Koila

High on a rocky spur above the old settlement of Koila, at 500 metres on the island of Chios, stands what little remains of a Byzantine watchtower, though even that identification is uncertain. The site, east of Pitios and west of Kardamyla, looks across to the Inousses islands and the Anatolian coast, a position that made sense for a lookout. Koila itself was inhabited in antiquity, Herodotus mentions it, and again in Byzantine times. Today the tower is in poor condition, reduced to a few stones amid piles of rubble and indistinct traces of other buildings. It is the only surviving remnant of the settlement, and its dating rests on probability rather than proof. The construction is presumed Byzantine, but no firmer chronology can be offered. What remains is a natural fortification, a hilltop of scattered masonry that speaks of a long, layered past, now largely returned to the mountain.