THE DRAGON HOUSES OF STYRA: TOPOGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE AND FUNCTION

Abstract

This paper deals with the so‐called Dragon houses in southern Euboea and particu‐ larly in the region of Styra. In the publications of both N.K. Moutsopoulos and T. Skouras a series of different houses are mentioned, but without precise information on their location. Thus, my first aim was to rediscover these houses and to verify wheter they correspond to the type of the well‐known houses at Palli Lakka, Kapsala and on Mount Ochi. I soon realized that some of the Dragon houses in the lists of the two authors are in fact ancient farmhouses or watch towers. I will present the typology of the “real” Dragon houses and will also compare them with some stone houses found in other regions around the Mediterranean: in Italy, France, Switzerland, and the former republic of Yugoslavia. Despite different opinions concerning their function, I will add some arguments in favor of that proposed by Moutsopoulos. I believe that we are dealing with shepherd dwellings, used perhaps only part of the year, mostly in summer, when shepherds crossed mountains with sheep and goats or may