Glas is a low rocky eminence rising from the surrounding plain.
The latter appeared after the drainage of lake Kopais. It looked like an islet
when the lake was full with water. On the hill, evidence was found for setlement
in the neolithic era, the hellenistic and byzantine times. During the Greek
Revolution of 1821 against turkish occupation the hill was a refuge point for
the people of the area, who built a small chapel. The existing monuments date
to the mycenaean period when Glas was fortified and turned to be the control
centre of the mycenaean drainage system for lake Kopais and the fortress of
the people who cultivated the fertile plain. Mycenaean Glas was destroye by
fire and abandoned a little before 1200 B.C. The drainage system was abandonned
too and the lake was flooded again.
In 1893 F.Noack drew plans of the rock and the visible remains
of Glas. Later in the same year A. de Ridder excavated the so-called "Palace".
Systematic excavations were conducted from 1955 till 1961 by I. Threpsiadis
ith additional campaigns in 1984 and the early ΄90s by prof. S. Iakovides under
the auspices of the Archaeological Society.
The most important monuments of the Mycenaean Acropolis of Glas are:
•The imposing cyclopean walls were built to serve as the
fortification of the hillock in mycenaean times. They are preserved in their
total length of 3 kilometers and width of 5,40 - 5,80 ms. Their existing height
is 2 to 6 ms. Indentations breakup the line of the walls; these are due to the
need to faciliate construction work by building it partially. It has 4 gates,
from which the South Gate is apparently the central one.
•Rectangular inner enclosure. At its nothern part extends
the "palace" whereas at its southern long buildings which served as workshops
and storerooms for agricultural products.
•The "palace" - the most important building on
the hill - is partly incorpotated in the fortification. It is consisted of two
narrow wings (north and east) joining at a ringht angle, which open to an inner
courtyard. Each wing is a residential buiding similar to the other and comprises
a megaron at its free end and a row of small rooms connected by a double corridor.
The "palace" was adorned with frescoes. It is not considered the residence
of a king ("anax") but of two lower in rank officials aparently equal
to each other.
Bibliography : S.E. Iakovidis, Glas I. I anaskaphe 1955-1961. Athens 1989 (english
sunmary).