Editing Beacon (section)

== For defensive communications (historical) ==
[[File:Culmstock, Culmstock Beacon - geograph.org.uk - 213525.jpg|thumb|left|16th-century beacon hut in [[Culmstock]], Devon, England]]

Historically, beacons were fires lit at well-known locations on hills or high places, used either as [[lighthouse]]s for [[navigational aid|navigation at sea]], or for signalling over land that enemy troops were approaching, in order to alert defenses. As signals, beacons are an ancient form of [[optical telegraph]] and were part of a [[relay league]].

Systems of this kind have existed for centuries over much of the world. The ancient Greeks called them ''[[phryctoriae]]'', while beacons figure on several occasions on the [[column of Trajan]].

In imperial China, sentinels on and near the [[Great Wall|Great Wall of China]] used a sophisticated system of daytime smoke and nighttime flame to send signals along long chains of beacon towers.<ref name="travelchinaguide.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/construction/tower/|title=China Great Wall Beacon Towers: Chinese Oldest Telegram System|website=www.travelchinaguide.com|access-date=2020-04-26}}</ref>

Legend has it that [[King You of Zhou]] played a trick multiple times in order to amuse his often melancholy concubine, ordering beacon towers lit to fool his vassals and soldiers. But when enemies, led by the [[Marquess of Shen (King Ping's grandfather)|Marquess of Shen]] really arrived at the wall, although the towers were lit, no defenders came, leading to King Yōu's death and the collapse of the Western Zhou dynasty.<ref name="travelchinaguide.com"/><ref>{{cite book|year=1999|pages=546, 551|isbn=9781139053709|doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521470308 |title=The Cambridge History of Ancient China |last1=Loewe |first1=Michael |last2=Shaughnessy |first2=Edward L. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Giles|first=Herbert A.|year=1912|title=The Civilization of China|publisher=Tutis Digital Publishing|isbn=8132004485|chapter=1}}</ref> China's system of beacon towers was not extant prior to the [[Han dynasty]].

[[Thucydides]] wrote that during the [[Peloponnesian War]], the [[Peloponnese|Peloponnesians]] who were in [[Corcyra]] were informed by night-time beacon signals of the approach of sixty Athenian vessels from [[Lefkada]].<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-grc1:3.80 Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 3.80]</ref>

In the 10th century, during the [[Arab–Byzantine wars]], the [[Byzantine Empire]] used a [[Byzantine beacon system|beacon system]] to transmit messages from the border with the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], across [[Anatolia]] to the [[Great Palace of Constantinople|imperial palace]] in the Byzantine capital, [[Constantinople]]. It was devised by [[Leo the Mathematician]] for Emperor [[Theophilos (emperor)|Theophilos]], but either abolished or radically curtailed by Theophilos' son and successor, [[Michael III]].<ref name="ODB">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Foss | first = Clive | title = Beacon | editor-last=Kazhdan | editor-first=Alexander | editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan |year=1991 | encyclopedia =[[The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]] | publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-504652-6 | pages=273–274}}</ref> Beacons were later used in Greece as well, while the surviving parts of the beacon system in Anatolia seem to have been reactivated in the 12th century by Emperor [[Manuel I Komnenos]].<ref name="ODB" />

{{multiple image
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| image1            = Vårdkasen på Korpberget.jpg
| alt1              = A beacon in Sweden before being lit
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| image2            = Vårdkasen på Korpberget 2012a 01.jpg
| alt2              = A beacon in Sweden after being lit
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| footer            = A Beacon in Sweden before and after being lit
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In the Nordic countries, [[Hillfort|hill forts]] and beacon networks were important for warning against invasions.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Vårdkasar |url=https://1719.se/vrdkasar |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=1719 |language=en-US}}</ref> In Sweden and Finland, these beacons, known as ''vårdkasar'' or ''böte'', formed an extensive coastal warning system from the Late Iron Age and through the Middle Ages. Beacons were strategically placed on high ground for visibility, constructed from [[tar]]-rich wood to ensure bright flames. They were mentioned in medieval laws like ''[[Upplandslagen]]'' and described by Swedish writer [[Olaus Magnus]] in 1555 as tools for mobilising armed defenders during crises.<ref name=":1" /> In Finland, similar beacons called ''vainovalkeat'' ("persecution fires") or ''vartiotulet'' ("guard fires") warned settlements of raids. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Forneld |url=https://www.vskylat.fi/hankkeet-kotiseutukompassi-keistio-forneld/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Varsinais-Suomen Kylät |language=fi}}</ref>

In [[Wales]], the [[Brecon Beacons]] were named for beacons used to warn of approaching English raiders. In England, the most famous examples are the beacons used in [[Elizabethan England]] to warn of the approaching [[Spanish Armada]]. Many hills in England were named Beacon Hill after such beacons. In England the authority to erect beacons originally lay with the King and later was delegated to the [[Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom|Lord High Admiral]]. The money due for the maintenance of beacons was called ''Beaconagium'' and was levied by the sheriff of each county.<ref>{{cite book|title=The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Volume 3|year=1847|first=Charles|last=Knight|location=London|page=25|url=https://granthsanjeevani.com/jspui/handle/123456789/70551}}</ref> In the [[Scottish border]]s country, a system of beacon fires was at one time established to warn of incursions by the English. [[Hume Castle|Hume]] and Eggerstone castles and Soltra Edge were part of this network.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ritchie|first=Leitch|year=1835|title=Scott and Scotland|location=London|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman|page=53}}</ref>

In Spain, the border of [[Granada]] in the territory of the [[Crown of Castile]] had a complex beacon network to warn against Moorish raiders and military campaigns.<ref>Els almogávers a la frontera amb el sarrains en el segle XIV. Maria Teresa Ferrer</ref> Due to the progressive advance of the borders throughout the process of the Reconquista, the entire Spanish geography is full of defensive lines of castles, towers and fortifications, visually connected to each other, which served as fortified beacons. Some examples are the Route of the Vinalopó castles or the distribution of the castles in Jaén.

=== Ceremonial Use ===
In later centuries, advancements in technology, such as the [[Telegraphy|telegraph]], rendered beacon systems obsolete for rapid communication.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Queen's Platinum Jubilee: Why are beacons lit for big royal events? |url=https://news.sky.com/story/queens-platinum-jubilee-why-are-beacons-lit-for-big-royal-events-12624095 |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Sky News |language=en}}</ref> The use of such beacons transitioned from practical communication to symbolic and ceremonial roles,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2024-06-02 |title=Beacon of light to honour braver' during D-Day landings |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd115jl1xnpo |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> where the lighting of beacons was repurposed to mark significant national events. 

Beacons were lit across the United Kingdom to celebrate Queen Victoria's [[Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria|Diamond Jubilee]] in 1897, Queen Elizabeth II's [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Platinum Jubilee in 2022]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-03 |title=Jubilee beacons in locations around U.K. celebrate Queen Elizabeth II… |url=https://archive.today/20220603021619/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/02/jubilee-beacons-locations/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=archive.is}}</ref> and to commemorate events such as the 70th anniversary of [[Victory in Europe Day|VE Day]], and the 80th anniversary of the [[Normandy landings|D-Day landings]] in 2024.<ref name=":0" />

South Korea maintains a daily ceremonial beacon lighting at [[Namsan]] Beacon Mound in [[Seoul]], where visitors witness a reenactment of the traditional ''bongsu'' ceremony, which historically signaled emergencies.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-11-20 |title=Beacon Ceremony at Namsan Beacon Mound - The Korea Times |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/photos/photonews/20081120/beacon-ceremony-at-namsan-beacon-mound |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=www.koreatimes.co.kr |language=en}}</ref>