
James R. McCredie, Fortified Military Camps in Attica, Hesperia Supplement 11, 1966,
