Φρυκτωρίες

Fryktorias – Bridges of Friendship

Sunday July 13^th, 2008

The most important civilizations of history began within the area of Eastern Mediterranean from antiquity till now. The Greek civilization has influenced global history. With the development of sciences like medicine, astronomy, geography, geometry, architecture but also with the establishment of democracy, philosophy and the arts, the Greek civilization built the infrastructure of the European culture.

This fact left behind other achievements of ancient Greeks that have become less well-known. One of these accomplishments is the form of long distance communication with the use of fire or deep smoke that was widely used in times of peace and war. The word referring to this means of communication in Greek is “Fryktoria”.

The places that the ancient Greeks used were mostly in mountain tops or capes that offered distant visual contact. On many mountain tops are found the remnants of the ancient “Fryktorias”. With successive retransmissions the message could be delivered from top to top through vast distances either over land or sea. The messages were short, predefined and encoded according to needs.

The ancient scrolls of Orpheus that describe the expedition of Argonauts refer to the transmission of messages between the army units with the use of the Fryktorias. In Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, Homer describes the Fryktorias as a means of communication between the gods and humans in detail but also as a means of communication between the Aegean Islands ! When the war that was raging outside the great walls of Troy was concluded, Agamemnon sent a message back to his palace in Mycenae . Thus, it didn’t take more than a night to announce the end of war from Troy to Mycenae with the employment of the Fryktorias. Aeschylus in his drama “Oresteia” reports one by one the mountain tops used to transfer the message about the end of the war.

On July 13^th, 2008 and after 3200 years we will be climbing up the same mountain tops that Aeschylus reported and along with Turkish Hams will transmit through the ham radio frequencies a message from Troy – located in N.W. Turkey up to Mycenae that is in Southern Greece using a special call on every mountain top that the original message passed through. The same mountain tops are mentioned from Aeschylus in his drama “Agamemnon” and they are the ones that brought back to the Mycenae city the message that Troy had fallen into the hands of the ancient siege army.

On July 13^th, 2008 the mountain tops that had made the end of the war known, will be activated by ham radio operators for the transmission of a message about peace. They will also make ham radio known to society as a means of propagation that promotes the values that support our culture and civilization. Furthermore, we will be active on all ham radio bands making as many contacts as possible.
If on July 13th you have a QSO with a station that participates in the event from the broader Aegean area, just stop for a minute and consider that on the same site 3200 years ago there was similar communication with much simpler means but equally effective.

The event is supported and sponsored by RAAG that is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year and it will be conducted with the cooperation of Greek and Turkish ham radio operators.

For information: - R.A.A.G. : raag-hq@raag.org

Organizational committee

SV1BJY (danaos1@vodafone.net.gr)

SV1KP (sv1kp@raag.org)

SV1EM (exar@acci.gr)

The special calls that will be used through this campaign will be:

Turkey
Mountain Ida ( Troy ): to be announced.

Greece
Station 1 ( Lemnos Isl): SX8FRA

Station 2 ( Mt. Athos ) * : SX2FRB/A

Station 3 ( Mt. Kandili , Evia Isl): SX8FRC

Station 4 ( Mt. Mesapio , Biotia): SX1FRD

Station 5 ( Mt. Kitheronas ): SX1FRE

Station 6 ( Mt. Gerania ): SX1FRF

Station 7 ( Mt. Arachneon , Peloponisos): SX3FRG

Station 8 ( Mycenae ): SX3FRH

* If a license is not issued in order to broadcast from Mt. Athos , an alternative station will be active at Mt. Hortiatis in Salonica