Oropos. Pausanias describes Oropia as the territory between Attica and Tanagra
(1.34.1); thus it was situated on the mainland side of the Euripos between Rhamnous
and Delion, with Eretria opposite. Such a position easily explains its checkered
history. Geographically more naturally related to Boiotia than Attica, Oropos
was nevertheless of economic importance to Athens because of the short crossover
from Euboia to Oropos and the direct road thence to the city through Dekeleia,
one of Athens' main lines of supply (Thuc. 7.28.1). It is therefore not surprising
that control of Oropos passed frequently back and forth between Athens and Thebes,
with a few interludes of autonomy.
The town of Oropos was on the site of the present Skala Oropou, where
a few ancient harbor installations and many architectural blocks have been noticed,
in addition to a number of dedications to the salty nymph. In the next harbor
to the E of Skala, 20 stades away, there are also remains from an ancient mole
at Kamaraki, identified as Delphinion, Oropos' Sacred Harbor mentioned by Strabo
(9.2.6). Three km N of this coast in the hills lay the territory's most famous
possession, the Sanctuary and Oracle of Amphiaraos. Here, in a deeply wooded glen
beside a ravine, the cult of Amphiaraos was established in the last years of the
5th c. B.C. It grew in popularity, and for the next three centuries the site was
developed, not merely as a place of divination, but also as one of healing. The
sanctuary continued to exist until the 4th c. A.D. when it was abandoned, probably
because of the dominance of Christianity.
The excavations of the sanctuary have revealed development on both
sides of the ravine: on the N, the temple, altar, spring, and other buildings
associated with the observances of the cult; on the S, the dwellings and establishments,
not only of the priests and their associates, but also of those who provided for
the wants of the pilgrims and the sick.
Today one enters the sanctuary from the W on the N side of the torrent
bed. The first building one sees is on the right, the Temple of Amphiaraos, with
its porch of six Doric columns enframed by a pair of half columns. In front are
the earliest remains yet found: the large altar, built around two earlier ones,
with some traces of curved seating to the N, from which to view the sacred proceedings,
and to the S the much rebuilt holy spring where they say Amphiaraos arose as a
god (Pausanias 1.34.4). North and E of the temple is a line of bases to support
the dedications made in Hellenistic times. Originally, this artificial terrace
had been prepared for a small temple and stoa, the latter believed to have served
as a place of incubation. This function was probably transferred to the long stoa
E of the bases, a building securely dated ca. 350 B.C. Yet farther E are the foundations
of a bathing establishment. The site's most interesting structure lies behind
and above the W half of the long stoa: a small Hellenistic theater with auditorium,
circular orchestra with five marble thrones, and scene-building complete with
stone proscenium.
On the opposite side of the ravine, the remains, though extensive,
are tenuous, and in most cases one cannot determine the purpose of the individual
buildings. One exception lies directly opposite the altar, the unmistakable ruins
of a klepsydra or water clock.
There is a small museum with courtyard in which have been placed a
number of the sculptural, epigraphic, and architectural finds.
C.W.J. Eliot, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Oropus (ho Oropos, rarely he Oropos, Eth. Oropios, and according to Steph
B. Oropeus). A town on the borders of Attica and Boeotia, and the capital of a
district, called after it Oropia (he Oropia.) This district is a maritime plain,
through which the Asopus flows into the sea, and extends for 5 miles along the
shore. It is separated from the inland plain of Tanagra by some hills, which are
a continuation of the principal chain of the Diacrian mountains. Oropus was originally
a town of Boeotia; and, from its position in the maritime plain of the Asopus,
it naturally belonged to that country. (Paus. i. 34. § 1.) It was, however, a
frequent subject of dispute between the Athenians and Boeotians; and the former
people obtained possession of it long before the Peloponnesian War. It continued
in their hands till B.C. 412, when the Boeotians recovered possession of it. (Thuc.
viii. 60.) A few years afterwards (B.C. 402) the Boeotians, in consequence of
a sedition of the Oropii, removed the town 7 stadia from the sea. (Diod. xiv.
17.) During the next 60 years the town was alternately in the hands of the Athenians
and Boeotians (comp. Xen. Hell. vii. 4. 1, &c.), till at length Philip after the
battle of Chaeroneia gave it to the Athenians. (Paus. i. 34. § 1.) In B.C. 318
the Oropians recovered their liberty. (Diod. xviii. 56.) In B.C. 312 Cassander
obtained possession of the city; but Polemon, the general of Antigonus, soon afterwards
expelled the Macedonian garrison, and handed over the city to the Boeotians (Diod.
xix. 77.) It has been concluded from a passage of Dicaearchus (p. 11, ed. Hudson)
that Oropus continued to belong to Thebes in the next century; but the expression
oikia Thebon is corrupt, and no safe conclusion can therefore be drawn from the
passage. Leake proposes to read apoikia Thebon, Wordsworth (skia Thebon, but C.
Muller, the latest editor of Dicaearchus, reads sunoikia theton. Dicaearchus calls
the inhabitants Athenian Boeotians, an epithet which he also applies to the inhabitants
of Plataeae. Strabo also describes Oropus as a Boeotian town (ix. p. 404); but
Livy (xlv. 27), Pausanias, and Pliny (iv. 7. s. 11) place it in Attica. How long
the Oropii inhabited the inland city is uncertain. Pausanias expressly says that
Oropus was upon the sea (epi phalasses, i. 34. § 1); and the inhabitants had probably
returned to their old town long before his time.
Although Oropus was so frequently in the hands of the Athenians, its
name is never found among the Athenian demi. Its territory, however, if not the
town itself, appears to have been made an Attic demus under the name of Graea
(he Graia). In Homer Oropus does not occur, but Graea is mentioned among the Boeotian
towns (Il. ii. 498); and this ancient name appears to have been revived by the
Athenians as the official title of Oropus. Aristotle said that Oropus was called
Graea in his time (ap. Steph. B. s. v. Oropos); and accordingly we find in an
inscription, belonging to this period, the Graes (Graeis) mentioned as a demus
of the tribe Pandionis (Ross & Meier, Die Demen von Attika, p. 6, seq.) In the
passage of Thucydides (ii. 23) pariontes de Oropon ten gen Peiraiken kaloumenen,
en nemontai Oropioi Athenaion hupekooi, edeosan, all the existing MSS. have Peiraiken,
but Stephanus, who quotes the passage, reads Graiken, which Poppo and other modern
editors have received into the text. It is, however, right to observe that the
district of Oropus was frequently designated as the border country or country
over the border (tes peran ges, Thuc. iii. 91).
According to Dicaearchus the Oropians were notorious for their grasping
exactions, levied upon all imports into their country, and were for this reason
satirised by Xenon, a comic poet:
Pantes telonai, pantes eisin harpages.
Kakon telos genoito tois Oropiois.
The position of Oropus is thus defined by Strabo. The beginning is
Oropus, and the sacred harbour, which they call Delphinium, opposite to which
is old Eretria in Euboea, distant 60 stadia. After Delphinium is Oropus at the
distance of 20 stadia, opposite to which is the present Eretria, distant 40 stadia.
Then comes Delium. (Strab. ix. p. 403.) The modern village of Oropo stands at
the distance of nearly two miles from the sea, on the right bank of the Vourieni,
anciently the Asopus: it contains some fragments of ancient buildings and sepulchral
stones. There are also Hellenic remains at the Skala or wharf upon the bay, from
which persons usually embark for Euboea: this place is also called es tous hagious
atostolous, from a ruined church dedicated to the Holy Apostles. Leake originally
placed Oropus at Oropo and Delphinium at Skala; but in the second edition of his
Demi he leaves the position of Oropus doubtful. It seems, however, most probable
that Oropus originally stood upon the coast, and was removed inland only for a
short time. In the Peloponnesian War Thucydides speaks of sailing to and anchoring
at Oropus (iii. 91, viii. 95); and Pausanias, as we have already seen, expressly
states that Oropus was upon the coast. Hence there can be little doubt that Skala
is the site of Oropus, and that Oropo is the inland site which the Oropians occupied
only for a time. It is true that the distance of Oropo from the sea is more than
double the 7 stadia assigned by Diodorus, but it is possible that he may have
originally written 17 stadia. If Oropus stood at Skala, Delphinium must have been
more to the eastward nearer the confines of Attica.
In the territory of Oropus was the celebrated temple of the hero Amphiaraus.
According to Pausanias (i. 34. § I) it was 12 stadia distant from Oropus. Strabo
places it in the district of Psophis, which stood between Rhamnus and Oropus,
and which was subsequently an Attic demus (ix. p. 399). Livy calls it the temple
of Amphilochus (xlv. 27), who, we know from Pausanias, was worshipped conjointly
with Amphiaraus. Livy further describes it as a place rendered agreeable by fountains
and rivers; which leads one to look for it at one of two torrents which join the
sea between Skala and Kalamo, which is probably the ancient Psophis. The mouth
of one of these torrents is distant about a mile and a half from Skala ; at half
a mile from the mouth are some remains of antiquity. The other torrent is about
three miles further to the eastward; on which, at a mile above the plain, are
remains of ancient walls. This place, which is near Kalamo, is called Mavro-Dhilissi,
the epithet Mavro (black) distinguishing it from Dhilissi, the site of Delium.
The distance of the Hellenic remains on the first-mentioned torrent agree with
the 12 stadia of Pausanias; but, on the other hand, inscriptions have been found
at Mavro-Dhilissi and Kalamo, in which the name of Amphiaraus occurs. Dicaearchus
describes the road from Athens to Oropus as leading through bay-trees (dia daphnidon)
and the temple of Amphiaraus. Wordsworth very ingeniously conjectures di Aphidnon
instead of dia daphnidon, observing that it is not probable that a topographer
would have described a route of about 30 miles, which is the distance from Athens
to Oropus, by telling his readers that it passed through bay-trees and a temple.
Although this reading has been rejected by Leake, it is admitted into the text
of Dicaearchus by C. Muller.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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