Fryktorias(Phryctoria) was a system of communication first used in Europe and perhaps worldwide in Minoan Crete during the period of the first palaces 1900 BC - 1700 BC and then abandoned with their first destruction, probably because of the Minoans' turn to the sea.
Fryktorias are found all over Crete. In particular, in Kavousi Ierapetra the closest one is in the area of Pseira, and is about 2 km from the town of Agios Nikolaos. Professor Ph. Betancourt reports a possible Fryktoria on the highest point of the island of Pseira. Interesting are the dozens of Fryktorias that have been researched and proven by the archeologist Nikos Panagiotakis. Since 2015, the lighting of fires in dozens of Fryktorias has been revived in the province of Pediados, Heraklion.
The transmission of information is done with torches at night.
Then in ancient Greece, the system of Fryktoria was used. Aeschylus, in his work Agamemnon, describes the news of the fall of Troy, which was transmitted to Mycenae by the Fryktorias. Intermediate transmitting stations existed at Idi of Mysia, at Akrotiri of Lemnos (modern Plaka), on Athos, in Mount Makistos, and on the slopes of Arachneos. The system was used for many centuries until 1850, but could only transmit messages with a common code.
Aeschylus in the tragedy Agamemnon describe how the message for the fall of Troy arrived at Mycenae with phryctoriae.
Thucydides wrote how during the Peloponnesian War, the Peloponnesians who were in Corcyra informed at night by beacon signals of the approach of sixty Athenian vessels from Lefkada.
The geographical establishment, ownership, management and maintenance of these communication networks by the ancient Greek culture was of great importance in their spread and expansion. This network was used both in military operations and in peace when the news and orders of the rulers had to reach their destination as quickly as possible. This was especially true for the empires, whose vast expanse made it relatively difficult to stay informed. Typical examples of communication with a visual fire signal can be found in the cases when, for example, Medea lit a torch to warn the Argonauts to go to Colchis, or when Agamemnon was warned of the entry of the Trojan Horse into Troy from Sinon with a torch and signaled at the same way the Greek fleet at Tenedos for the occupation of the fortified state.
The Fryktorias, taking advantage of the Aegean islands and mountain morphology of Greece, are torches that use fire and a letter representation code (similar to Morse code) to transmit reliable messages over many miles (up to 130). Basically, this is the prehistory of the telegraph. When it was night, the soldiers in charge of the Fryktoria (fryktoroi) lit bright fires to transmit signals, while during the day they used dense smoke.
An important station of optical telecommunications was the "kairoskopio"(weather station) at the top of Mount Athos (according to Anaximander) with a history that begins with the Battle of Giants in mythology. Fryktoria with a special history is the mountaintop of Messapi of Evia, but also the Tower of Dracan (4th century BC) in Eastern Ikaria, Anafi, Knossos, the Temple of Poseidon in Sounio, Aktio, Cape of Sideros, etc. Many of these places are still lighthouses today.
