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Modern Description: The most impressive relic of this communications-line is the late Archaic lighthouse of Akératos, built around 520 BC at the northeastern extremity of the Bay of Potamiá: a spur of the headland descends southwards, and the tower is to be found there close to a small stand of pines, not far above the water. (Take the road past the Hotel Dionysos from Chrysi Amoudiá, and follow the headland track to the point where it turns sharply up the northeast coast: a track to right leads a short distance from here through an olive grove and then finishes. At this point the tower is just visible below in the undergrowth. The last few hundred metres are without path, and are particularly hard-going over rough terrain.) The tower is much overgrown, but stands to a height of about two metres: its drum has a diameter of five metres and is composed of carefully cut ashlar, marble blocks. A dislodged block near the foot of the tower bears an inscription transcribed as follows: “I am the monument of Akératos, son of Phrasierides. I am here at the mouth of the harbour to alert and protect ships and sailors. Greetings.” Akératos was a shipping-owner and prominent Thasian citizen, who had remarkably served as archon both in Thasos and in Paros. On the platform-top of the tower a fire could be raised which was visible out to sea at night. The Greeks were no strangers to practical chemistry, and it is not unimaginable that they may have added elements to the conflagration to make it burn with a more intense glow, or a particular hue of light: metal reflectors could also have been used on occasions of particular urgency. Unlike the ‘Monument of Cleoboulos' at Lindos, whose position as a landmark at the entrance to a harbour is comparable with this, there appears never to have been a chamber inside this tower.
DARE: 43690

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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