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Modern Description: Situated on the north side of the Archondochori pass about 1 km from where it enters the Mytikas Valley is a small, excellently preserved tower. It sits above the road on an artificially leveled rock ledge, overlooking the lower end of the pass, the southern half of the Mytikas Valley and the island of Kalamos. It was first reported by Leake who actually did not see the remains because the "Kleftes" were in control of this area when he passed through. A half century later when the political climate allowed, Heuzey visited the site and wrote a brief description of the tower.
The tower is perfectly preserved to a height of five courses except at the eastern corner where a deeper foundation course exists due to the irregularity of the rock. The bedrock has been trimmed down on the northwest, Southwest and southeast sides, and where possible, it is incorporated into the tower at the first course level. Wedge marks are visible here and there, an indication that the blocks of this tower were quarried from the site. A peculiar block projects from the Southwest wall which once formed the lintel of a gate adjacent to the tower, blocking access to the tower's door; the free standing jamb has long since fallen away. As can be seen in PI. 7.B, the cornice blocks are still in situ on the northeast and southeast sides. The height of the tower from here to the base of the first course is 5.3 m. The door, preserved in the southeastern side adjacent to the south corner, is 1.95 m high and was originally about 1.65 m wide. Both jambs are cut to provide a door stop and the western jamb has two holes in it which once received the door bolts. The inside of the Southwest wall by the door is cut to receive an ladder which gave access to the archer's slits of the second floor. If bolt projectors were mounted in this upper level, the second floor would have been solid with a trapdoor giving access to the ladder. Since the floor boards of this level merely rested on a thin ledge at the top of the second course (i.e., the block composing the second course was slightly thicker than the third course block set on top of It), some sort of support (props?) must have been provided from below. The external dimensions of the tower measure 5.65 m X 5.65 m.
The archer’s slits were more numerous on the side facing inland (4) and on the one overlooking the road (3). The slits of the northeast wall (the one facing inland, up the pass) are arranged in two pairs—one in the fourth course and the other, directly beneath, in the second course. There are three slits in the southeast wall—two in the fourth course, and one lined up between them in the second course below. The remaining two sides display two slits each, in the fourth course. All slits run the full length of the course (generally 1.0 m) except for the lower pair in the northeast wall which are cut 0.15 m into the top of the first course. This latter type is similar to the three preserved examples in Oiniadai’s harbor fortress. The slits are approximately 0.2 n wide. Cuttings exist to show that a beam about half a meter thick supported the roof which ran from the southeast to the northwest wall. We 9
surely have the full height of the structure. No fallen blocks lie nearby, and on the slopes below, the few fragments of Lakonian rooftiles obviously came from the destroyed roof.
One feature of this tower is worth noting before considering its function and date. It was apparently clamped throughout with wooden swallow-tailed clamps, a technique utilized with some regularity in many of the towers at Astakos. Some of the now empty, but in situ, clamp cuttings can be seen on the inside of the tower at the southeast corner; here a few of the joints have cracked enough to make visible the empty cuttings in their original alignment.
Function and Date. Soldiers in this tower acting alone would not be able to stop an army marching down through the pass. But if this strongly fortified position was utilized as the cornerstone of defensive deployment of troops across the bottom of the gorge and on the surrounding hillsides, a medium-sized force would be able to prevent the passage of an army down through this pass. Prior to the deployment of such a defensive line this position could have served as a command post for scouts placed along the route to the interior. And since this tower is in full view of Kalamos Island as well as the harbor, it could also have acted as a signal station to warn the valley of an enemy's approach and to summon forces bivouacked below to come help block the pass. Most likely, Pirgos was constructed at some time during the fourth, third or second centuries; the conscious treatment of the drafted corners and the placement of arrow slits obviously intended for bolt projectors would indicate this. The historical circumstances of the last thirty years of the third century would accommodate such a tower, but as our knowledge of this area historically is so paltry, it is best to remain cautious. (W. Murray 1982 dissertation)
DARE: 34615

Info: Murray 1982

William M. Murray, The Coastal Sites of Western Akarnania: A Topographical-Historical Survey (University of Pennsylvania Dissertation, 1982)

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