Later Activity
The Roman lamps, nos. 9-11, provide the only datable evidence of activity on the Dema tower site after the abandonment of the secondary structures. Nos. 10 and 11, both the same type, date to the late fifth or sixth century A.D. No. 9 seems to be earlier, possibly by as much as two centuries. The absence of other identifiable Roman pottery or any traces of building activity suggests that the lamps were left on the site by occasional visitors who did not occupy the site for any prolonged period of time. It seems likely that these were votive lamps, left at the ruins of this hilltop tower which, by the Roman period, must have looked much as it does today, that is, a circular stone heap conspicuously placed on a hill-top. The remains might have been taken for an ancient altar, a tumulus, or some such venerable relic.[22] Roman lamps have been found at other mountaintop sites in Attica where there are classical remains, so it is not surprising that they should appear in this context as well.[23]
The appearance of the ruined Dema tower in later times might well have led people to believe that it was a tumulus over a grave, suggesting that treasure of some sort lay buried within. If so, this might explain why the top of the rubble base of the tower is so thoroughly ruined and why a hollow has been dug out of its rubble fill. The deliberate disturbance of other mountaintop tower sites demonstrates that digging of this sort did take place.[24] This digging probably occurred after the lamps had
[22] Note the remark of Pausanias 5.13.8 on the simple altars of Attica. On mountaintop altars in Attica, see Pausanias 1.32.2 and Langdon 1976, 1-2, on the rubble altar of Zeus, and 98-106 on literary and archaeological evidence for other mountaintop altars in Attica.
[23] See Langdon 1976, 73-74, nos. 337, 339, 340, 342-49, and p. 76: "Fragments of about 120 lamps indicate some sort of activity in the late 4th and early 5th centuries after Christ." Langdon, 100, refers to Roman lamps from the Zeus sanctuary on Parnes, and 106, to late Roman lamps from a possible Christian shrine on Mount Kerata (see also Ober 1987a, 224-25). In the collection of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, there is a fragment of a Roman lamp from the Hymettos tower (A-34, see also Ober 1987a, 201). I have seen a late Roman lamp fragment among the remains on the peak of Beletsi (see also Ober 1987a, 204). Smith and Lowry 1954 report fragments of Roman lamps from the summits of Pani (24) and Attic Olympos (32).
[24] The remains of the Hymettos tower show dear evidence of exploratory excavation, and the ruinous condition of the Aigaleos tower is most likely due to digging as well (see Munn 1983, 403 and 408). Note that the remains of the Hymettos tower, which closely resemble those of the Dema tower (figure 34), are referred to as a tumulus by Scully 1979, 27-28, 201. Digging for buried treasure in such ruins could have taken place at any time. The Greek workmen, local residents whom I hired for the excavation of the Dema tower, were clearly eager to dig into the tower itself to find treasure there. The lure of buried treasure must have incited people to dig and explore in antiquity as well. Note the story of Timon's gold, which was said to be hidden in his tower, which was also his tomb, Lucian Timon 42. The story of Timon evidently had wide currency in Attica through the Roman period; see Plutarch Ant. 70; Pausanias 1.30.4; Olympiodoros Vita Platonis p. xlvi (Bekker).
been left on the site, since all of the lamps were found buried beneath a thick layer of rubble that must have been thrown from the tower.