The photo at Loader [1995] II, 6.42 purports to show the section called Pe of the Cyclopean Wall first described by Broneer [1966] 351. What is actually shown is a segment of the Hexamilion Wall.
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| A section of the Hexamilion Wall. The tower (on R) is named 'W-4' in Gregory [1993] 31. Click to enlarge. |
This photo was taken from coordinates 37.932622° N, 22.966297° E and the camera was facing ~213.06°. The picture is of poor quality because it has been reproduced so many times and I have cleaned it up in Photoshop as well as I was able.
If the reader clicks to enlarge he or she will notice the unmistakable Hexamilion construction of sandstone ashlars about 1.0 m x 0.6 m and laid stretcher to header. The structure on the right of the picture is the watchtower that Gregory [1993] designates 'W-4'. It can also be seen on his map (Gregory [1993], Figure 5).
The photo setup looked like this:
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| White arrow points to the H. wall which runs from L to R. The watch tower foundation is marked by the 'W-4' paddle. The photographer stood at the bottom center at the paddle marked '6.42 Pix Location'. The red line is the angle of the shot. |
A mistake of this sort is of little consequence. I make a point of this error because it casts a shade of ambiguity on her discussion of Pe in vol. I of Loader [1995]. Here is what she says:
""Similarly, the rectangular towers placed along sections St, Ro, and Pe of the Isthmian wall, the latter with four rectangular towers projecting c. 0.70 m northwards from the wall face and separated at intervals of 7.90-9.50 m (Broneer 1966: 351; fig. 6.42.), would have strengthened those points of the wall where its course altered."[1]
Section Pe of the Cyclopean wall does have four projections. It has, however, always been hard for me to read these as towers. Lacking any other evidence they look like buttresses. Pe does, after all, sit on the sloping ground near the top of the Mytika ridge. I illustrate this with a photograph of Pe from Broneer. [2]
The horizontal offset/extension of these 'towers' is 0.7 m. according to Broneer. Hardly towers(?); it's easier to understand them as buttresses.
Dr. Loader is an important and influential scholar. This question does, however, go directly to the heart of the nature and purpose of Pe in particular and the Cyclopean Wall (if there was such a thing) in general. I wouldn't like to think that when she discusses the rectangular towers of Segment Pe of the Cyclopean wall that she had the undoubted towers of the Hexamilion wall in mind.
Footnotes
[1] Loader [1995] vol. I, p. 98
[2] Broneer [1966], Plate 81
Biblio
Broneer [1966] : Broneer, Oscar. "The Cyclopean Wall on the Isthmus of Corinth and Its Bearing on Late Bronze Age Chronology", Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (35:4), 346-362. 1966. Online <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/147564">here</a>.
Gregory [1993] : Timothy, Gregory E., Isthmia V, The Hexamilion and the Fortress. American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Princeton, New Jersey, 1993. ISBN: 0-87661-935-9.
Loader [1995] : Loader, Nancy Claire. The definition of cyclopean: An investigation into the origins of the LH III fortifications on mainland Greece, Two vols., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5374/
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