![]() ![]() It was devised by Leo the Mathematician for Emperor Theophilos, but either abolished or radically curtailed by Theophilos' son and successor, Michael III. In the 10th century, during the Arab–Byzantine wars, the Byzantine Empire used a beacon system to transmit messages from the border with the Abbasid Caliphate, across Anatolia to the imperial palace in the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. Thucydides wrote that during the Peloponnesian War, the Peloponnesians who were in Corcyra were informed by night-time beacon signals of the approach of sixty Athenian vessels from Lefkada. But when enemies, led by Marquess of Shen really arrived at the wall, although the towers were lit, no defenders came, leading to Yōu's death and the collapse of the Western Zhou dynasty. Legend has it that Zhōu Yōu Wáng, king of the Western Zhou dynasty, played a trick multiple times in order to amuse his often melancholy concubine, ordering beacon towers lit to fool his Marquess and soldiers. In ancient China, sentinels on and near the Great Wall of China used a sophisticated system of daytime smoke and nighttime flame to send signals along long chains of beacon towers. The ancient Greeks called them phryctoriae, while beacons figure on several occasions on the column of Trajan. ![]() Systems of this kind have existed for centuries over much of the world. As signals, beacons are an ancient form of optical telegraph and were part of a relay league. Historically, beacons were fires lit at well-known locations on hills or high places, used either as lighthouses for navigation at sea, or for signalling over land that enemy troops were approaching, in order to alert defenses. 16th-century beacon hut in Culmstock, Devon, England ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |