Gla

Gla (rarely Glas; Modern Greek: Γλα or Γλας) was an important fortified site of the Mycenaean civilization, located in Boeotia, mainland Greece. Despite its impressive size, more than ten times larger than contemporary Athens or Tiryns, Gla is not mentioned in the Iliad.

The site is located on a limestone outcrop or hill that jutted into Lake Kopais (now drained) or formed an island within it. The flat-topped outcrop rises up to 38m above the surrounding area. It measures circa 900 x 575m (at the widest point). The ancient name of the site is unknown, it is unclear whether it is one of the Boeotian places named by Homer (some scholars suggest that Gla is Homer's Arne). The scholarly designation "Gla" is from the Albanian word for fortification, the modern local population calls the site Paliokastro (Greek for "ancient fortress").

Excavation revealed much detail about the fortification walls (which were always visible) and, on the interior, remains of buildings from the Mycenaean period. The fortification encloses an area of nearly 20 hectares, about 10 times as much as the Mycenaean citadels of Athens or Tiryns.

The walls are built of medium-sized limestone blocks, mostly in the Cyclopean masonry technique (ashlar masonry is employed at some of the gates). They have a total length of 2.8 km, are up to 6.75m wide and 3-5m high. In many locations they are built directly on the cliffs that form the limit of the outcrop. It had four gates, an unusually high number for a Mycenaean fortification, in the north, west, south and southeast. Elaborate built ramps led to the gates. The fortification can be dated to early LH III B, that is, circa 1300 BC.

Much of the area within the walls is vacant, leading archaeologists to believe that it served as a refuge for farmers in the area of Lake Kopais in the event of attack. It is suggested that the land dominated by the citadel of Gla served as the "bread basket" of the Mycenaean world. This is supported by the fact that Lake Kopais, the largest lake in southern Greece, had been drained by a system of dams and canals (one of the most astonishing achievements of prehistoric engineering) at about the same time as the erection of Gla, producing a large fertile plain. The drainage system collapsed from destruction or neglect at or after the end of Mycenaean Civilisation; in Classical Antiquity, the lake existed again. It was drained a second time in the 19th century.

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