Mycenaean Acropolis of Gla
At the 114th kilometer of the new Athens-Lamia National Road (E75), the road passes by the village of Kastro. Taking the exit at Kastro and following the local road toward Kokkino, in the northeastern corner of the plain that was once Lake Copais, visitors encounter a low, rocky hill of irregular triangular shape called Gla.
This rock, rising 119 meters above sea level, stretches 900 meters from east to west and reaches a maximum width of 580 meters from north to south on its western side. Its height above the surrounding plain varies between 9.5 and 38 meters. At the top of this hill stands a fortified acropolis constructed by the Minyans of Orchomenos during the 13th-14th centuries BC.
There is no reference to this fortress in classical texts or later sources. Even Pausanias, who traveled through the area, does not mention it. The first reference is by the English traveler Dodwell in 1819. The name "Gla" is much more recent and likely derives from an Albanian word "Koulas-Goulas," meaning "tower" or "fort." Locals once called it "Paleokastro" or simply "Kastro," leading to the renaming of the village Topolia to Kastro in 1953.
Evidence of habitation has been found on this hill from the Neolithic, Hellenistic, and Byzantine periods. During the Greek Revolution of 1821, it served as a refuge for locals who even built a small chapel there. Taking the dirt road around the hill, one can see two abandoned guardhouses (which used to be staffed). Between them lies an uphill path, partly paved with stones, that leads visitors to the archaeological site of Gla.
The visible ruins date to what is known as the Mycenaean period (1300-1200 BC). Before the Minyans drained Lake Copais, Gla was a natural island. Following the Minyan drainage works, which channeled water through natural and artificial sinkholes to the Gulf of Larymna, the hill became accessible from the land and was subsequently fortified. This fortification was a colossal project, seven times the area of Mycenae and ten times that of Tiryns, making it the largest Mycenaean fortification. Constructed with massive stones like those used in Cyclopean Mycenaean structures, this fortified site controlled the northeastern side of Lake Copais and the drainage works essential for the prosperity of the Minyans. However, it was not an acropolis in the conventional Mycenaean sense, lacking a palace, residential buildings, sanctuaries, or monuments typically associated with Mycenaean acropolises. Despite its scale, Gla was not the seat of the local king; this role was attributed to Orchomenos, in the northwest corner of the Copais plain, as indicated by well-known archaeological findings and ancient tradition. Ancient sources like Homer and Strabo remembered Orchomenos as one of the wealthiest centers of the heroic past, with wealth drawn from the cultivation of the drained lake.
In 1893, F. Noack mapped the visible ruins, and that same year, A. de Ridder excavated the main building. A systematic excavation was conducted from 1955 to 1961 by I. Threpsiades, though he did not publish his findings. Additional research was carried out between 1981-83 and 1990-91 by Professor Spyros Iakovidis under the Archaeological Society. In 1989, Iakovidis published the first volume of Threpsiades' findings (Gla I), followed by a second volume in 1998 (Gla II) with his own discoveries and conclusions.
In the northeastern corner of the Copais basin, near the point where Mycenaean drainage embankments converged toward sinkholes and the artificial tunnel that channeled stagnant water to the Gulf of Larymna, a low, rocky hill rises 20 to 40 meters above the flat plain. This irregularly triangular hill, covering an area of 200 stremmas (about 50 acres), has a relatively smooth and level summit but steep slopes, especially to the north. Due to its location and shape, it was part of the ancient drainage works and fortifications that surrounded these waterworks, as well as the defenses for populations settled around the basin's perimeter.
The acropolis of Gla had a relatively short lifespan. Its buildings were constructed in the early 13th century BC and were destroyed before 1200 BC, with no further occupation afterward. The signs of destruction by fire are evident.
The buildings bear clear traces of violent destruction by human hands, and tradition attributes the devastation of Copais's drainage works to Heracles and the Thebans.
The rivalry between the two centers, Orchomenos and Thebes, usually resulted in victory for the Orchomenians. However, when Heracles blocked the sinkholes (as Strabo notes in Geography IX.2.40), the Copais basin reverted to a lake, rendering the Orchomenian cavalry useless and allowing the Thebans to triumph. Although Heracles is a mythical figure, research into Mycenaean remains at Thebes suggests that the city continued to exist after Gla's desolation, thus supporting these semi-historical memories. After the collapse of the drainage works, when the acropolis was once again isolated by the lake and marshlands, the fortress fell into historical obscurity.
Pausanias does not mention the ancient name of the area. Today, it is known as Gla, and locals refer to it as Palaeokastro or simply Kastro.
The massive settlement at Gla was built by the Mycenaeans concurrently with the drainage works of the lake, which it was directly linked to and without which it would have lacked purpose. The steep rock of Gla, situated in the eastern part of the tectonic basin of Copais, stood out like an island. When the drainage system began operating, it became accessible from the fertile plain surrounding it and was subsequently inhabited. At the same time, it was fortified with a robust Cyclopean wall 3 km long and 5-5.5 meters thick, encircling the edge without interruption and crossed by one double and three standard gates, all protected by bastions. The fortified area, covering around 200 stremmas (50 acres), was sparsely populated with relatively few buildings, most of which, including the most significant ones excavated by A. Ridder, I. Threpsiades, and S. Iakovidis, were concentrated within a central enclosure stretching from the northern wall to near the southern gate.
This central enclosure was divided into two main sections: the northern and the southern. The northern section contained a complex known as the megaron, built in two wings. At the end of each wing was a large hall-like space, consisting of a closed chamber, a narrow porch, and a square hall.
The megaron complex was made up of two separate yet similar residences, connected but also independent, each following the same architectural layout and building techniques. It is evident they were built to house two equal-ranking officials with distinct areas of authority.
In the southern enclosure, there were large complexes comprising quadrilateral buildings, including both large and elongated structures that served as granaries with a total capacity of 2,000 tons.
The entire acropolis complex (fortifications, enclosures, official residences, and granaries) was constructed simultaneously and is interpreted as part of a grand plan to oversee the drainage installations and to collect and store significantly larger quantities of produce from the plain than the fortress itself required.
The official residents of the megaron seem to have been responsible both for supervising and maintaining the essential drainage works and for gathering and storing the region’s agricultural production.
The earliest pottery shards from the acropolis date to the late Late Helladic IIIB period, while the destruction layer contains samples from the advanced Late Helladic IIIB2 phase. Thus, Gla and its related facilities were built in the early 13th century BC and were destroyed shortly before 1200 BC, without being reoccupied afterward.
The construction of the wall is notable for its lack of curved sections, featuring instead "dentations"—straight segments of 9-10 meters or sometimes 6-10 meters that broke up the natural curvature of the rock. This approach facilitated and sped up the construction process. These dentations may also represent points where different construction phases were connected.
The fortress had three main gates—West, North, and South—and a double one in the Southeast. Elevated stone-built paths reinforced with side walls linked the fortress with the plain and the drainage structures. The last of these paths, which led to the southeastern corner of the fortification near the Southeastern Gate, survived until 1958, when it was destroyed by the Copais Company.
On each side of the gates were two rectangular bastions. The outer side of each gate had a double-leafed door, while inside, there was a courtyard with a rectangular guardroom on one side. The main Southern Gate featured massive towers 5.8 meters wide. Interestingly, the right tower projected 11.5 meters from the wall, while the left one extended only 6 meters, allowing defenders to attack intruders from the side. This feature, seen at Mycenae and Tiryns, appears for the first time at Gla.
Inside, the area was divided by an angled inner wall into two unequal sections, accessible from the double Southeastern Gate. This transverse wall extended from the central tower of the double gate toward the northern Cyclopean wall, isolating the eastern sector, accessible only from the eastern entrance of the double gate.
The smaller eastern section encompassed a rise at the end of the hill. Although not extensively excavated due to shallow deposits, it contains a long, arched structure of undetermined function. The larger western section includes nine-tenths of the fortified area, with the main buildings excavated by A. de Ridder (1893), I. Threpsiades (1955-1961), and S. Iakovidis (1981-1983, 1990-1991). These were gathered within a central enclosure stretching from the northern wall to near the southern gate.
The western enclosure is divided into two main sections: northern and southern. The northern part contains a building complex, the megaron, built on a low terrace and divided into two wings (north and east) at a right angle. The northern wing, with an entrance near the southwest corner, is integrated into the fortification line, with its outer face extending as part of the wall. The eastern wing, accessed from the south, connects to the northern one through a corridor and is similar in layout and room arrangement.
At the outer edge of each wing, near the entrance, there is a relatively large hall. The two wings consist of small compartments with two or three rooms each, connected by a corridor system that allowed them to communicate yet remain independent.
The building also featured wooden doors with pivots protected by bronze fittings. The walls, built with well-constructed stone foundations and upper mudbrick sections reinforced with wood, were coated with lime plaster and had frescoes that unfortunately did not survive. The roofs were sloped and covered with clay tiles, of which several were found.
The southern enclosure of the western section of Gla, which is larger than the northern one, connects directly with the southern gate of the fortification. Along its long sides, the eastern and western, there are two complexes separated by a large central square. At the southern end of each complex, there is a quadrilateral building consisting of four equal-sized rooms, separated in pairs by a wide central passage that provides the only communication between them. To the north of these buildings, two elongated structures extend approximately 100 meters in length; the western one is wider and features a series of internal supports. Each of these buildings has only two accesses to the central square, designed as raised platforms. At their northern ends, they lead to a series of rooms, one or two of which in each wing may have served as workshops or residences.
The function of these large buildings is indicated both by their layout and their contents, which include storage vessels such as jars, large pseudo-mouth amphorae, and jugs, alongside hundreds of edible marine shellfish and ample quantities of burnt wheat. In other words, they served primarily as storage facilities for agricultural products, with a total area of approximately 2,600 square meters, providing a total capacity of at least 2,000 tons, as well as rooms for residence, workshops, etc., covering an additional 660 square meters. Here, the produce of the fertile plain was evidently gathered and securely stored in well-fenced spaces with minimal, easily controlled access.
The buildings of the two complexes in the southern enclosure would lack significance without the central enclosure, and conversely, the enclosure, whose arms are attached to the wall, would be unnecessary without them. It is clear that the entire set of facilities—the fortification, the enclosure, the megaron, and the two southern complexes—were built simultaneously (thus dating each other), as part of a grand design for overseeing drainage facilities and for gathering and storing much larger quantities of products from the plain, along with various other supplies beyond what the fortress itself required. Nevertheless, the extensive area of the enclosure could also have served as a refuge for a large number of inhabitants from the surrounding areas.
It is striking that, although the buildings were primarily functional, almost all of them were decorated with frescoes. Fragments from the wall coverings, featuring colors and design excerpts, have been found not only in the megaron, which would be natural, but also in many of the small rooms of the two wings. These fragments testify to the careful construction, intricate designs, and harmonious colors.
The earlier excavators, A. de Ridder and I. Threpsiades, who worked on the megaron and the western wing of the storage facilities, uncovered pieces of frescoes; however, the former preserved none and the latter very few. The eastern building yielded over 1,000 such pieces, some with representations, including at least one composition featuring dolphins and Argonauts, set between a frieze of roses with ivy leaves above and a marble-like base below.
Additionally, fragments of a building, a miniature male head, and marine flora were found. In the granary at the southern end of the complex, a piece depicting two white female profiles against a blue background was discovered. A black line delineates the faces from below. This representation is clearly a variation of the well-known theme of "women at the window." In the same area, fragments of a building frieze and cephalopod tentacles were found. Other decorative motifs similar to these also originate from the room at the northern end of the complex.
One particularly significant find from the area of the southwestern gate is a fragment of stone horns of consecration, a characteristic emblem of Minoan palaces, revealing the connection of the Mycenaeans with Minoan civilization.
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