Listed 100 (total found 222) sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "VIOTIA Prefecture GREECE" .
FTEROLAKKA (Ski centre) PARNASSOS
As of June 2000, Parnassos Ski Centre is owned and managed by the Tourism Development Co., which is based in Athens (Voulis Str. no 7, Postal Code 105 62).
The ski centre is situated at an altitude of 1.600 to 2.300 metres; there is one cabin lift, 6 over-ground and 7 pull up lifts which cater for 20 ski runs that total 14km in length.
The Ski Centre includes a parking lot, a heliport, reception areas, a cafeteria, a bar, a restaurant, a first aid centre, road assistance and a Baby Sitting facility with an experienced child minder.
There are also ski and snowboarding schools, equipment rental stores and stores where one can also purchase ski and snowboarding equipment and clothing.
The text has been cited in February 2005 from the following webpage of Parnassos Ski Centre.
KELLARIA (Ski centre) PARNASSOS
As of June 2000, Parnassos Ski Centre is owned and managed by the Tourism Development Co., which is based in Athens (Voulis Str. no 7, Postal Code 105 62).
The ski centre is situated at an altitude of 1.600 to 2.300 metres; there is one cabin lift, 6 over-ground and 7 pull up lifts which cater for 20 ski runs that total 14km in length.
The Ski Centre includes a parking lot, a heliport, reception areas, a cafeteria, a bar, a restaurant, a first aid centre, road assistance and a Baby Sitting facility with an experienced child minder.
There are also ski and snowboarding schools, equipment rental stores and stores where one can also purchase ski and snowboarding equipment and clothing.
The text has been cited in February 2005 from the following webpage of Parnassos Ski Centre.
PARNASSOS (Mountain) VIOTIA
To the NW the stream Seno that flows through Gravia To the W the ancient river Hylaethus (the stream Skitsa of today). To the SW the plain of Amfissa. To the S of Xeropotamos and the gap of the Zemenos narrows where the Charocopos stream flows. To the E the plain of Copais. To the N the plain of Kyfissos.
VIOTIA (Ancient area) GREECE
A region of central Greece,
north-west of Attica, between
the Gulf of Corinth west
and the Aegean coast facing the Island of Euboea
east.
Boeotia remained split between several cities that shared the same
dialect during classical times. The most important of these cities was Thebes,
the largest and richest of them all, in no small part due to the fertility of
its territory.
The Boeotian cities joined in a confederacy under the leadership of
Thebes toward the later part
of the VIth century B. C. and, from then on, the history of Boeotia is mostly
that of Thebes and of the
ups and downs of this confederacy, at times strong, at times dissolved by neighbouring
victors such as Athens. Another
Boeotian city worthy of mention is Plataea,
wich remained a faithful ally of Athens
even when Thebes and the
rest of Boeotia was against it, until it was finally razed by the Lacedemonians
upon request by their Theban allies at the beginning of the Peloponesian war,
in 427.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
TIFA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
. . .At the E end of the bay of Domvraina is the port of Siphai (Aliki) whose fortress, built on a steep rock, is well preserved. At the summit (Mavrovouni) of the coastal chain, on the road from Thespiai to Siphai, is a square 4th c. tower; close by, inside a surrounding wall of partly polygonal masonry are the remains of an archaic temple, possibly dedicated to Artemis Agrotera. . . . From 447 to 423 Thespiai headed two of the 11 Boiotian districts; they included the Sanctuary of the Muses, Eutresis, Leuktra, Kreusis, and three independent cities from 338: Thisbe and the ports of Siphai and Chorsiai.
This extract is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites, Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Oct 2002 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
AKREFNION (Ancient city) THIVES
Akraiphia (Steph. B. s. v.; Herod. viii. 135), Acraephia (Liv. xxxiii. 29; Plin.
iv. 7. s. 12), Akraiphiai (Strab. p. 410), Akraiphion (Strab. p. 413), Akraiphnion
(Paus. ix. 23. § 5: Ta Akaiphnia, Theopomp. ap. Steph. B. s. v.), Eth. Akraiphiaios,
Akraiphios, Akraiphnios, Akraiphniotes, Akraiphnieus, (Steph. B. s. v.), Akraiphieus
(Bockh, Inscr. 1587: nr. Kardhitza). A town of Boeotia on the slope of Mt. Ptoum
(Ptoon) and on the eastern bank of the lake Copais, which was here called Akraiphis
limne from the town. Acraephia is said to have been founded by Athamas or Acraepheus,
son of Apollo; and according to some writers it was the same as the Homeric Arne.
Here the Thebans took refuge, when their city was destroyed by Alexander. It contained
a temple of Dionysus. (Steph. B. s. v.; Strab. p. 413; Paus. l. c.) At the distance
of 15 stadia from the town, on the right of the road, and upon Mt. Ptoum, was
a celebrated sanctuary and oracle of Apollo Ptous. This oracle was consulted by
Mardonius before the battle of Plataea, and is said to have answered his emissary,
who was a Carian, in the language of the latter. The name of the mountain was
derived by some from Ptous, a son of Apollo and Euxippe, and by others from Leto
having been frightened ptoeo by a boar, when she was about to bring forth in this
place. Both Acraephia and the oracle belonged to Thebes. There was no temple of
the Ptoan Apollo, properly so called; Plutarch (Gryllus, 7) mentions a tholos,
but other writers speak only of a temenos, hieron, Chresterion or manteion. (Steph.
B. s. v.; /Strab. l. c.; Paus. l. c., iv. 32. § 5; Herod. viii. 135; Plut. Pelop.
16.) According to Pausanias the oracle ceased after the capture of Thebes by Alexander;
but the sanctuary still continued to retain its celebrity, as we see from the
great Acraephian inscription, which Bockh places in the time of M. Aurelius and
his son Commodus after A.D. 177. It appears from this inscription that a festival
was celebrated in honour of the Ptoan Apollo every four years. (Bockh, Inscr.
No. 1625.) The ruins of Acraephia are situated at a short distance to the S. of
Kardhitza. The remains of the acropolis are visible on an isolated hill, a spur
of Mt. Ptoum, above the Copaic sea, and at its foot on the N. and W. are traces
of the ancient town. Here stands the church of St. George built out of the stones
of the old town, and containing many fragments of antiquity. In this church Leake
discovered the great inscription alluded to above, which is in honour of one of
the citizens of the place called Epaminondas. The ruins near the fountain, which
is now called Perdikobrysis, probably belong to the sanctuary of the Ptoan Apollo.
The poet Alcaeus (ap. Strab. p. 413) gave the epithet trikaranon to Mt. Ptoum,
and the three summits now bear the names of Palea, Strutzina, and Skroponeri respectively.
These form the central part of Mt. Ptoum, which in a wider signification extended
from the Tenerian plain as far as Larymna and the Euboean sea, separating the
Copaic lake on the E. from the lakes of Hylae and Harma.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ALALKOMENES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Alalkomenai (Strab., Paus.), Alalkomenion (Steph. B.), Eth. Alalkomenieus, Alalkomenaios,
Alalkomenios. An ancient town in Boeotia, situated at the foot of Mt. Tilphossium,
a little to the E. of Coroneia, and near the lake Copais. It was celebrated for
the worship of Athena, who was said to have been born there, and who is hence
called Alalcomeneis (Alalkomeneis) in Homer. The temple of the goddess stood,
at a little distance from the town, on the Triton, a small stream flowing into
the lake Copais. Beyond the modern village of Sulinari, the site of Alalcomenae,
are some polygonal foundations, apparently those of a single building, which are
probably remains of the peribolus of the temple. Both the town and the temple
were plundered by Sulla, who carried off the statue of the goddess.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ALIARTOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Haliartos: Eth. Haliartios. A town of Boeotia, and one of the cities
of the confederation, was situated on the southern side of the lake Copais in
a pass between the mountain and the lake. (Strab. ix. p. 411.) It is mentioned
by Homer, who gives it the epithet poieeis in consequence of its well-watered
meadows. (Hom. Il. ii. 503, Hymn. in Apoll. 243.) In the invasion of Greece by
Xerxes (B.C. 484) it was the only town that remained true to the cause of Greece,
and was in consequence destroyed by the Persians. (Paus. ix. 32. § 5.) It was,
however, soon rebuilt, and in the Peloponnesian War appears as one of the chief
cities of Boeotia. (Thuc. iv. 95.) It is chiefly memorable in history on account
of the battle fought under its walls between Lysander and the Thebans, in which
the former was slain, B.C. 395. (Xen. Hell. iii. 5. 17, seq.; Diod. xiv. 81; Plut.
Lys. 28, 29; Paus. iii. 5. §3, ix. 32. § 5). In B.C. 171 Haliartus was destroyed
a second time. Having espoused the cause of Perseus, it was taken by the Roman
praetor Lucretius, who sold the inhabitants as slaves, carried off its statues,
paintings, and other works of art, and razed it to the ground. Its territory was
afterwards given to the Athenians, and it never recovered its former prosperity.
(Polyb. xxx. 18; Liv. xlii. 63; Strab. ix. p. 411.) Strabo speaks of it as no
longer in existence in his time, and Pausanias, in his account of the place, mentions
only a heroum of Lysander, and some ruined temples which had been burnt by the
Persians and had been purposely left in that state. (Paus. ix. 33. § § 1,3, x.
35. §2.).
The Haliartia, or territory of Haliartus, was a very fertile plain,
watered by numerous streams flowing into the lake Copais, which in this part was
hence called the Haliartian marsh. (Strab. ix. pp. 407, 411.) These streams, which
bore the names of Ocalea, Lophis, Hoplites, Permessus, and Olmeius, have been
spoken of elselwhere. The territory of Haliartus extended westward to Mt. Tilphossium,
since Pausanias says that the Haliartians had a sanctuary of the goddesses called
Praxidicae situated near this mountain. (Paus. ix. 33. § 3.) The towns Peteon,
Medeon, Ocalea, and Onchestus were situated in the territory of Haliartus.
The remains of Haliartus are situated upon a hill about a mile from
the village of Mazi, on the road from Thebes to Lebadeia, and at the distance
of about 15 miles from either place. The hill of Haliartus is. not more than 50
feet above the lake. Leake says, that towards the lake the hill of Haliartus terminates
in rocky cliffs, but on the other sides has a gradual acclivity. Some remains
of the walls of the Acropolis, chiefly of polygonal masonry, are found on the
summit of the hill; and there are several sepulchral crypts in the cliffs, below
which, to the north, issues a copious source of water, flowing to the marsh, like
all the other streams near the site of Haliartus. Although the walls of the exterior
town are scarcely anywhere traceable, its extent is naturally marked to the east
and west by two small rivers, of which that to the west issues from the foot of
the hill of Mazi; the eastern, called the Kefalari, has its origin in Mount Helicon.
Near the left bank of this stream, at a distance of 500 yards from the Acropolis,
are a ruined mosque and two ruined churches, on the site of a village which, though
long since abandoned, is shown by these remains to have been once inhabited by
both Greeks and Turks. Here are many fragments of architecture and of inscribed
stones, collected formerly from the ruins of Haliartus. From this spot there is
a distance of about three-quarters of a mile to a tumulus westward of the Acropolis,
where are several sarcophagi and ancient foundations near some sources of waters,
marking probably the site. of the western entrance of the city.
The stream which flowed on the western side of the city is the one
called Hoplites by Plutarch, where Lysander fell, and is apparently the same as
the Lophis of Pausanias. (Plut. Lys. 29; Paus. ix. 33. § 4.) The stream on the
eastern side, called Kefalari, is formed by the union of two rivulets, which appear
to be the Permessus and Olmeius, which are described by Strabo as flowing from
Helicon, and after their union entering the. lake Copais near Haliartus. (Strab.
ix. pp. 407, 411.) The tumulus, of which Leake speaks, perhaps covers those who
were killed along with Lysander, since it was near this spot that the battle was
fought.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AMVROSSOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Ambrysus or Amphrysus (Ambrusos, Strab.; Ambrossos, Paus.; Amphrusos,
Steph. B. s.v.: Eth. Ambrusios, Ambruseus, and in Inscr. Ambrosseus Dhistomo).
a town of Phocis, was situated 60 stadia from Stiris, NE. of Anticyra, at the
southern foot of Mt. Cirphis (not at the foot of Parnassus, as Pausanias states),
and in a fertile valley, producing abundance of wine and the coccus, or kermes
berry, used to dye scarlet. It was destroyed by order of the Amphictyons, but
was rebuilt and fortified by the Thebans with a double wall, in their war against
Philip. Its fortifications were considered by Pausanias the strongest in Greece,
next to those of Messene. (Paus. x. 3. § 2, x. 36. § 1, seq., iv. 31. § 5; Strab.
p. 423.) It was taken by the Romans in the Macedonian war, B.C. 198. (Liv. xxxii.
18.) The site of Ambrysus is fixed at the modern village of Dhistomo, by an inscription
which Chandler found at the latter place. The remains of the ancient city are
few and inconsiderable. (Dodwell, Tour through Greece, vol. i. p. 196, seq.; Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 535, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ANTIKYRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Anticyra, Antikirrha, Dicaearch., Strab., perhaps the most ancient form; next
Antikurrha, Eustath. ad Il. ii. 520; Ptol. iii. 15. § 4; and lastly Antikura,
which the Latin writers use: Eth. Anti-kureus, Antikuraios.
Aspra Spitia. A town in Phocis, situated on a peninsula (which Pliny
and A. Gellius erroneously call an island), on a bay (Sinus Anticyranus) of the
Corinthian gulf. It owed its importance to the excellence of its harbour on this
sheltered gulf, and to its convenient situation for communications with the interior.
(Dicaearch. 77; Strab. p. 418; Plin. xxv. 5. s. 21; Gell. xvii. 13; Liv. xxxii.
18; Paus. x. 36. § 5, seq.) It is said to have been originally called Cyparissus,
a name which Homer mentions (Il. ii. 519; Paus. l. c.) Like the other towns of
Phocis it was destroyed by Philip of Macedon at the close of the Sacred War (Paus.
x. 3. § 1, x. 36. § 6); but it soon recovered from its ruins. It was taken by
the consul T. Flamininus in the war with Philip B.C. 198, on account of its convenient
situation for military purposes (Liv. l. c.) It continued to be a place of importance
in the time both of Strabo and of Pausanias, the latter of whom has described
some of its public buildings. Anticyra was chiefly celebrated for the production
and preparation of the best hellebore in Greece, the chief remedy in antiquity
for madness. Many persons came to reside at Anticyra for the sake of a more perfect
cure. (Strab. l. c.) Hence the proverb Antikirrhas se dei, and Naviget Anticyram,
when a person acted foolishly. (Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 83, 166; comp. Ov. e Pont. iv.
3 53; Pers. iv. 16; Juv. xiii. 97.) The hellebore grew in great quantities around
the town: Pausanias mentions two kinds, of which the root of the black was used
as a cathartic, and that of the white as an emetic. (Strab. l. c.; Paus. x. 36.
§ 7.) There are very few ancient remains at Aspra Spitia, but Leake discovered
here an inscription containing the name of Anticyra.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ARMA (Ancient city) TANAGRA
Harma (Harma: Eth. Harmateus). An ancient town of Boeotia, mentioned
by Homer, which is said to have been so called, either because the chariot of
Adrastus broke down here, or because the chariot of Amphiaraus disappeared in
the earth at this place. (Didym. and Eustath. ad Il. l. c.; Strab. ix. p. 404;
Paus. ix. 19. § 4, comp. i. 34. § 2; Steph. B. s. v.) Strabo describes it as a
deserted village in the territory of Tanagra near Mycalessus; and Pausanias speaks
of the ruins of Harma and Mycalessus as situated on the road from Thebes to Chalcis.
Aelian (V. H. iii. 45) speaks of a lake called Harma, which is probably the one
now called Moritzi or Paralimni, to the east of Hylica. The exact site of Harma
is uncertain. It is supposed by Leake to have occupied the important pass on the
road from Thebes to Chalcis, leading into the maritime plain. (Leake, Northern
Greece, vol. ii. p. 251.) is said to have been so called, either because the chariot
of Adrastus broke down here, or because the chariot of Amphiaraus disappeared
in the earth at this place. (Didym. and Eustath. ad Il. l. c.; Strab. ix. p. 404;
Paus. ix. 19. § 4, comp. i. 34. § 2; Steph. B. s. v.) Strabo describes it as a
deserted village in the territory of Tanagra near Mycalessus; and Pausanias speaks
of the ruins of Harma and Mycalessus as situated on the road from Thebes to Chalcis.
Aelian (V. H. iii. 45) speaks of a lake called Harma, which is probably the one
now called Moritzi or Paralimni, to the east of Hylica. The exact site of Harma
is uncertain. It is supposed by Leake to have occupied the important pass on the
road from Thebes to Chalcis, leading into the maritime plain.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ARNI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Arne. A town of Boeotia, mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 507), and probably founded by the Boeotians after their expulsion from Thessaly. Some of the ancients identified this Boeotian Arne with Chaeroneia (Paus. ix. 40. § 5), others with Acraephium (Strab. ix. p. 413); and others again supposed that it had been swallowed up by the waters of the lake Copais. (Strab. i. p. 59, ix. p. 413.)
ASKRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Ascra (Askra: Eth. Askraios). A town of Boeotia on Mount Helicon, and in the
territory of Thespiae, from which it was 40 stadia distant. (Strab. ix. p. 409.)
It is celebrated as the residence of Hesiod, whose father settled here after leaving
Cyme in Aeolis. Hesiod complains of it as a disagreeable residence both in summer
and winter. (Hes. Op. 638, seq.); and Eudoxus found still more fault with it.
(Strab. ix. p. 413.) But other writers speak of it as abounding in corn (poluleios,
Paus. ix. 38. § 4), and in wine. (Zenod. ap. Strab. p. 413.) According to the
poet Hegesinus, who is quoted by Pausanias, Ascra was founded by Ephialtes and
Otus, the sons of Aloeus. In the time of Pausanias a single tower was all that
remained of the town. (Paus. ix. 29. § § 1, 2.) The remains of Ascra are found
on the summit of a high conical hill, or rather rock, which is connected to the
NW. with Mount Zagara, and more to the westward with the proper Helicon. The distance
of these ruins from Lefka corresponds exactly to the 40 stades which Strabo places
between Thespiae and Ascra; and it is further remarkable, that a single tower
is the only portion of the ruins conspicuously preserved, just as Pausanias describes
Ascra in his time, though there are also some vestiges of the walls surrounding
the summit of the hill, and inclosing a space of no great extent. The place is
now called Pyrgaki from the tower, which is formed of equal and regular layers
of masonry, and is uncommonly large. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 491.)
The Roman poets frequently use the adjective Ascraeus in the sense of Hesiodic.
Hence we find Ascraeum carmen (Virg. Georg. ii. 176), and similar phrases.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ASPLIDON (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eth. Aspledonios. Also called Spledon, an ancient city of Boeotia,
mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 510), distant 20 stadia from Orchomenus. The river
Melas flowed between the two cities. (Strab. ix. p. 416; Plin. iv. 7. s. 12; Steph.
B. s. v.; Etym. M. s. v.) Strabo says (l. c.) that it was subsequently called
Eudeilus (Eudeielos), from its sunny situation; but Pausanias (ix. 38. § 9) relates
that it was abandoned in his time from a want of water. The town is said to have
derived its name from Aspledon, a son of Poseidon and the nymph Mideia. The site
of Aspledon is uncertain. Leake places it at Tzamali (Northern Greece, vol. ii.),
but Forchhammer (Hellenica), with more probability, at Avro-Kastro.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ASSOPOS (River) VIOTIA
Asopus (Asopos). A river of Boeotia, flowing through the southern
part of this country, in an easterly direction, and falling into the Euripus
in the territory of Attica, near Oropus. It is formed by the confluence of several
small streams, one rising near Thespiae, and the others in Mount Cithaeron.
Its principal sources are at a spot just under the village of Kriakuki, where
are two trees, a well, and several, springs. In the upper part of its course
it forms the boundary between the territories of Thebes and Plataeae, flowing
through a plain called Parasopia. (Strab. ix. p. 409.) It then forces its way
through a rocky ravine of no great length into the plain of Tanagra, after flowing
through which it again traverses a rocky defile, and enters the maritime plain
of Oropus. In the upper part of its course the river is now called Vuriemi,
in the lower Vuriendi. Homer describes it as deep grown with rushes, and grassy
(bathuchoinon, lechepoien, Il. iv. 383). It is frequently dry in summer, but
after heavy rains was not easy to ford. (Thuc. ii. 5.) It was on the banks of
the Asopus that the memorable battle of Plataeae was fought, B.C. 479. (Herod.
vi. 108, ix. 51; Strab. ix. p. 408, seq.; Paus. v. 14. § 3 ; Ov. Am. iii. 6
33 ; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. pp. 326, 424, 442, 448.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
CHERONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eth. Chaironeus, fem. Chaironis: Adj. Chaironikos: Kapurna. A town
of Boeotia, situated near the Cephissus, upon the borders of Phocis. The town
itself does not appear to have been of much importance; but it has obtained great
celebrity in consequence of the battles which were fought in its neighbourhood.
Its position naturally rendered it the scene of military operations, since it
stood in a small plain, which commanded the entrance from Phocis into Boeotia,
and which accordingly would be occupied by an army desirous of protecting Boeotia
from an invading force. Chaeroneia was situated at the head of the plain, shut
in by a high projecting rock, which formed, in ancient times, the citadel of the
town, and was called Petrachus or Petrochus (Petrachos, Paus. ix. 41. § 6 ; Petrochos,
Plut. Sull. 17). The town lay at the foot of the hill, and is said to have derived
its name from Chaeron, who, according to the statement of Plutarch, built it towards
the east, whereas it had previously faced the west. (Paus. ix. 40. § 5; Steph.
B. s. v.; Plut. de Curiosit. 1.)
Chaeroneia is not mentioned by Homer; but by some of the ancient writers
it was supposed to be the same town as the Boeotian Arne. (Hom. Il. ii. 507.)
In the historical period it was dependent upon Orchomenus (Thuc. iv. 67). It is
first mentioned in B.C. 447, when an important battle was fought near the town,
in consequence of which the Athenians lost the supremacy which they had exercised
for a short period in Boeotia. Chaeroneia had previously been in the hands of
the party favourable to the Athenians; but having been seized by the opposite
party, Tolmides, at the head of a small Athenian force, marched against it. He
succeeded in taking the town, but was shortly afterwards defeated by the Boeotians
in the neighbourhood, and fell in the battle. (Thuc. i. 113; Diod. xii. 6.) In
B.C. 424 a plot was formed to betray the town to the Athenians, but the project
was betrayed, and the place was occupied by a strong Boeotian force. (Thuc. iv.
76, 89.) In the Phocian war Chaeroneia was unsuccessfully besieged by Onomarchus,
the Phocian leader, but it was afterwards taken by his son Phalaecus. (Diod. xvi.
33, 39.)
Another and much more celebrated battle was fought at Chaeroneia on
the 7th of August, B.C. 338, in which Philip, by defeating the united forces of
the Athenians and Boeotians, crushed the liberties of Greece. Of the details of
this battle we have no account, but an interesting memorial of it still remains.
We learn from Pausanias (ix. 40. § 10) and Strabo (ix. p. 414) that the sepulchre
of the Thebans who fell in the battle, was near Chaeroneia; and the former writer
states that this sepulchre was surmounted by a lion, as an emblem of the spirit
of the Thebans. The site of the monument is marked by a tumulus about a mile,
or a little more, from the khan of Kapurna, on the right side of the road towards
Orchomenus; but when the spot was visited by Leake, Dodwell and Gell, the lion
had completely disappeared. A few years ago, however, the mound of earth was excavated,
and a colossal lion discovered, deeply imbedded in its interior. This noble piece
of sculpture, though now strewed in detached masses about the sides and interior
of the excavation, may still be said to exist nearly in its original integrity.
It is evident, from the appearance of the fragments, that it was composed from
the first of more than one block, although not certainly of so many as its remains
now exhibit... This lion may, upon the whole, be pronounced the most interesting
sepulchral monument in Greece. It is the only one dating from the better days
of Hellas--with the exception perhaps of the tumulus of Marathon--the identity
of which is beyond dispute.
The third great battle fought at Chaeroneia was the one in which Sulla
defeated the generals of Mithridates in B.C. 86. Of this engagement a long account
is given by Plutarch, probably taken almost verbatim from the commentaries of
Sulla. (Plut. Sull. 17, seq,) The narrative of Plutarch is illustrated by Col.
Leake with his usual accuracy and sagacity. Mount Thurium, called in the time
of Plutarch, Orthophagium, the summit of which was seized by Sulla, is supposed
by Leake to be the highest point of the hills behind Chaeroneia; and the torrent
Morius, below Mount Thurium, is probably the rivulet which joins the left bank
of the Cephissus, and which separates Mt. Hedylium from Mt. Acontium. Chaeroneia
continued to exist under the Roman empire, and is memorable at that period as
the birthplace of Plutarch, who spent the later years of his life in his native
town. In the time of Pausanias Chaeroneia was noted for the manufacture of perfumed
oils, extracted from flowers, which were used as a remedy against pain. (Paus.
ix. 41. § 6.)
Chaeroneia stood upon the site of the modern village of Kapurna. There
are not many remains of the ancient city upon the plain; but there are some ruins
of the citadel upon the projecting rock already described; and on the face of
this rock, fronting the plain, are traces of the ancient theatre. In the church
of the Panaghia, in the village, are several remains of ancient art, and inscriptions.
From the latter we learn that Serapis was worshipped in the town. Pausanias does
not mention the temple of this deity; but he states that the principal object
of veneration in his time was the sceptre of Zeus, once borne by Agamemnon, and
which was considered to be the undoubted work of the god Hephaestus. At the foot
of the theatre there rises a small torrent, which flows into the Cephissus. It
was called in ancient times Haemon or Thermodon, and its water was dyed by the
blood of the Thebans and Boeotians in their memorable defeat by Philip. (Plut.
Dem. 19)
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DAVLIS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
At a later time Daulia, (Strab. ix. p. 423) and Daulion, (Polyb. iv.
25): Eth. Daulios, (Herod. viii. 35); Daulieus, (Aesch. Choeph. 6740): Dhavlia.
A very ancient town of Phocis, near the frontiers of Boeotia, and on the road
from Orchomenus and Chaeroneia to Delphi. It is said to have derived its name
from the woody character of the district, since daulos was used by the inhabitants
instead of dalos, while others sought for the origin of the name in the mythical
nymph Daulis, a daughter of Cephissus. (Strab. ix. p. 423; Paus. x. 4. § 7.) Daulis
is mentioned by Homer as a Phocian town along with Crissa and Panopeus. (Il. ii.
520.) It is celebrated in mythology as the residence of the Thracian king, Tereus,
who married Procne, the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, and as the scene
of those horrible deeds in consequence of which Procne was changed into a swallow,
and her sister Philomele into a nightingale. Hence the latter was called by the
poets the Daulian bird. (Thuc. ii. 29; Paus. l. c.) The woody district round the
town is still a favourite haunt of the nightingale.
Daulis was destroyed by the Persians in the invasion of Xerxes. (Herod.
viii. 35.) It was destroyed a second time by Philip, at the end of the Sacred
War (Paus. x 3. § 1); but it was subsequently rebuilt, and is mentioned in later
times as a town almost impregnable in consequence of its situation upon a lofty
hill ( Daulis, quia in tumulo excelso sita est, nec scalis nec operibus capi poterat,
Liv. xxxii. 18). Pausanias relates (x. 4. § 7) that the inhabitants of Daulis
were few in number, but surpassed all the other Phocians in stature and strength.
The only building in the town mentioned by him was a temple of Athena; but in
the neighbourhood he speaks of a district called Tronis, in which was the chapel
of a hero called the Archegetes.
The name of Daulis is still preserved in that of the modern village
of Dhavlia, situated in a narrow valley, through which flows a branch of the Cephissus,
called Platania. The walls of the acropolis may be traced on the summit of the
height rising opposite the modern village, and connected with the foot of Parnassus
by a narrow isthmus. Within the enclosure is an ancient church of St. Theodore.
Here an inscription has been found in which mention is made of the worship of
Athena Polias and of Serapis. Before the door of the church in the modern village
is another ancient inscription, of considerable length, recording an arbitration
made at Chaeroneia in the reign of Hadrian, concerning certain property in Daulis.
It is given by Leake, and in Bockh's collection (No. 1732). In this inscription
we read of a road leading to the Archagetes, which is evidently the chapel of
the hero spoken of by Pausanias. One of the plots of land in the inscription is
called Platanus, from which probably comes the name of the river Platania.
On one of the heights above Dhavlia lies the monastery of Jerusalem.
The road leading to it from the village, and from it to the upper heights of Parnassus,
is no doubt the same as the road from Daulis to Parnassus correctly described
by Pausanias as longer than the one from Delphi, but less difficult.
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DELION (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Delium (Delion: Eth. Delieus), a small place with a celebrated temple
of Apollo, situated upon the sea-coast in the territory of Tanagra in Boeotia,
and at the distance of about a mile from the territory of Oropus. This temple,
which took its name from the island of Delos, is described by Livy (xxxv. 51)
as overhanging the sea, and distant five miles from Tanagra, at the spot where
the passage to the nearest parts of Euboea is less than four miles. Strabo (ix.
p. 403) speaks of Delium as a temple of Apollo and a small town (polichnion) of
the Tanagraei, distant 40 stadia from Aulis. It was here that the Athenians suffered
a signal defeat from the Boeotians in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian War,
B.C. 424. Hippocrates, the Athenian commander, had seized the temple at Delium,
which he converted into a fortress by some temporary works, and after leaving
there a garrison, was on his march homewards, and had already reached the territory
of Oropus at the distance of 10 stadia from Delium, when he met the Boeotian army
advancing to cut off his retreat. In the battle which ensued the Athenians were
defeated with great loss; and on the seventeenth day after the battle the Boeotians
retook the temple. (Thuc. iv. 90.) Socrates fought at this battle among the hoplites,
and, according to one account, saved the life of Xenophon (Strab. ix. p. 403;
Diog. Laert. ii. 22), while, according to another, his own retreat was protected
by Alcibiades, who was serving in the cavalry (Plut. Alc. 7). A detachment of
the Roman army was likewise defeated at Delium by the troops of Antiochus, B.C.
192. (Liv. xxxv. 51.) (Comp. Strab. viii. p. 368; Paus. ix. 20. § 1; Ptol. iii.
15. § 20; Liv. xxxi. 45.)
The modern village of Dhilissi, which has taken its name from Delium,
is at some little distance from the sea. It is clear, however, from the testimony
of Livy already referred to, that the temple of Apollo was upon the coast; and
hence the modern village of Dhilissi may, as Leake suggests, be the site of the
polichnion, a small town of Delium. A few Hellenic fragments have been found at
the village. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 449, seq.)
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EFTRISSIS (Ancient city) PLATEES
Eth. Eutresites. An ancient town of Boeotia, mentioned by Homer, and
said to have been the residence of Zethus and Amphion before they ruled over Thebes.
(Hom. II. ii. 502; Eustath. ad loc.; Strab. ix.). In the time of Strabo it was
a village in the territory of Thespiae. Stephanus B. places it on the road from
Thespiae to Plataea; but Leake conjectures that there is an error in the text,
and that for Thespion we ought to read Thisbon, since there is only one spot in
the ten miles between Plataea and Thespiae where any town is likely to have stood,
and that was occupied by Leuctra. We learn from Stephanus that Eutresis possessed
a celebrated temple and oracle of Apollo, who was hence surnamed Eutresites.
Scylax, in his description of the coast of Boeotia, speaks of ho limen
Eutretos kai teichos ton Boioton, and Leake is disposed to identify these places
with Eutresia, which would thus be represented by the ruins at Aliki; but we should
rather conclude, from the words of both Strabo and Stephanus, that Eutresia was
not so far from Thespiae.
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ELEON (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Heleon (Plin.). A town in Boeotia, mentioned by Homer in the same line with Hyle
and Peteon, is said by Strabo to have been one of the smaller places in the territory
of Tanagra, and to have derived its name from its marshy situation. Its site is
uncertain: Leake places it on the shore of the lake Paralimni, but Muller and
Kiepert near Tanagra on the right bank of the Asopus.
ELIKON (Mountain) VIOTIA
Helicon (Helikon), a mountain in Boeotia lying between lake Copais
and the Corinthian gulf, and which may be regarded as a continuation of the range
of Parnassus. It is celebrated as the favourite haunt of the Muses, to whom the
epithet of Heliconian is frequently given by both the Greek and Roman poets (hai
Helikoniai parthenoi, Pind. i. 7. 57; hai Helikoniades, Hes. Theog. 1; Soph. Oed.
Tyr. 1008; Heliconiades, Lucret. iii. 1050; Heliconides, Pers. prooem. 4). Its
poetical celebrity is owing to the fact of its having been the seat of the earliest
school of poetry in Greece Proper; for at its foot was situated Ascra, the residence
of Hesiod, the most eminent poet of this school.
Helicon is a range of mountains with several summits, of which the
loftiest is a round mountain now called Paleovuni. Helicon is described by Strabo
as equal to Parnassus, both in height and circumference (ix. p. 409); but this
is a mistake as far as height is concerned, since the loftiest summit of Helicon
is barely 5000 feet high, while that of Parnassus is upwards of 8000 feet. Pausanias
says that of all the mountains in Greece Helicon is the most fertile, and produces
the greatest number of trees and shrubs, though none of a poisonous character,
while several of them are useful in counteracting the bites of venomous serpents.
(Paus. ix. 28.) There is, however, a considerable difference between the eastern
and western sides of the mountain; for while the eastern slopes abounded in springs,
groves, and fertile valleys, the western side was more rugged and less susceptible
of cultivation. It was the eastern or Boeotian side of Helicon which was especially
sacred to the Muses, and contained many objects connected with their worship,
of which Pausanias has left us an account. On Helicon was a sacred grove of the
Muses, to which Pausanias ascended from Ascra. On the left of the road, before
reaching the grove of the Muses, was the celebrated fountain of Aganippe (Aganippe),
which was believed to inspire those who drank of it, and from which the Muses
were called Aganippides. (Paus. ix. 25. § 5; Catull lxi. 26; Virg. Ecl. x. 12.)
Placing Ascra at Pyrguaki, there is little doubt that Aganippe is
the fountain which issues from the left bank of the torrent, flowing midway between
Paleo-panaghia and Pyrgaki. Around this fountain Leake observed numerous squared
blocks, and in the neighbouring fields stones and remains or habitations. The
position of the Grove of the Muses is fixed at St. Nicholas by an inscription
which Leake discovered there relating to the Museia, of games of the Muses, which
were celebrated there under the presidency of the Thespians. (Paus. ix. 31. §
3.) St. Nicholas is a church and small convent beautifully situated in a theatre-shaped
hollow at the foot of Mt. Marandali, which is one of the summits of Helicon. In
the time of Pausanias the grove of the Muses contained a larger number of statues
than any other place in Boeotia; and this writer has given an account of many
of them. The statues of the Muses were removed by Constantine from this place
to his new capital, where they were destroyed by fire in A.D. 404. (Euseb. Vit.
Const. iii. 54; Sozom. ii. 5; Zosim. ii. 21, v. 24, quoted by Leake.)
Twenty stadia above the Grove of the Muses was the fountain Hippocrene
(Hippokrene), which was said to have been produced by the horse Pegasus striking
the ground with his feet. (Paus. ix. 31. § 3; Strab. ix. p. 410.) Hippocrene was
probably at Makarioitissa, which is noted for a fine spring of water, although,
as Leake remarks, the twenty stadia of Pausanias accord better with the direct
distance than with that by the road. The two fountains of Aganippe and Hippocrene
supplied the streams called Olmeius and Permessus, which, after uniting their
waters, flowed by Haliartus into the lake Copais. (Hes. Theog. 5, seq.; see Boeotia,
p. 413, a.)
Another part of Helicon, also sacred to the Muses, bore the name of
Mount Leibethrium (Leibethrion). It is described by Pausanias (ix. 34. § 4) as
distant 40 stadia from Coroneia, and is therefore probably the mountain of Zagara,
which is completely separated from the great heights of Helicon by an elevated
valley, in which are two villages named Zagara, and above them, on the rugged
mountain, a monastery; This is Leake's opinion; but Dodwell and Gell identify
it with Granitza, which is, however, more probably Laphystium. On Mount Leibethrium
there were statues of the Muses and of the Leibethrian nymphs, and two fountains
called Leibethrias and Petra, resembling the breasts of a woman, and pouring forth
water like milk. (Paus. ix. 34. § 4.) There was a grotto of the Leibethrian nymphs.
(Strab. ix. p. 410, x. p. 471; Serv. ad Virg. Ecl vii. 21.) (See Leake, Northern
Greece, vol. ii. pp. 141, 205, 489-500, 526.)
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ETEONOS (Ancient city) THIVES
Eteonos: Eth. Eteonios. A town of Boeotia, mentioned by Homer, who gives it the
epithet of poluknemos, lay to the right of the Asopus. Strabo says that it was
afterwards called Scarphe. It probably lay between Scolus and the frontier of
the territory of Tanagra.
FLYGONION (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Phlugonion. A city of Phocis, of unknown site, destroyed at the end of the Phocian
War. (Paus. x. 3. § 2; Steph. B. s. v.) Pliny calls it Phlygone, and erroneously
represents it as a city of Boeotia (iv. 7. s. 12).
GLISSAS (Ancient city) THIVES
Glissas: Eth. Glisantios. An ancient town of Boeotia, mentioned by
Homer in the same line with Plataea (Il. ii. 504), and celebrated in mythology
as the place where the Epigoni fought against the Thebans, and where the Argive
chiefs were buried who fell in the battle. (Paus. i. 44. § 4, ix. 5. § 13, ix.
8. § 6, ix. 9. § 4, ix. 19. § 2.) Pausanias, in his description of the road from
Thebes to Chalcis, says that Glisas was situated beyond Teumessus, at the distance
of seven stadia from the latter place; that above Glisas rose Mount Hypatus, from
which flowed the torrent Thermodon. (Paus. ix. 19. §2.) Strabo (ix.) places it
on Mt. Hypatus, and Herodotus (ix. 43) describes the Thermodon as flowing between
Glisas and Tanagra. Leake identifies Glisas with the ruins on the bank of the
torrent of Platanaki, above which rises. the mountain of Siamata, the ancient
Hypatus.
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ILESSION (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eilesium (Eilesion), a town of Boeotia, of uncertain site, mentioned by Homer, the name of which, according to Strabo, indicates a marshy position. (Hom. Il. ii. 499; Strab. ix. p. 406; Steph. B. s v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 469.)
ISSOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Isus (Isos), a spot in Boeotia, near Anthedon, with vestiges of a
city, which some commentators identified with the Homeric Nisa. (Strab. ix. p.
405; Hoem. II. ii. 508.) There was apparently also a town Isus in Megaris; but
the passage in Strabo in which the name occurs is corrupt. (Strab. l. c.)
KERISSOS (Acropolis) VIOTIA
Ceressus (Keressos), a strong fortress in Boeotia, in the neighbourhood
of, and belonging to Thespiae. The inhabitants of Ceressus retreated to this fortress
after the battle of Leuctra. It was probably situated at Paleopananhia. (Paus.
ix. 14. § 2; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. pp. 490, 450.)
KITHERON (Mountain) VIOTIA
Cithaeron (Kithairon), a range of mountains, separating Boeotia from
Megaris and Attica, of which a description is given elsewhere. It is said to have
derived its name from Cithaeron, a mythical king of Plataeae, who assisted Zeus
with his advice when Hera was angry with him. Hence the summit was sacred to the
Cithaeronian Zeus, and here was celebrated the festival called Daedala. (Paus.
ix. 2. § 4, 3. § 1, seq.; Diet. of Ant. art. Daedala.) Cithaeron was also sacred
to Dionysus, and was the scene of several celebrated legends, such as the metamorphosis
of Actaeon, the death of Pentheus, and the exposure of Oedipus. The forest, which
covered Cithaeron, abounded in game; and at a very early period, lions and wolves
are said to have been found there. The Cithaeronian lion, slain by Alcathous,
was celebrated in mythology. (Paus. i. 41. § 3.)
KOPES (Ancient city) THIVES
Kopai: Eth. Kopaieus, (Thuc.Kopa+tes, Steph. B.: Topolia). A town
of Boeotia, and a member of the Boeotian confederacy, was situated upon the northern
extremity of the lake Copais, which derived its name from this town. It is mentioned
by Homer; but it was a small place, and its name rarely occurs in Grecian history.
It was still in existence in the time of Pausanias, who mentions here the temples
of Demeter, Dionysus and Sarapis. The modern village of Topolia occupies the site
of Copae. It stands upon a promontory in the lake which is connected with the
mainland by only a narrow causeway.
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KORONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Koroneia: Eth. Koroneus, the name...derived from korone, a hill. A
town of Boeotia, and a member of the Boeotian league, is described by Strabo as
situated upon a height near Mt. Helicon. Its territory was called Koroneiake.
(Strab. ix.) The town stood upon an insulated hill at the entrance of a valley
leading southwards to Mt. Helicon, the principal summit of which is seen at the
head of the valley. From this hill there is a fine view over the lake Copais,
and at its foot there is a broad plain extending as far as the marshes of the
lake. On either side of the hill flowed two streams, one on the eastern or right
hand side, called Coralius or Cuarius, and the other on the left, named Phalarus:
a tributary of the latter was the Isomantus or Hoplias. Coroneia is said to have
been founded by the Boeotians from Arne in Thessaly, after they had been driven
out of their original homes by the Thessalians; and they appear to have called
it Coroneia after the Thessalian town of this name. At the same time they built
in the plain in front of the city a temple of Athena Itonica, also named after
the one in Thessaly, and likewise gave to the river which flowed by the temple
the name of Cuarius or Curalius, after the Thessalian river. In this temple was
held the festival of the Pamboeotia, which was common to all the Boeotians. (Strab.
ix.; Paus. ix. 34. § 1.) The Thessalian origin of Coroneia is also attested by
Pausanias, who ascribes its foundation, as well as that of Haliartus, to Athamas
and his descendants, who came from Thessaly (ix. 34. § 7, seq.).
Coroneia is mentioned by Homer in conjunction with Haliartus. (Il.
ii. 503.) In historical times several important battles were fought in the plain
in front of the town. It was here that the Athenians under Tolmides were defeated
by the Boeotians in B.C. 447, in consequence of which defeat the Athenians lost
the sovereignty which they had for some years exercised over Boeotia. (Thuc. i.
113.) The plain of Coroneia was also the scene of the victory gained by Agesilaus
over the Thebans and their allies in B.C. 394. (Xen. Hell. iv. 3. 15, seq.; Plut.
Ages. 17.) In the Sacred War Coroneia was twice taken by the Phocians under Onomarchus.
(Diod. xvi, 35, 58.) Philip, after the conquest of the Phocians, gave up the town
to the Thebans. (Dem. de Pac. p. 62, Philip. ii. p. 69.) Coroneia espoused the
cause both of Philip and of Perseus in their wars with the Romans. (Polyb. xx.
7, xxvii. 1, xxix. 6, a.; Liv. xxxiii. 29, xlii. 44, 67.)
Pausanias says (ix. 34. § 3) that the most remarkable objects in Coroneia
were altars of Hermes Epimelius and of the winds, and a little below them the
temple of Hera. The principal remains of the ancient city are those of the theatre,
of the temple of Hera, and of the agora. The coins of Coroneia are very rare.
The one annexed is a hemidrachma, with the Boeotian shield on one side, and on
the other a full-faced mask or Gorgonian head, with the epigraph graph KOPO.
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KORSIES (Ancient city) THISVI
Corseia (Korseia),
1. A town of Boeotia, sometimes included in Opuntian
Locris, was the first place which the traveller reached after crossing Mt. Khlomo
from Cyrtones. In the Sacred War it was taken by the Phocians, along with Orchomenus
and Coroneia. In the plain below, the river Platanius joined the sea. Its site
is probably represented by the village Proskyna, on the heights above which are
the remains of an ancient acropolis. (Paus. ix. 24. § 5; Diod. xvi. 58; Dem. de
Fals. Leg. p. 385; called Chorsia by Steph. B. s. v.; Leake, Northern Greece,
vol. ii. p. 184; Forchhammer, Hellenika, p. 179.)
2. Scylax mentions Korsiai as aport of Boeotia on the Corinthian gulf. It appears from Pliny that there was a second town of this name in the western part of Boeotia, and that it was distinguished from the other by the name of Thebae Corsicae. ( Thebis quae Corsicae cognominatae sunt juxta Heliconem, Plin. iv. 3. s. 4.) It is probably represented by the modern Khosia. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. P. 521.)
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KREFSIS (Ancient city) THISVI
Kreousa, Kreousia, Creusa, Kreusis, Eth. Kreusios. A town of Boeotia,
at the head of a small bay in the Corinthian gulf, described by ancient writers
as the port of Thespiae. (Strab. ix.; Paus. ix. 32. § 1; Creusa, Thespiensium
emporium, in intimo sinu Corinthiaco retractum, Liv. xxxvi. 21.) The navigation
from Peloponnesus to Creusis is described by Pausanias as insecure, on account
of the many headlands which it was necessary to double, and of the violent gusts
of wind rushing down from the mountains. Creusis was on the borders of Megaris.
One of the highest points of Mt. Cithaeron projects into the sea between Creusis
and Aegosthenae, the frontier town in Megaris, leaving no passage along the shore
except a narrow path on the side of the mountain. In confirmation of Pausanias,
Leake remarks that this termination of Mt. Cithaeron, as well as all the adjoining
part of the Alcyonic sea, is subject to sudden gusts of wind, by which the passage
of such a cornice is sometimes rendered dangerous. On two occasions the Lacedaemonians
retreated from Boeotia by this route, in order to avoid the more direct roads
across Mt. Cithaeron. On the first of these occasions, in B.C. 378, the Lacedaemonian
army under Cleombrotus was overtaken by such a violent storm, that the shields
of the soldiers were wrested from their hands by the wind, and many of the beasts
of burden were blown over the precipices. (Xen. Hell. v. 4. 16, seq.) The second
time that they took this route was after the fatal battle of Leuctra, in B.C.
371. (Xen. Hell. vi. 4 § 25, seq.) The exact site of Creusis is uncertain, but
there can be no doubt that it must be placed with Leake somewhere in the bay of
Livadhostra.
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LEFKTRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
ta Leuktra. A village of Boeotia, situated on the road from Thespiae
to Plataea (Strab. ix.), and in the territory of the former city. (Xen. Hell.
vi. 4. 4). Its name only occurs in history on account of the celebrated battle
fought in its neighbourhood between the Spartans and Thebans, B.C. 371, by which
the supremacy of Sparta was for ever overthrown. In the plain of Leuctra, was
the tomb of the two daughters of Scedasus, a Leuctrian, who had been violated
by two Spartans, and had afterwards slain themselves; this tomb was crowned with
wreaths by Epaminondas before the battle, since an oracle had predicted that the
Spartans would be defeated at this spot (Xen. Hell. vi. 4. 7; Diod. xv. 54; Paus.
ix. 13. § 3; Plut. Pelop. cc. 20, 21). The city of Leuctra, is sometimes supposed
to be represented by the extensive ruins at Lefka (Leuka), which are situated
immediately below the modern village of Rimokastro. But these ruins are clearly
those of Thespiae, as appears from the inscriptions found there, as well as from
their importance; for Leuctra was never anything more than a village in the territory
of Thespiae, and had apparently ceased to exist in the time of Strabo, who calls
it simply a topos. The real site of Leuctra, is very clearly marked by a tumulus
and some artificial ground on the summit of the ridge which borders the southern
side of the valley of Thespiae. The battle of Leuctra was fought probably in the
valley on the northern side of the tumulus, about midway between Thespiae, and
the western extremity of the plain of Plataea. Cleombrotus, in order to avoid
the Boeotians, who were expecting him by the direct route from Phocis, marched
by Thisbe and the valleys on the southern side of Mount Helicon; and having thus
made his appearance suddenly at Creusis, the port of Thespiae, captured that fortress.
From thence, he moved upon Leuctra, where he intrenched himself on a rising ground;
after which the Thebans encamped on an opposite hill, at no great distance. The
position of the latter, therefore, seems to have been on the eastern prolongation
of the height of Rimokastro. The tumulus is probably the place of sepulture of
the 1000 Lacedaemonians who fell in the battle. For a full account of this celebrated
contest, see Grote, Hist. of Greece. In ancient times, the neighbourhood of Leuctra
appears to have been well wooded, as we may infer from the epithet of shady bestowed
upon it by the oracle of Delphi (Leuktra skioenta, Paus. ix. 14. § 3); but at
present there is scarcely a shrub or a tree to be seen in the surrounding country.
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LEVADIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Lebadia, Eth. Lebadeus, Livadhia. A town near the western frontier
of Boeotia, described by Strabo (ix.) as lying between Mt. Helicon and Chaeroneia.
It was situated at the foot of a precipitous height, which is an abrupt northerly
termination of Mt. Helicon. Pausanias relates (ix. 39. § 1) that this height was
originally occupied by the Homeric city of Mideia (Mideia, Il. ii. 507), from
whence the inhabitants, under the conduct of Lebadus, an Athenian, migrated into
the plain, and founded there the city named after him. On the other hand, Strabo
maintains that the Homeric cities Arne and Mideia were both swallowed up by the
lake Copais. Lebadeia was originally an insignificant place, but it rose into
importance in consequence of its possessing the celebrated oracle of Trophonius.
The oracle was consulted both by Croesus (Herod. i. 46) and by Mardonius (Herod.
viii. 134), and it continued to be consulted even in the time of Plutarch, when
all the other oracles in Boeotia had become dumb. (Plut. de Def. Orac. 5.) Pausanias
himself consulted the oracle, and he speaks of the town in terms which show that
it was in his time the most flourishing place in Boeotia. But notwithstanding
the sanctity of the oracle, Lebadeia did not always escape the ravages of war.
It was taken and plundered both by Lysander and by Archelaus, the general of Mithridates.
(Plut. Lys. 28, Sull. 16.) In the war against Perseus, it espoused the side of
the Romans, while Thebes, Haliartus, and Coroneia declared in favour of the Macedonian
king. (Polyb. xxvii. 1.) It continues to exist under the slightly altered name
of Livadhia, and during the Turkish supremacy it gave its name to the whole province.
It is still a considerable town, though it suffered greatly in the war of independence
against the Turks.
The modern town is situated on two opposite hills, rising on each
bank of a small stream, called Hercyna by Pausanias, but the greater part of the
houses are on the western slope, on the summit of which is a ruined castle. Pausanias
says that the Hercyna rose in a cavern, from two fountains, close to one another,.
one called the fountain of Oblivion and the other the fountain of Memory, of which
the persons who were going to consult the oracle were obliged to drink. The Hercyna
is in reality a continuation of an occasional torrent from Mount Helicon; but
at the southern extremity of the town, on the eastern side of the castle-hill,
there are some copious sources, which were evidently the reputed fountains of
the Hercyna. They issue from either side of the Hercyna, those on the right bank
being the most copious, flowing from under the rocks in many large streams, and
forming the main body of the river; and those on the left bank being insignificant,
and flowing, in the time of Dodwell, through ten small spouts, of which there
are still remains. The fountains on the right bank are warm, and are called Chilia
(he Chilia), and sometimes ta glupha Wera, or the water unfit for drinking; while
the fountains on the left bank are cold and clear, and are named Krya (he krua,
i. e. he krua brusis, the cold source, in opposition to the warm, Chilia). Neither
of these two sets of fountains rise out of a cave, and so far do not correspond
to the description of Pausanias; but there is a cavern close to each; and in the
course of ages, since the destruction of the sacred buildings of Trophonius, the
caverns may easily have been choked up, and the springs have emerged in different
spots. The question, however, arises, which of the caverns contained the reputed
sources of the Hercyna? The answer to this must depend upon the position we assign
to the sacred grove of Trophonius, in which the source of the Hercyna was situated.
Leake places the sacred grove on the right or eastern bank; but Ulrichs on the
left, or western bank. The latter appears more probable, on account of the passage
in Pausanias, dieirgei de ap autes (i. e. tes poleos) to alsos tou Trophonion,
where there is little doubt that potamos, or some equivalent term, must be applied
as the nominative of dieirgei. The ancient city would, in that case, have stood
on the right or eastern bank of the river, which also appears probable from the
numerous fragments of antiquity still scattered over the eminence on this side
of the river; and the grove of Trophonius would have been on the western side
of the stream, on which the greater part of the modern town stands.
The most remarkable object in the grove of Trophonius was the temple
of the hero, containing his statue by Praxiteles,resembling a statue of Asclepius;
a temple of Demeter, surnamed Europe; a statue of Zeus Hyetius (Pluvius) in the
open air; and higher up, upon the mountain, the oracle (to manteion). Still higher
up was the hunting place of Persephone; a large unfinished temple of Zeus Basileus,
a temple of Apollo, and another temple, containing statues of Cronus, Zeus, and
Hera. Pausanias likewise mentions a chapel of the Good Daemon and of Good Fortune,
where those who were going to consult the oracle first passed a certain number
of days.
In the Turkish mosque, now converted into a church of the Panagia,
on the western side of the river, three inscriptions have been found, one of which
contains a dedication to Trophonius, and the other a catalogue of dedications
in the temple of Trophonius. Hence it has been inferred that the temple of Trophonius
occupied this site. Near the fountain of Krya, there is a square chamber, with
seats cut out of the rock, which may perhaps be the chapel of the Good Daemon
and Good Fortune. Near this chamber is a cavern, which is usually regarded as
the entrance to the oracle. It is 25 feet in depth, and terminates in a hollow
filled with water. But this could not have been the oracle, since the latter,
according to the testimony both of Pausanias and Philostratus, was not situated
in the valley upon the Hercyna, but higher up upon the mountain. (Paus. ix. 39.
§ 4; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. viii. 19.) Mure justly expresses his surprise that
Leake, after quoting the description of Pausanias, who says that the oracle was
epi tou orous, should suppose that it was situated at the foot of the hill. A
person who consulted the oracle descended a well constructed of masonry, 12 feet
in depth, at the bottom of which was a small opening on the side of the wall.
Upon reaching the bottom he lay upon his back and introduced his legs into the
hole, when upon a sudden the rest of his body was rapidly carried forward into
the sanctuary. The site of the oracle has not yet been discovered, and is not
likely to be, without an extensive excavation.
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MEDEON (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Medeon: Eth. Medeonios. An ancient town of Boeotia, mentioned by Homer
(Il. ii. 501), is described by Strabo as a dependency of Haliartus, and situated
near Onchestus, at the foot of Mt. Phoenicium, from which position it was afterwards
called Phoenicis (ix. pp. 410, 423; comp. Steph. B. s. v.; Plin. iv. 7. s. 12).
It appears to have stood near the lake, in the bay on the north-western side of
Mount Faga, between the site of Haliartus and Kardhitza.
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OGCHISTOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eth. Onchestios. An ancient town of Boeotia in the territory of Haliartus,
said to have been founded by Onchestus, a son of Poseidon. (Paus. ix. 26. § 5;
Steph. B. s. v.) It possessed a celebrated temple and grove of Poseidon, which
is mentioned by Homer (Ophcheston th, <* >eron Posideion, aglaon alsos,
Il. ii. 506), and subsequent poets. (Pind. Isthm. i. 44, iv. 32; Lycophr. 645.)
Here an Amphictyonic council of the Boeotians used to assemble. (Strab. ix. p.
412.) Pausanias says that Onchestus was 15 stadia from the mountain of the Sphinx,
the modern Faga; and its position is still more accurately defined by Strabo.
The latter writer, who censures Alcaeus for placing Onchestus at the foot of Mt.
Helicon, says that it was in the Haliartia, on a naked hill near the Teneric plain
and the Copaic lake. He further maintains that the grove of Poseidon existed only
in the imagination of the poets; but Pausanias, who visited the place, mentions
the grove as still existing. The site of Onchestus is probably marked by the Hellenic
remains situated upon the low ridge which separates the two great Boeotian basins,
those of lake Copais and of Thebes, and which connects Mount Fay with the roots
of Helicon. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 213, seq.; Gell, Itiner. p. 125.)
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OKALEI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Ocalea, Ocaleia (Okalea, Okaleia: Eth. Okaleus). An ancient city of Boeotia,
mentioned by Homer, situated upon a small stream of the same name, at an equal
distance from Haliartus and Alalcomenae. It lay in the middle of a long narrow
plain, bounded on the east by the heights of Haliartus, on the west by the mountain
Tilphossium, on the south by a range of low hills, and on the north by the lake
Copais. This town was dependent upon Haliartus. The name is probably only a dialectic
form of Oechalia. Its site is indicated by several squared blocks on the right
bank of the stream.
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OLMONES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eth. Olmoneus. A village in Boeotia, situated 12 stadia to the left of Copae,
and 7 stadia from Hyettus. It derived its name from Olmus, the son of Sisyphus,
but contained nothing worthy of notice in the time of Pausanias. Forchhammer places
Olmones in the small island in the lake Copais, SW. of Copae, now called Trelo-Yani.
ORCHOMENOS (Archaeological site) VIOTIA
Orchomenos (in insc. and coins, Erchomenos: Eth. Orchomenios, Erchomenios).
Usually called the Minyean Orchomenus (Orchomenos Minueios, Horn. Il. ii. 511;
Thuc. iv. 76; Strab. ix. p. 414), a city in the north of Boeotia, and in ante-historical
times the capital of the powerful kingdom of the Minyae. This people, according
to tradition, seem to have come originally from Thessaly. We read of a town Minya
in Thessaly (Steph. B. s. v. Minua), and also of a Thessalian Orchomenus Minyeus.
(Plin. iv. 8. s. 15.) The first king of the Boeotian Orchomenus is said to have
been Andreus, a son of the Thessalian river Peneius, from whom the country was
called Andreis. (Paus. ix. 34. § 6; hoi Orchomenioi apoikoi esi Thessalon, Schol.
ad Apoll. Rhod. ii. 1190.) Andreus assigned part of his territory to the Aetolian
Athamas, who adopted two of the grandchildren of his brother Sisyphus: they gave
their names to Haliartus and Coroneia. Andreus was succeeded in the other part
of his territory by his son Eteocles, who was the first to worship the Charites
(Graces) in Greece. Upon the death of Eteocles the sovereignty devolved upon the
family of Halmus or Almus, a son of Sisyphus. (Paus. ix. 34. § 7-ix. 35.) Halmus
had two daughters, Chryse and Chrysogeneia. Chryse by the god Ares became the
mother of Phlegyas, who succeeded the childless Eteocles, and called the country
Phlegyantis after himself. He also gave his name to the fierce and sacrilegious
race of the Phlegyae, who separated themselves from the other Orchomenians, and
attempted to plunder the temple of Delphi. They were however all destroyed by
the god, with the exception of a few who fled into Phocis. Phlegyas died without
children, and was succeeded by Chryses, the son of Chrysogeneia by the god Poseidon.
Chryses was the father of the wealthy Minyas, who built the treasury, and who
gave his name to the Minyan race. Minyas was succeeded by his son Orchomenus,
after whom the city was named. (Paus. ix. 36. § § 1-6.) Some modern scholars have
supposed that the Minyae were Aeolians (Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, vol. i. p.
91); but as they disappeared before the historical period, it is impossible to
predicate anything certain respecting them. There is, however, a concurrence of
tradition to the fact, that Orchomenus was in the earliest times not only the
chief city of Boeotia, but one of the most powerful and wealthy cities of Greece.
It has been observed that the genealogy of Orchomenus glitters with names which
express the traditional opinion of his unbounded wealth (Chryses, Chrysogeneia).
Homer even compares the treasures which flowed into the city to those of the Egyptian
Thebes (Il.. ix. 381; comp. Eustath. l. c.) It would seem that at an early period
Orchomenus ruled over [p. 488] the whole of Northern Boeotia; and that even Thebes
was for a time compelled to pay tribute to Erginus, king of Orchomenus. From this
tribute, however, the Thebans were delivered by Hercules, who made war upon Orchomenus,
and greatly reduced its power. (Paus. ix. 37. § 2; Strab. ix. p. 414; Diod. iv.
18.) In the Homeric catalogue Orchomenus is mentioned along with Aspledon, but
distinct from the other Boeotian towns, and as sending 30 ships to the Trojan
War (Il. ii. 511). Sixty years after the Trojan War, according to the received
chronology, the sovereignty of the Minyae seems to have been overthrown by the
Boeotian immigrants from Thessaly; and Orchomenus became a member of the Boeotian
confederacy. (Strab. ix. p. 401; comp. Thuc. i. 12.) The city now ceased to be
the Minyeian and became the Boeotian Orchomenus (Thuc. iv. 76); but it still remained
a powerful state, and throughout the whole historical period was second only to
Thebes in the Boeotian confederacy. The town of Chaeroneia appears to have been
always one of its dependencies. (Thuc. iv. 76.) In the Persian War Orchomenus,
together with the other Boeotian towns, with the exception of Thespiae and Plataeae,
deserted the cause of Grecian independence. Orchomenus possessed an aristocratical
government, and continued on friendly terms with Thebes, as long as the aristocratical
party in the latter city had the direction of public affairs. But when, after
the close of the Peloponnesian War, a revolution placed the government of Thebes
in the hands of the democracy, Orchomenus became opposed to Thebes. Accordingly,
when war broke out between Sparta and Thebes, and Lysander invaded Boeotia in
B.C. 395, Orchomenus revolted from Thebes, and sent troops to assist Lysander
in his siege of Haliartus (Plut. Lys. 28; Xen. Hell. iii. 5. 6, seq.; Diod. xiv.
81; Corn. Nepos, Lys. 3.) In the following year (B.C. 394), when all the other
Boeotians joined the Thebans and Athenians at the battle of Coroneia, the Orchomenians
fought in the army of Agesilaus, who arrayed them against the Thebans. (Xen. Hell.
iv. 3. 15, Ages. 2. § 9.) It was now the object of the Spartans to deprive Thebes
of her supremacy over the Boeotian cities. This they effected by the peace of
Antalcidas, B.C. 387, by which Thebes was obliged :to acknowledge the independence
of Orchomenus and of the cities of Boeotia. (Xen. Hell. v. 1. 31) The battle of
Leuctra (B.C. 371) changed the position of:affairs, and made Thebes .the undisputed
master of Boeotia. Orchomenus was now at the mercy of the Thebans, who were anxious
to destroy the city, and reduce the inhabitants to slavery. Epaminondas, however,
dissuaded them from carrying their wishes into effect, and induced them to pardon
Orchomenus, and readmit it as a member of the Boeotian confederation. (Diod. xv.
57.) The Thebans appear to have yielded with reluctance to the generous advice
of Epaminondas; and they took advantage of his absence in Thessaly, in B.C. 368,
to carry their original design into effect. The pretext was that the 300 knights
at Orchomenus had entered into a conspiracy with some Theban exiles to overthrow
the democratical constitution of Thebes. It is not improbable that the whole story
was a fiction; but the Thebans eagerly listened to the accusation, condemned the
300 Orchomenians, and decreed that the city should be destroyed. A Theban army
was immediately sent against it, which burnt it to the ground, put all the male
inhabitants to the sword, and sold all the women and children into slavery. (Diod.
xv. 79; Paus. ix. 15. § 3.) This atrocious act of vengeance remained as an indelible
stigma upon the Theban character (Dem. c. Leptin. p. 490.)
Orchomenus remained a long time in ruins, though the Athenians were
anxious for its restoration, for the purpose of humbling Thebes. (Dem. Megal.
pp. 203, 208.) It appears to have been rebuilt during the Phocian War, when the
Phocians endeavoured to expel the Thebans from the northern parts of Boeotia.
In B.C. 353 we find the Phocian leader Onomarchus in possession of Orchomenus
and Coroneia (Diod. xvi. 33, 35); and in the following year Phayllus was defeated
in the neighbourhood of these towns. (Diod. xvi. 37.) Orchomenus, Coroneia, and
Corsiae were the three fortified places in Boeotia, which the Phocians had in
their power (Diod. xvi. 58); and from which they made their devastating inroads
into the other parts of Boeotia. On the conclusion of the Sacred War, B.C. 346,
Orchomenus was given by Philip to its implacable enemy the Thebans, who, under
Philip's eyes, destroyed the city a second time, and sold all its inhabitants
as slaves. (Aesch. de Fals. Leg. p. 309; Dem. Phil. ii. p. 69, de Pace, p. 62,
de Fals. Leg. p. 375.) It did not, however, remain long in ruins; for after the
defeat of the Thebans and Athenians at the battle of Chaeroneia, B.C. 338, it
was rebuilt by Philip's order (Paus. iv. 27. § 10, ix. 37. § 8; according to Arrian,
Anab. i. 9, it was rebuilt by Alexander the Great after the destruction of Thebes).
From this time the name of Orchomenus is seldom mentioned in history Under the
Romans it shared the common fate of the Boeotian towns, all of which were, in
Strabo's time, only ruins and names, with the exception of Thespiae and Tanagra.
Orchomenus was famous for the worship of the Charites or Graces, and
for the festival in their honour, celebrated with musical contests, in which poets
and musicians from :all parts of Greece took part. Hence Pindar calls Orchomenus
the city of the Charites (Pyth. xii. 45), and Theocritus describes them as the
goddesses who love the Minyeian Orchomenus (xvi. 104). An ancient inscription
records the names of the victors in this festival of the Charites. Pindar's fourteenth
Olympic ode, which was written to commemorate the victory of Asopichus, an Orchomenian,
is in reality a hymn in honour of these goddesses, and was probably sung in their
temple. It was in the marshes in the neighbourhood of Orchomenus that the auletic
or flute-reeds grew, which exercised an important influence upon the development
of Greek music...
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PANAKTON (Ancient city) THIVES
The position of these places cannot be fixed with certainty; but we
think Leake's opinion is, upon the whole, the most probable. Muller, Kiepert,
and others suppose the ruins of Ghyfto - kastro to be those of Panactum described
by Thucydides as a fortress of the Athenians, on the confines of Boeotia, which
was betrayed to the Boeotians in B.C. 420, and subsequently destroyed by them.
(Thuc. v. 3, 42; comp. Paus. i. 25. § 6; Dem. de Fals. Leg. p. 446; Steph. B.)
Leake places Panactum on the Boeotian side of the pass of Phyle; but Ross thinks
that he has discovered its ruins in the plain of Eleutherae, west of Skurta. Ross,
moreover, thinks that Eleutherae stood to the east of Ghyfto - kastro, near the
convent of St. Meletius, where are ruins of an ancient place; while other modern
writers suppose Eleutherae to have stood more to the west, near the modern village
of Kundara.
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PANOPEFS (Ancient city) CHERONIA
Phanoteus, Panope, Panopeai, Phanoteia, Phanotea, Eth. Panopeus, Phanoteus.
An ancient town of Phocis, near the frontier of Boeotia, and on the road from
Daulis to Chaeroneia. Pausanias says that Panopeus was 20 stadia from Chaeroneia,
and 7 from Daulis (ix. 4. § § 1, 7); but the latter number is obviously a mistake.
The ruins at the village of Aio Vlasi (hagios Blasis), which are clearly those
of Panopeus, are distant about 20 stadia from Kepurna (Chaeroneia), but as much
as 27 stadia from Dhavlia (Daulis). Panopens was a very ancient town, originally
inhabited by the Phlegyae. Schliedius, the king of Panopeus, and his brother,
were the leaders of the Phocians in the Trojan War. (Paus. x. 4. § 1.) Panopeus
was also celebrated for the grave of Tityus, who was slain by Apollo at this place.
because he attempted to offer violence to Leto on her way to Delphi. (Hom. Od.
x. 576; Paus. x. 4. § 5.) Panopeus was destroyed by Xerxes (Herod. viii. 34),
and again by Philip at the close of the Sacred War. (Paus. x. 3. § 1.) It was
taken by the Romans in is. c. 198, on the first attack (Liv. xxxii. 18; Polyb.
v. 96); and was destroyed for the third time in the campaign between Sulla and
Archelaus, the general of Mithridates. (Plut. Sull. 16.) Pausanias says that the
ancient city was 7 stadia in circuit ; but in his time the place consisted of
only a few huts, situated on the side of a torrent. There are still considerable
remains of the ancient walls upon the rocky heights, above Aio Vlasi. The masonry
is of different periods, as one might have expected from the twofold destruction
of the city. There are no longer any remains of the tomb of Tityus, which, according
to Pausanias, was the third of a stadium in circumference, and stood on the side
of the torrent. Pausanias also mentions on the side of the Sacred Way a building
of unbaked bricks, containing a statue of Pentelic marble, which was supposed
to be intended either for Asclepius or Prometheus. It was believed by some that
Prometheus made the human race out of the sandy-coloured rocks ill the neighbourhood,
and that they still smelt like human flesh. (Dodwell, Classical Tour, vol. i.
p. 207; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 109; Ulrichs, Reisen, &c. p. 151.)
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PARAPOTAMII (Ancient city) CHERONIA
Parapotamioi, Parapotamia, Eth. Parapotamios. A town of Phocis on
the left bank of the Cephissus (whence its name), and near the frontier of Boeotia.
Its position is described in a passage of Theopompus, preserved by Strabo, who
says that it stood at a distance of 40 stadia from Chaeroneia, in the entrance
from Boeotia into Phocis, on a height of moderate elevation, situated between
Parnassus and Mount Hedylium; he adds that these two mountains were separated
from each other by an interval of 5 stadia, through which the Cephissus flowed.
(Strab. ix. p. 424.) Parapotamii was destroyed by Xerxes (Herod. viii. 33), and
again a second time by Philip at the conclusion of the Sacred War. (Pans. x. 3.
§ 1.) It was never rebuilt. Plutarch in his life of Sulla (c. 16) speaks of the
acropolis of the deserted city, which he describes as a stony height surrounded
with a precipice and separated from Mt. Hedylium only by the river Assus. (Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. ii. pp. 97, 195.)
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PETEON (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eth. Peteonios. A town of Boeotia, mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 500),
was situated near the road from Thebes to Anthedon. (Strab. ix. p. 410.) Strabo
contradicts himself in the course of the same page, in one passage placing Peteon
in the Thebais, and in another in the Haliartia. (Comp. Plut. Narr. Am. 4; Plin.
iv. 7. s. 12; Steph. B. s. v.) The position of Peteon is uncertain. Leake supposes
it may be represented by some ancient remains at the southern extremity of the
lake Paralimni. (Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 320.)
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PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Plataeae (Plataia, Plataiai, Eth. Plataieus, Plataeensis). An ancient
city of Boeotia, was situated upon the frontiers of Attica at the foot of Mt.
Cithaeron, and between that mountain and the river Asopus, which divided its territory
from that of Thebes. (Strab. ix. p. 411.) The two cities were about 6 1/2 miles
apart by the road, but the direct distance was little more than 5 geographical
miles. According to the Thebans Plataea was founded by them (Thuc. iii. 61); but
Pausanias represents the Plataeans as indigenous, and according to their own account
they derived their name from Plataea, a daughter of Asopus. (Paus. ix. 1. § 1.)
Plataea is mentioned in Homer among the other Boeotian cities. (Il. ii. 504.)
In B.C. 519 Plataea, unwilling to submit to the supremacy of Thebes, and unable
to resist her powerful neighbour with her own unaided resources, formed a close
alliance with Athens, to which she continued faithful during the whole of her
subsequent history. (Herod. vi. 108; Thuc. iii. 68.) She sent 1000 men to the
assistance of Athens at Marathon, and shared in the glories of that victory. (Herod,
l. c.) The Plataeans also fought at Artemisium, but were not present at Salamis,
as they had to leave the fleet in order to remove their families and property
from the city, in consequence of the approach of the Persian army. (Herod. viii.
44.) Upon the arrival of the Persians shortly afterwards their city was burnt
to the ground. (Herod. viii. 50.) In the following year (B.C. 479) their territory
was the scene of the memorable battle, which delivered Greece from the Persian
invaders. The history of this battle illustrates so completely the topography
of the Plataean territory, that it is necessary to give an account of the different
positions taken by the contending forces (See accompanying Map). Mardonius proceeded
from Attica into Boeotia across Mount Parnes by the pass of Deceleia, and took
up a position on the bank of the Asopus, where he caused a fortified camp to be
constructed of 10 stadia square. The situation was well selected, since he had
the friendly city of Thebes in his rear, and was thus in no danger of falling
short of provisions. (Herod. ix. 15.) The Grecian army crossed over from Attica
by Mt. Cithaeron; but as Pausanias did not choose to expose his troops to the
attacks of the Persian cavalry on the plain, he stationed them on the slopes of
the mountain, near Erythrae, where the ground was rugged and uneven. This position
did not, however, altogether preserve them; but, in an attack made by the Persian
cavalry, a body of 300 Athenians repulsed them, and killed their leader Masistius.
This success encouraged Pausanias to descend into the territory of Plataea, more
especially as it was better supplied with water than his present position. Marching
from Erythrae in a westerly position along the roots of Mt. Cithaeron, and passing
by Hysiae, he drew up his army along the right bank of the Asopus, partly upon
hills of no great height and partly upon a lofty plain, the right wing being near
the fountain Gargaphia, and the left near the chapel of the Plataean hero Androcrates.
(Herod. ix. 25 - 30.) Mardonius drew up his army opposite to them on the other
side of the Asopus. The two armies remained in this position for some days, neither
party being willing to begin the attack. The Persians assailed the Greeks at a
distance with their missiles, and prevented them altogether from watering at the
Asopus. Meantime the Persian cavalry intercepted the convoys of provisions proceeding
to the Grecian camp, and on one occasion drove away the Lacedaemonians, who occupied
the right wing from the fountain Gargaphia, and succeeded in choking it up. This
fountain had been of late the only watering-place of the Greeks; and as their
ground was now untenable, Pausanias resolved to retreat in the night to a place
called the Island (nesos), about 10 stadia in the rear of their present position,
and halfway between the latter and the town of Plataea. The spot selected, improperly
called an island, was, in fact, a level meadow, comprised between two branches
of the river Oeroe, which, rising from distinct sources in Mt. Cithaeron, and
running for some space nearly parallel with one another, at length unite and flow
in a westerly direction into the gulf of Corinth. (Herod. ix. 51.) The nature
of the ground would thus afford to the Greeks abundance of water, and protection
from the enemy's cavalry. The retreat, however, though for so short a distance,
was effected in disorder and confusion. The Greek centre, chiefly composed of
Megarians and Corinthians, probably fearing that the island would not afford them
sufficient protection against the enemy's cavalry, did not halt till they reached
the temple of Hera, which was in front of the town of Plataea. The Lacedaemonians
on the right wing were delayed till the day began to dawn, by the obstinacy of
Amompharetus, and then began to march across the hills which separated them from
the island. The Athenians on the left wing began their march at the same time,
and got round the hills to the plain on the other side on their way to the island.
After marching 10 stadia, Pausanias halted on the bank of the Moloeis, at a place
called Agriopius, where stood a temple of the Eleusinian Demeter. Here he was
joined by Amompharetus, and here he had to sustain the attack of the Persians,
who had rushed across the Asopus and up the hill after the retreating foe. As
soon as Pausanias was overtaken by the Persians, he sent to the Athenians to entreat
them to hasten to his aid; but the coming up of the Boeotians prevented them from
doing so. Accordingly the Lacedaemonians and Tegeatans had to encounter the Persians
alone without any assistance from the other Greeks, and to them alone belongs
the glory of the victory. The Persians were defeated with great slaughter, nor
did they stop in their flight till they had again crossed the Asopus and reached
their fortified camp. The Thebans also were repulsed by the Athenians, but they
retreated in good order to Thebes, being covered by their cavalry from the pursuit
of the Athenians. The Greek centre, which was nearly 10 stadia distant, had no
share in the battle; but hearing that the Lacedaemonians were gaining the victory,
they hastened to the scene of action, and, coining up in confusion, as many as
600 were cut to pieces by the Theban force. Meantime the Lacedaemonians pursued
the Persians to the fortified camp, which, however, they were unable to take until
the Athenians, more skilled in that species of warfare, came to their assistance.
The barricades were then carried, and a dreadful carnage ensued. With the exception
of 40,000 who retreated with Artabazus, only 3000 of the original 300,000 are
said to have escaped. (Herod. ix. 50 - 70.)
As this signal victory had been gained on the soil of Plataea, its
citizens received especial honour and rewards from the confederate Greeks. Not
only was the large sum of 80 talents granted to them, which they employed in erecting
a temple to Athena, but they were charged with the duty of rendering every year
religious honours to the tombs of the warriors who had fallen in the battle, and
of celebrating every five years the festival of the Eleutheria in commemoration
of the deliverance of the Greeks from the Persian yoke. The festival was sacred
to Zeus Eleutherius, to whom a temple was now erected at Plataea. In return for
these services Pausanias and the other Greeks swore to guarantee the independence
and inviolability of the city and its territory (Thuc. ii. 71; Plut. Arist. c.
19 - 21; Strab. ix. p. 412; Paus. ix. 2. § 4.)
Plataea was of course now rebuilt, and its in.. habitants continued
unmolested till the commencement of the Peloponnesian War. In the spring of B.C.
431, before any actual declaration of war, a party of 300 Thebans attempted to
surprise Plataea. They were admitted within the walls in the night time by an
oligarchical party of the citizens; but the Plataeans soon recovered from their
surprise, and put to death 180 of the assailants. (Thuc. ii. 1, seq.) In the third
year of the war (B.C. 429) the Peloponnesian army under the command of Archidamus
laid siege to Plataea. This siege is one of the most memorable in the annals of
Grecian warfare, and has been narrated at great length by Thucydides. The Plataeans
had previously deposited at Athens their old men, women, and children; and the
garrison of the city consisted of only 400 citizens and 80 Athenians, together
with 110 women to manage their household affairs. Yet this small force set at
defiance the whole army of the Peloponnesians, who, after many fruitless attempts
to take the city by assault, converted the siege into a blockade, and raised a
circumvallation round the city, consisting of two parallel walls, 16 feet asunder,
with a ditch on either side. In the second year of the blockade 212 of the besieged
during a tempestuous winter's night succeeded in scaling the walls of circumvallation
and reaching Athens in safety. In the course of the ensuing summer (B.C. 427)
the remainder of the garrison were obliged, through failure of provisions, to
surrender to the Peloponnesians. They were all put to death; and all the private
buildings rased to the ground by the Thebans, who with the materials erected a
sort of vast barrack round the temple of Hera, both for the accommodation of visitors,
and to serve as an abode for those to whom they let out the land. A new temple,
of 100 feet in length (neos hekatompedos), was also built by the Thebans in honour
of Hera. (Thuc. ii. 71, seq., iii. 20, seq., 52, seq., 68.)
The surviving Plataeans were kindly received by the Athenians. They
would appear even before this time to have enjoyed the right of citizenship at
Athens (Athenaion xummachoi kai politai, Thuc. iii. 63). The exact nature of this
citizenship is uncertain ; but that it was not the full citizenship, possessed
by Athenian citizens, appears from a line of Aristophanes, who speaks of certain
slaves, who had been engaged in sea-fights, being made Plataeans (kai Plataias
euthus einai kanai doulon despotas, Ran. 706; comp. Schol. ad Aristoph. Ran. 33;
Bockh, Public Econ. of Athens, p. 262, 2nd ed.). Diodorus, in relating their return
to Athens at a subsequent time, says (xv. 46) that they received the isopoliteia;
but that some of them at any rate enjoyed nearly the full privileges of Athenian
citizens appears from the decree of the people quoted by Demosthenes (c. Neaer.
p. 1380).
In B.C. 420 the Athenians gave the Plataeans the town of Scione as
a residence. (Thuc. v. 32 ; Isocr. Paneg. § 109; Diodor. xii. 76.) At the close
of the Peloponnesian War, they were compelled to evacuate Scione (Plut. Lysand.
14), and again found a hospitable welcome at Athens. Here they were living at
the time of the peace of Antalcidas (B.C. 387), which guaranteed the autonomy
of the Grecian cities; and the Lacedaemonians, who were now anxious to humble
the power of Thebes, took advantage of it to restore the Plataeans to their native
city. (Paus. ix. 1. § 4; Isocrat. Plataic. § 13, seq.) But the Plataeans did not
long retain possession of their city, for in B.C. 372 it was surprised by the
Thebans and again destroyed. The Plataeans were compelled once more to seek refuge
at Athens. (Paus. ix. 1. § § 5 - 8; Diodor. xv. 46.) The wrongs done to the Plataeans
by Thebes are set forth in a speech of Isocrates, entitled Plataicus, which was
perhaps actually delivered at this time by a Plataean speaker before the public
assembly at Athens. (Grote's Greece, vol. x. p. 220.) After the battle of Chaeroneia
(B.C. 338) the Plataeans were once more restored to their city by Philip. (Paus.
ix. 1. § 8, iv. 27. § 11.) It was shortly after this time that Plataea was visited
by Dicaearchus, who calls the Plataeans Athenaioi Boiotoi, and remarks that they
have nothing to say for themselves, except that they are colonists of the Athenians,
and that the battle between the Greeks and the Persians took place near their
town. (Descript. Graec. p. 14, Hudson.)
After its restoration by Philip, the city continued to be inhabited
till the latest times. It was visited by Pausanias, who mentions three temples,
one of Hera, another of Athena Areia, and a third of Demeter Eleusinia. Pausanias
speaks of only one temple of Hera, which he describes as situated within the city,
and worthy of admiration on account of its magnitude and of the offerings with
which it was adorned (ix. 2. § 7). This was apparently the temple built by the
Thebans after the destruction of Plataea. (Thuc. iii. 68.) It is probable that
the old temple of Hera mentioned by Herodotus, and which he describes as outside
the city (ix. 52), was no longer repaired after the erection of the new one, and
had disappeared before the visit of Pausanias. The temple of Athena Areia was
built according to Pausanias (ix. 4. § 1) out of a share of the spoils of Marathon,
but according to Plutarch (Arist. 20) with the 80 talents out of the spoils of
Plataea, as mentioned above. The temple was adorned with pictures by Polygnotus
and Onatas, and with a statue of the goddess by Pheidias. Of the temple of Demeter
Eleusinia we have no details, but it was probably erected in consequence of the
battle having been fought near a temple of Demeter Eleusinia at Argiopius. (Herod.
ix. 57.) The temple of Zeus Eleutherius (Strab. ix. p. 412) seems to have been
reduced in the time of Pausanias to an altar and a statue. It was situated outside
the city. (Paus. ix. 2. § § 5 - 7.)
Plataea is mentioned in the sixth century by Hierocles (p. 645, Wesseling)
among the cities of Boeotia; and its walls were restored by Justinian. (Procop.
de Aedif. iv. 2.)
The ruins of Plataea are situated near the small village of Kokela.
The circuit of the walls may still be traced in great part. They are about two
miles and a half in circumference; but this was the size of the city restored
by Philip, for not only is the earlier city, before its destruction by the Thebans,
described by Thucydides (ii. 77) as small, but we find at the southern extremity
of the existing remains more ancient masonry than in any other part of the ruins.
Hence Leake supposes that the ancient city was confined to this part. He observes
that the masonry in general, both of the Acropolis and of the town, has the appearance
of not being so old as the time of the battle. The greater part is of the fourth
order, but mixed with portions of a less regular kind, and with some pieces of
polygonal masonry. The Acropolis, if an interior inclosure can be so called, which
is not on the highest part of the site, is constructed in part of stones which
have evidently been taken from earlier buildings. The towers of this citadel are
so formed as to present flanks to the inner as well as to the outer face of the
intermediate walls, whereas the town walls have towers, like those of the Turks,
open to the interior. Above the southern wall of the city are foundations of a
third inclosure; which is evidently more ancient than the rest, and is probably
the only part as old as the Persian War, when it may have been the Acropolis of
the Plataea of that age. It surrounds a rocky height, and terminates to the S.
in an acute angle, which is only separated by a level of a few yards from the
foot of the great rocky slope of Cithaeron. This inclosure is in a situation higher
than any other part of the ancient site, and higher than the village of Kokela,
from which it is 500 yards distant to the E. Its walls are traceable on the eastern
side along a torrent, a branch of the Oeroe, nearly as far as the south-eastern
angle of the main inclosure of the city. In a church within this upper inclosure
are some fragments of an inscribed marble. (Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 325.)
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POTNIES (Ancient city) THIVA
Potniai Eth. Potnieus, fem. Potnias. a village of Boeotia, on the
road from Thebes to Plataea, distant 10 stadia from the former city. It was in
ruins in the time of Pausanias, and contained a grove sacred to Demeter and Cora
(Proserpine). Potniae is celebrated in mythology as the residence of Glaucus,
who was torn to pieces by his infuriated mares. According to Strabo some authorities
regarded Potniae as the Hypothebae of Homer (Il. ii. 505). Gell places Potniae
in the neighbourhood of the modern village of Taki.
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SALGANEFS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Salganeus; (Liv. uses the Gr. ace. Salganea) Eth. Salganios. A town
upon the eastern coast of Boeotia, and between Chalcis and Anthedon, is said to
have derived its name from a Boeotian, who served as pilot to the Persian fleet
of Xerxes, and was put to death upon suspicion of treachery, because no outlet
appeared to the channel of the Euripus; but the Persian commander, having found
out his mistake, erected a monument on the spot, where the town was afterwards
built. (Strab. ix. p. 403; Dicaearch. Stat. Graec. p. 19; Steph. B. s. v.). Salganeus
was considered an important place from its commanding the northern entrance to
the Euripus. (Diod. xix. 77; Liv. xxxv. 37, 46, 51.) The remains of the town stand
directly under the highest summit of Mount Messapium, in the angle where the plain
terminates, and upon the side of a small port. The citadel occupied a height rising
from the shore, 90 yards in length, and about 50 broad, and having a flat summit
sloping from the SE. towards the sea. There are remains of walls on the crest
of the summit, and on the SE. side of the height. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol.
ii. p. 267.)
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SCHINOS (Ancient city) THIVES
Schoinous. The name of several towns, from the reeds or rushes growing
in their neighbourhood (usually Schoinos). A town in Boeotia, mentioned by Homer
(Il. ii. 497), and placed by Stabo upon a river of the same name in the territory
of Thebes, upon the road to Anthedon, and at the distance of 50 stadia from Thebes.
(Strab. ix. p. 408; Eustath. ad loc.; Steph. B. s. v.; Nicander, Theriac. 887;
Plin. iv. 7. s. 12.) This river is probably the stream flowing into the lake of
Hylica from the valley of Moriki, and which near its mouth is covered with rushes.
Nicander is clearly wrong, who makes the Schoenus flow into the lake Copais. (Ulrichs,
Reisen, p. 258; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 320.) Schoenus was the birthplace
of the celebrated Atalanta, the daughter of Schoenus (Paus. viii. 35. § 10); and
hence Statius gives to Schoenus the epithet of Atalantaeus.
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SKOLOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Skolos. A town of Chalcidice near Olynthus, mentioned together with Spartolus,
in the treaty between Athens and Sparta in the tenth year of the Peloponnesian
War.
STIRIS (Ancient city) DISTOMO
Eth. Stirites. A town of Phocis situated 120 stadia from Chaeroneia,
the road between the two places running across the mountains. The inhabitants
of Stiris claimed descent from an Athenian colony of the Attic demus of Steiria,
led by Peteus, when he was driven out of Attica by Aegeus. Pausanias describes
the city as situated upon a rocky summit, with only a few wells, which did not
supply water fit for drinking, which the inhabitants obtained from a fountain,
four stadia below the city, to which fountain there was a descent excavated among
the rocks. The city contained in the time of Pausanias a temple of Artemis Stiritis,
made of crude brick, containing two statues, one of Pentelic marble, the other
of ancient workmanship, covered with bandages. (Paus. x. 35. § § 8 - 10.) Stiris
was one of the Phocian cities destroyed by Philip at the close of the Sacred War
(Paus. x. 3. § 2); but it was afterwards rebuilt and was inhabited at the time
of the visit of Pausanias. The ruins of Stiris, now called Palea khora, are situated
upon a tabular height defended by precipitous rocks, about a quarter of an hour's
ride from the monastery of St. Luke. The summit is surrounded with a wall of loose
construction, and the surface of the rock within the inclosure is excavated in
many places for habitations. The fountain of water described by Pausanias is probably
the copious source within the walls of the monastery issuing from the side of
the hill. This fountain is mentioned in an inscription fixed in the outer wall
of the church. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 528, seq.)
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TANAGRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eth. Tanagraios: the territory Tanagraia, Paus. ix. 22. § 1, and Tanagraike
or Tanagrike, Strab. ix. p. 404: Adj. Tanagrikos: Grimadha or Grimala), a town
of Boeotia, situated upon the left bank of the Asopus, in a fertile plain, at
the distance of 130 stadia from Oropus and 200 from Plataeae (Dicaearch. Stat.
Gr. pp. 12, 14, ed. Hudson). Several ancient writers identified Tanagra with the
Homeric Graea (Graia. Hom. Il. ii. 498; Lycophr. 644); but others supposed them
to be distinct places, and Aristotle regarded Oropus as the ancient Graea. (Steph.
B. s. v. Tanagra; Strab. ix. p. 404; Paus. ix. 20. § 2.) It is possible, as Leake
has remarked, that Tanagra, sometimes written Tanagraea, may be connected with
the ancient name Graea, Tana, being an Aeolic suffix, and that the modern name
Grimadhla or Grimala may retain traces of the Homeric name. Tanagra was also called
Poemandria, and its territory Poemandris, from the fertile meadows which surrounded
the city. (Steph. B. s. v.; Strab. ix. p. 404.) The most ancient inhabitants of
Tanagra are said to have been the Gephyraei, who came from Phoenicia with Cadmus,
and from thence emigrated to Athens. (Herod. v. 57; Strab. ix. p. 404). From its
vicinity to Attica the territory of Tanagra was the scene of more than one battle.
In B.C. 457 the Lacedaemonians on their return from an expedition to Doris, took
up a position at Tanagra, near the borders of Attica, with the view of assisting
the oligarchical party at Athens to overthrow the democracy. The Athenians, with
a thousand Argeians and some Thessalian horse, crossed Mount Parnes and advanced,
against the Lacedaemonians. Both sides fought with great bravery; but the Lacedaemonians
gained the victory, chiefly through the treacherous desertion of the Thessalians
in the very heat of the engagement. (Thuc. i. 107, 108; Diod. xi. 80.) At the
begining of the following year (B.C. 456), and only sixty-two days after their
defeat at Tanagra, the Athenians under Myronides again invaded Boeotia, and gained
at Oenophyta, in the territory of Tanagra, a brilliant and decisive victory over
the Boeotians, which made them masters of the whole country. The walls of Tanagra
were now razed to the ground. (Thuc. i. 108; Diod. xi. 81, 82.) In B.C. 426 the
Athenians made an incursion into the territory of Tanagra, and on their return
defeated the Tanagraeans and Boeotians. (Thuc. iii. 91.) Dicaearchus, who visited
Tanagra in the time of Cassander, says that the city stands on a rugged and lofty
height, and has a white chalky appearance. The houses are adorned with handsome
porticoes and encaustic paintings. The surrounding country does not grow much.
corn, but produces the best wine in Boeotia. Dicaearchus adds that the inhabitants
are wealthy but frugal, being for the most part landholders, not manufacturers;
and he praises them for their justice, good faith, and hospitality. In the time
of Augustus, Tanagra and Thespiae were the two most prosperous cities in Boeotia.
(Strab. ix. p. 403.) Tanagra is called by Pliny (iv. 7. s. 12) a free state; it
is mentioned by Ptolemy (iii. 15. § 20); and it continued to flourish in the sixth
century. (Hierocl. p. 645.) Its public buildings are described at some length
by Pausanias (ix. 20. § 3, seq.). The principal temple was that of Dionysus, which
contained a celebrated statue of Parian marble, by Calamis, and a remarkable Triton.
Near it were temples of Themis, Aphrodite and Apollo, and two of Hermes, in one
of which he was worshipped as Criophorus, and in the other as Promachus. Near
the latter was the theatre, and probably at no great distance the gymnasium, which
contained a picture of Corinna, who was a native of Tanagra. There was also a
monument of this poetess in a conspicuous part of the city. Pausanias remarks
as a peculiarity in Tanagra, that all their sacred buildings were placed by themselves,
apart from the houses of the town (ix. 22. § 2.) He likewise notices (ix. 22.
§ 4) that Tanagra was famous for its breed of fighting-cocks, a circumstance which
is mentioned by other writers. (Varr. de Re Rust. iii. 9. § 6; Hesych. s. v. Koloiphrux;
Suidas, s. v. Tanagraioi alektoriskoi.) Tanagra possessed a considerable territory;
and Strabo (ix. p. 405) mentions four villages belonging to it, Eleon or Heleon,
Harma, Mycalessus, and Pharae. (Pherae, Plin. iv. 7. s. 12).
The ruins of Tanagra are situated at an uninhabited spot, called Grimadha
or Grimala, situated 3 miles south of the village of Skimatari. The site is a
large bill nearly circular, rising from the north bank of the Asopus. The upper
part of the site is rocky and abrupt, looking down upon the town beneath; and
it was probably upon this upper height that the sacred edifices stood apart from
the other buildings of the town. The walls of the city which embraced a circuit
of about two miles, may still be traced, but they are a mere heap of ruins. About
100 yards below the height already described are the remains of the theatre, hollowed
out of the slope. On the terrace below the theatre to the NE. are the foundations
of a public building, formed of marble of a very dark colour with a green cast.
The ground is thickly strewn in every direction with remains of earthenware, betokening
the existence of a numerous population in former times.
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TEFMISSOS (Ancient city) THIVES
Teumessos: Eth. Teumessios. A village in Boeotia, situated in the
plain of Thebes, upon a low rocky hill of the same name. The name of this hill
appears to have been also given to the range of mountains separating the plain
of Thebes from the valley of the Asopus. Teumessus was upon the road from Thebes
to Chalcis (Paus. ix. 19. § 1), at the distance of 100 stadia from the former.
(Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 1105.) It is mentioned in one of the Homeric hymns (Hymn.
in Apoll. 228) with the epithet lechepoie or grassy, an epithet justified by the
rich plain which surrounds the town. Teumessus is celebrated in the epic legends,
especially on account of the Teumessian fox, which ravaged the territory of Thebes.
(Paus. l. c.; Anton. Lib. 41; Palaeph. de Incrsedib. 8.) The only building at
Teumessus mentioned by Pausanias was a, temple of Athena Telchinia, without any
statue.
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TEGYRA (Ancient city) ORCHOMENOS
Tegura: Eth. Tegureus. A village of Boeotia, near Orchomenus, and
situated above the marshes of the river Melas. It was celebrated for its oracle
and Temple of Apollo, who was even said to have been born there. In its neighbourhood
was a mountain named Delos. Leake places Tegyra at Xeropyrgo, situated 3 miles
ENE. of Skripu (Orchomenus), on the heights which bound the marshes.
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THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Thespiai (also Thespeia or Thespia, Eth. Thespieus, Thespiensis, fern.
Thespias, Thespis: Adj. Thespiakos, Thespius, Thespiacus). An ancient city of
Boeotia, situated at the foot of Mt. Helicon, looking towards the south and the
Crissaean gulf, where stood its port-town Creusa or Creusis. (Strab. ix. p. 409;
Paus. ix. 26. § 6; Steph. B. s. v.) Thespiae was said to have derived its name
from Thespia, a daughter of Asopus, or from Thespius, a son of Erechtheus, who
migrated from Athens. (Paus. l. c.; Diod. iv. 29.) The city is mentioned in the
catalogue of Homer. (Il. ii. 498.) Thespiae, like Plataea, was one of the Boeotian
cities inimical to Thebes, which circumstance affected its whole history. Thus
Thespiae and Plataea were the only two Boeotian cities that refused to give earth
and water to the heralds of Xerxes. (Herod. vii. 132.) Seven hundred Thespians
joined Leonidas at Thermopylae; and they remained to perish with the 300 Spartans,
when the other Greeks retired. (Herod. vii. 202, 222.) Their city was burnt by
Xerxes, when he overran Boeotia, and the inhabitants withdrew to Peloponnesus.
(Herod. viii. 50.) The survivors, to the number of 1800, fought at the battle
of Plataea in the following year, but they were reduced to such distress that
they had no heavy armour. (Herod. ix. 30.) After the expulsion of the Persians
from Greece, Thespiae was rebuilt, and the inhabitants recruited their numbers
by the admission of strangers as citizens. (Herod. viii. 75.) At. the battle of
Delium (B.C. 424) the Thespians fought on the left wing against the Athenians,
and were almost all slain at their post. (Thuc. iv. 93, seq.) In the following
year (B.C. 423), the Thebans destroyed the walls of Thespiae, on the charge of
Atticism, the Thespians being unable to offer any resistance in consequence of
the heavy loss they had sustained while fighting upon the side of the Thebans.
(Thuc. iv. 133.) In B.C. 414 the democratical party at Thespiae attempted to overthrow
the existing government; but the latter receiving assistance from Thebes, many
of the conspirators withdrew to Athens. (Thuc. vi. 95.) In B.C. 372 the walls
of Thespiae were again destroyed by the Thebans. According to Diodorus (xv.46)
and Xenophon (Hell. vi. 3. § 1) Thespiae was at this time destroyed by the Thebans,
and the inhabitants driven out of Boeotia; but this happened after the battle
of Leuctra, and Mr. Grote (Hist, of Greece, vol. x. p. 219) justly infers from
a passage in Isocrates that the fortifications of the city were alone demolished
at this period. Pausanias expressly states that a contingent of Thespians was
present in the Theban army at the time of the battle of Leuctra, and availed themselves
of the permission of Epaminondas to retire before the battle. (Paus. ix. 13. §
8, ix. 14. § 1.) Shortly afterwards the Thespians were expelled from Boeotia by
the Thebans. (Paus. ix. 14. § 2.) Thespiae was afterwards rebuilt, and is mentioned
in the Roman wars in Greece. (Polyb. xxvii. 1; Liv. xlii. 43.) In the time of
Strabo, Thespiae and Tanagra were the only places in Boeotia that deserved the
name of cities. (Strab. ix. p. 410.) Pliny calls Thespiae a free town ( liberum
oppidum, iv. 7. s. 12). It is also mentioned by Ptolemy (iii. 15. § 20) and in
the Antonine Itinerary (p. 326, ed. Wess.), and it was still in existence in the
sixth century (Hierocl. p. 645, ed. Wess.).
Eros or Love was the deity chiefly worshipped at Thespiae; and the
earliest representation of the god in the form of a rude stone still existed in
the city in the time of Pausanias (ix. 27. § 1). The courtesan Phryne, who was
born at Thespiae, presented to her native city the celebrated statue of Love by
Praxiteles, which added greatly to the prosperity of the place in consequence
of the great numbers of strangers who visited the city for the purpose of seeing
it. (Dicaearch. § 25, ed. Muller; Cic. Verr. iv. 2; Strab. ix. p. 410, who erroneously
calls the courtesan Glycera; Paus. ix. 27. § 3.) In the time of Pausanias there
was only an imitation of it at Thespiae by Menodorus. Among the other works of
art in this city Pausanias noticed a statue of Eros by Lysippus, statues of Aphrodite
and Phryne by Praxiteles; the agora, containing a statue of Hesiod; the theatre,
a temple of Aphrodite Melaenis, a temple of the Muses, containing their figures
in stone of small size, and an ancient temple of Hercules. (Paus. ix. 27.) Next
to Eros, the Muses were specially honoured at Thespiae; and the festivals of the
Erotidia and Mouseia celebrated by the Thespians on Mt. Helicon, at the end of
every four years, are mentioned by several ancient writers. (Paus. ix. 31. § 3;
Plut. Amat. 1; Athen. xiii. p. 561; K. F. Hermann, Lehrbuch der gottesd. Alterth.
§ 63, n. 4.) Hence the Muses are frequently called Thespiades by the Latin writers.
(Varr. L. L. vii. 2; Cic. Verr. ii. 4; Ov. Met. v. 310; Plin. xxxvi. 5. s. 4,
§ 39, ed. Sillig.)
The remains of Thespiae are situated at a place called Lefka from
a deserted village of that name near the village of Erimokastro or Rimokastro.
Unlike most other Greek cities, it stands in a plain surrounded by hills on either
side, and its founders appear to have chosen the site in consequence of its abundant
supply of water, the sources of the river Kanavari rising here. Leake noticed
the foundations of an oblong or oval enclosure, built of very solid masonry of
a regular kind, about half a mile in circumference; but he observes that all the
adjacent ground to the SE. is covered, like the interior of the fortress, with
ancient foundations, squared stones, and other remains, proving that if the enclosure
was the only fortified part of the city, many of the public and private edifices
stood without the walls. The site of some of the ancient temples is probably marked
by the churches, which contain fragments of architraves, columns, and other ancient
remains.
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THISVI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Thisbai, Eth. Thisbaios. A town of Boeotia, described by Strabo as
situated at a short distance from the sea, under the southern side of Helicon,
bordering upon the confines of Thespiae and Coroneia. (Strab. ix. p. 411.) Thisbe
is mentioned by Homer, who says that it abounds in wild pigeons (polutretrona
te Thisben, Il. ii. 502); and both Strabo and Stephlanus B. remark that this epithet
was given to the city from the abundance of wild pigeons at the harbour of Thisbe.
Xenophon remarks that Cleombrotus marched through the territory of Thisbe on his
way to Creusis before the battle of Leuctra. (Hell. vi. 4. § 3.) The only public
building at Thisbe mentioned by Pausanias (ix. 32. § 3) was a temple of Hercules,
to whom a festival was celebrated. The same writer adds that between the mountain
on the sea-side and the mountain at the foot of which the town stood, there is
a plain which would be inundated by the water flowing into it, were it not for
a mole or causeway constructed through the middle, by means of which the water
is diverted every year into the part of the plain lying on one side of the causeway,
while that on the other is cultivated. The ruins of Thisbe are found at Kakosia.
The position is between two great summits of the mountain, now called Karamunghi
and Paleovuna, which rise majestically above the vale, clothed with trees, in
the upper part, and covered with snow at the top. The modern village lies in a
little hollow surrounded on all sides by low cliffs connected with the last falls
of the mountain. The walls of Thisbe were about a mile in circuit, following the
crest of the cliffs which surround the village; they are chiefly preserved on
the side towards Dobrena and the south-east. The masonry is for the most part
of the fourth order, or faced with equal layers of large, oblong, quadrangular
stones on the outside, the interior as usual being filled with loose rubble. On
the principal height which lies towards the mountain, and which is an entire mass
of rock, appear some reparations of a later date than the rest of the walls, and
there are many Hellenic foundations on the face of this rock towards the village.
In the cliffs outside the walls, to the northwest and south, there are many sepulchral
excavations. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 506.) Leake observed the mole
or causeway which Pausanias describes, and which serves for a road across the
marsh to the port. The same writer remarks that, as the plain of Thisbe is completely
surrounded by heights, there is no issue for the river which rises in the Ascraea
and here terminates. The river crosses the causeway into the marsh by two openings,
the closing of which in the winter or spring would at any time cause the upper
part of the plain to be inundated, and leave the lower fit for cultivation in
the summer; but as the river is now allowed to flow constantly through them, the
western side is always in a state of marsh, and the ground has become much higher
on the eastern side.
The port of Thisbe is now called Vathy. The shore is very rocky, and
abounds in wild pigeons, as Strabo and Stephanus have observed; but there is also
a considerable number at Kakosia itself. The Roman poets also allude to the pigeons
of Thisbe. Hence Ovid (Met. xi. 300) speaks of the Thisbaeae columbae, and Statius
(Theb. vii. 261) describes Thisbe as Dionaeis avibus circumsona. Thisbe is mentioned
both by Pliny (iv. 7. s. 12) and Ptolemy (iii. 15. § 20).
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TIFA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Siphai, Tipha, Eth. Giphaios, Tiphaieus. A town of Boeotia, upon the
Corinthian gulf, which was said to have derived its name from Tiphys, the pilot
of the Argonauts. In the time of Pausanias the inhabitants of Siphae pointed out
the spot where the ship Argo anchored on its return from its celebrated voyage.
The same writer mentions a temple of Hercules at Siphae, in whose honour an annual
festival was celebrated. (Paus. ix. 32. § 4) Thucydides (Thuc. iv. 76), Apollonius
Rhodius (i. 105), and Stephanus B. describe Siphae as a dependency of Thespiae;
and it is accordingly placed by Muller and Kiepert at Alikes. But Leake draws
attention to the fact that Pausanias describes it as lying W. of Thisbe; and he
therefore places it at port Sarandi, near the monastery dedicated to St. Taxiarches,
where are the remains of a small Hellenic city. On this supposition the whole
of the territory of Thisbe would lie between Thespiae and Siphae, which Leake
accounts for by the superiority of Thespiae over all the places in this angle
of Boeotia, whence the whole country lying upon this part of the Corinthian gulf
may have often, in common acceptation, been called the Thespice.
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VOULIS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Boulis. A town of Phocis, on the frontiers of Boeotia, situated upon
a hill, and distant 7 stadia from the Crissaean gulf, 80 stadia from Thisbe, and
100 from Anticyra. It was founded by the Dorians under Bulon, and for this reason
appears to have belonged to neither the Phocian nor the Boeotian confederacy.
Pausanias, at least, did not regard it as a Phocian town, since he describes it
as bordering upon Phocis. But Stephanus, Pliny, and Ptolemy all assign it to Phocis.
Near Phocis there flowed into the sea a torrent called Heracleius, and there was
also a fountain named Saunium. In the time of Pausanias more than half the population
was employed in fishing for the murex, which-yielded the purple dye, but which
is no longer caught on this coast. (Paus. x. 37. § 2, seq.; Steph. B. s. v.; Plin.
iv. 3. s. 4; Ptol. iii. 15. § 18, who calls it Bouleia; Plut. de Prud. Anim. 31,
where for Bounon we ought to read Bouleon, according to Muller, Orchomenus, p.
482, 2nd ed.) The harbour of Bulis, which Pausanias describes as distant 7 stadia
from the city, is called Mychus (Muchos) by Strabo (ix. pp. 409, 423). The ruins
of Bulis are situated about an hour from the monastery of Dobo. Leake describes
Bulis as occupying the summit of a rocky height which slopes on one side towards
a small harbour, and is defended in the opposite direction by an immense brachos,
or lofty rock, separated by a torrent from the precipitous acclivities of Helicon.
The harbour of Mychus is now called Zalitza.
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YITTOS (Ancient city) ORCHOMENOS
Huettos: Eth. Huettios. A village of Boeotia, said to have been founded
by the Argive Hyettus, contained in the time of Pausanias a temple of Asclepius,
frequented by the sick for the cure of their diseases, where the deity continued
to be worshipped in the form of a rude stone. Pausanias says that Olmones was
situated 12 stadia to the left of Copae, and Hyettus 7 stadia from Olmones. Forchhammer
places Olmones on the small island of Trelo-Yani in the lake Copais, and Hyettus
at Struviki to the west of this island, where some ancient ruins are found on
a small hill jutting out into the lake.
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YLI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Hule: Eth. Hulaios. An ancient town in Boeotia, situated upon the
lake Hylica, which derived its name from this place. (Horm. Il. ii. 500, v. 708,
vii. 221; Strab. ix. pp. 407, 408; Nonn. Dionys. xiii. 66; Plin. iv. 7. s. 12;
Steph. B. s. v.) Moschus, who calls the town Hylae, speaks of it as if he seemed
to believe that it was the native place of Pindar (Pindaron ou popheonti toson
Boiotides *ulai, Mosch. iii. 89); but this is in opposition to all other ancient
authorities. The site of Hyle is uncertain, and is variously placed by modern
authorities. Leake supposes it to be represented by the Paleokastro on the height
between the northern end of the lake and the foot of Mount Palea. Ulrichs places
it at the southern end of the lake, near the mouth of the river Ismenus.
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AKREFNION (Ancient city) THIVES
(Akraiphia) or Acraephiae (Akraiphiai). A town in Boeotia at Lake Copais, in which the Thebans took refuge after their town had been destroyed by Alexander. It contained a temple of Dionysus.
ALIARTOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
An ancient town in Boeotia, south of the lake Copais, destroyed by Xerxes in his invasion of Greece (B.C. 480), but afterwards rebuilt. Under its walls Lysander lost his life (395).
ARMA (Ancient city) TANAGRA
A small place in Boeotia, near Tanagra. It got its name traditionally from the chariot (harma) of Adrastus, which broke down at this place; or, according to others, from the fact that the chariot of Amphiaraus was here swallowed up by the earth.
ASSOPOS (River) VIOTIA
A river of Boeotia rising in Mt. Cithaeron and flowing into the Euripus. On its banks the battle of Plataea was fought.
CHERONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A town in Boeotia, on the Cephissus, near the frontier of Phocis,
memorable for the defeat of the Athenians and the Boeotians by Philip of Macedon,
which crushed the liberties of Greece, B.C. 338, and for Sulla's victory over
the army of Mithridates, B.C. 86. Chaeronea was the birthplace of Plutarch. Several
remains of the ancient city are to be seen at Capraena, more particularly a theatre
excavated in the rock, an aqueduct, and the marble lion (broken in pieces) which
adorned the sepulchre of the Boeotians who fell at the battle of Chaeronea.
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DELION (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A town on the coast of Boeotia, in the territory of Tanagra, near the Attic frontier, named after a temple of Apollo similar to that at Delos. Here the Athenians were defeated by the Boeotians, B.C. 424.
EFTRISSIS (Ancient city) PLATEES
A small town in Boeotia between Thespiae and Plataea with a temple and oracle of Apollo, who had therein the name Eutresites. It was said to have once been the home of Zethus and Amphion.
ELEFSIS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
or Eleusin (Eleusis, Eleusin). An ancient city of Boeotia, which
stood, according to tradition, near Copae and the Lake Copais, and was, together
with another ancient city, named Athenae, inundated by the waters of that lake.
Stephanus of Byzantium reports that when Crates drained the waters which had overspread
the plains the city of Athenae became visible.
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ELIKON (Mountain) VIOTIA
A famous mountain in Boeotia, near the Gulf of Corinth. It was
sacred to Apollo and the Muses, who were thence called Heliconiades. This mountain
was famed for the purity of its air, the abundance of its water, its fertile valleys,
the density of its shades, and the beauty of the venerable trees which clothed
its sides. On the summit was the grove of the Muses, where these divinities had
their statues, and where also were statues of Apollo and Hermes, of Bacchus by
Lysippus, of Orpheus, and of famous poets and musicians. A little below the grove
was the fountain of Aganippe. The source Hippocrene was about twenty stadia above
the grove. It is said to have burst forth when the horse Pegasus struck his hoof
into the ground, whence its name, hippou krene. These two springs supplied two
small rivers named Olmius and Permessus, which, after uniting their waters, flowed
into the lake Copais, near Haliartus. The modern name of Helicon is Palaeovouni,
and of Hippocrene, Kryopegadi, or "cold spring."
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KIFISSOS (River) VIOTIA
A celebrated river of Greece, that rises at the foot of Parnassus,
close to Lilaea, and, after traversing the plains of Phocis and part of the Boeotian
territory, empties into the Copaic Lake in the latter country. Hesiod compares
it to a serpent, from the many sinuosities of its course. The modern name is Mauro
Potamo. According to the poets, the son of the river-god Cephissus introduced
the worship of the Graces into Boeotia, and hence the peculiar attachment which
they were said to have for the waters of this stream.
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KITHERON (Mountain) VIOTIA
A lofty range of mountains, separating Boeotia from Megaris and Attica. It was sacred to Dionysus and the Muses, and was celebrated for the death of Pentheus (q.v.) and Actaeon (q.v.). Here was celebrated the festival called Daedala (q.v.).
KOPES (Ancient city) THIVES
An ancient town in Boeotia, on the north side of the lake Copais, which derived its name from this place.
KORONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Koroneia. A town in Boeotia, southwest of Lake Copais, and a
member of the Boeotian League. Here in B.C. 447, the Boeotians defeated the Athenians;
and in B.C. 394, the allied Greeks were defeated by Agesilaus.
LEFKTRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A small town in Boeotia, on the road from Plataeae to Thespiae, memorable for the victory of Epaminondas and the Thebans over the Spartans in B.C. 371.
LEFYSTION (Mountain) LEVADIA
(Laphustion). A mountain in Boeotia, about twenty stadia to the north of Coronea, on which Zeus had a temple, whence he was called Laphystius. It was here that Athamas prepared to immolate Phrixus and Helle, whom Zeus saved by sending them a golden ram.
LEVADIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A town in Boeotia, between Chaeronea and Mount Helicon, at the foot of a rock, in a cave of which was the celebrated oracle of Trophonius.
MEDEON (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A town in Boeotia, near Onchestus and Lake Copais.
OGCHISTOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
An ancient town of Boeotia, situated a little south of Lake Copais, near Haliartus, said to have been founded by Onchestus, son of Poseidon.
OKALEI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
(Okalea). An ancient town in Boeotia, situated on a river of the same name falling into Lake Copais.
ORCHOMENOS (Archaeological site) VIOTIA
(Orchomenos). An ancient, wealthy, and powerful city of Boeotia,
the capital of the Minyans in the ante-historical ages of Greece, and hence called
by Homer the Minyan Orchomenos. It was situated northwest of the lake Copa is,
on the river Cephissus. Sixty years after the Trojan War it was taken by the Boeotians,
and became a member of the Boeotian League. It continued to exist as an independent
town till B.C. 367, when it was taken and destroyed by the Thebans; and though
subsequently rebuilt by the Phocians, the Thebans again demolished it. Philip
of Macedon once more restored it (B.C. 338), but it never recovered its former
prosperity. It was famous for its musical festival in honour of the Charites,
who were worshipped here. In the vicinity of Orchomenos Sulla defeated Archelaus,
the general of Mithridates, in B.C. 85. In 1880, 1881, and 1886 extensive excavations
were made here by Dr. Schilemann, who exhumed an ancient "treasury"
or mausoleum larger even than the famous one discovered by him at Mycenae.
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PANAKTON (Ancient city) THIVES
(Panakton). A town on the frontiers of Attica and Boeotia, originally belonged to Boeotia, and after being a frequent object of contention between the Athenians and Boeotians, at length became permanently annexed to Attica.
PANOPEFS (Ancient city) CHERONIA
Panopeus), Panopeae (Panopeai), or Panope (Panope). An ancient town in Phocis on the Cephissus and near the frontiers of Boeotia, twenty stadia west of Chaeronea, said to have been founded by Panopeus, son of Phocus ( Herod.viii. 34).
PARAPOTAMII (Ancient city) CHERONIA
(Parapotamioi). A town of Phocis, on the left bank of the river Cephissus. It was destroyed by Xerxes in the Persian War, but later rebuilt, only to be again destroyed in the Sacred War
PARNASSOS (Mountain) VIOTIA
(Parnassos). A name applied (1) to a range of mountains extending
from Oeta and Corax southeast through Doris and Phocis, and terminating at the
Corinthian Gulf between Cirrha and Anticyra where it was called Cirphis (Kirphis);
and
(2) to the highest part of the range a little north of Delphi,
where it attains an elevation of some 8000 English feet. Its twin peaks are called
Tithorea (Tithorea) and Lycorea (Lukoreia). Here the mountain forms a crescent-shaped
curve of cliffs, known as Phaidriades or "the resplendent," since they
face south and receive the full rays of the sun during the heat of the day. On
the southern slope of Parnassus lay Delphi. The modern name is Liakoura.
On the sides of Parnassus were many caves, romantic grottoes,
and ravines, and it was regarded as a principal abode of Apollo and the Muses.
On Mount Lycorea was the Corycian cave of the latter, and just above Delphi lay
the famous Castalian spring flowing from between the two cliffs known as Nauplia
and Hyamplia. Between Parnassus proper and Mount Cirphis was the valley of the
Plistus, with the sacred road which ran from Delphi to Daulis and Stiris. At the
branch of this road where the two ways parted, Oedipus slew his father Laius.
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PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
(Plataia), more commonly Plataeae (Plataiai). An ancient city
of Boeotia, on the northern slope of Mount Cithaeron, not far from the sources
of the Asopus, and on the frontiers of Attica. It was said to have derived its
name from Plataea, a daughter of Asopus. At an early period the Plataeans deserted
the Boeotian Confederacy and placed themselves under the protection of Athens;
and when the Persians invaded Attica, B.C. 490, they sent 1000 men to the assistance
of the Athenians, and fought on their side at the battle of Marathon. Ten years
afterward (480) their city was destroyed by the Persian army under Xerxes at the
instigation of the Thebans; and the place was still in ruins in the following
year (479), when the memorable battle was fought in their territory in which Mardonius
was defeated, and the independence of Greece secured. In consequence of this victory,
the territory of Plataea was declared inviolable. It now enjoyed a prosperity
of fifty years; but in the third year of the Peloponnesian War (429) the Thebans
persuaded the Spartans to attack the town, and after a siege of two years at length
succeeded in obtaining possession of the place (427). Plataea was now razed to
the ground, but was again rebuilt after the peace of Antalcidas (387). It was
destroyed the third time by its inveterate enemies the Thebans in 374. It was
once more restored under the Macedonian supremacy, and continued in existence
till a very late period.
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POTNIES (Ancient city) THIVA
A small town in Boeotia, on the Asopus. The adjective Potniades is an epithet frequently given to the mares which tore to death Glaucus of Potniae.
SALGANEFS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
or Salganea. A small town of Boeotia, on the Euripus, and on the road from Anthedon to Chalcis.
TANAGRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Now Grimadha or Grimala; a celebrated town of Boeotia, situated
on a steep ascent on the left bank of the Asopus, thirteen stadia from Oropus,
and 200 stadia from Plataeae, in the district Tanagraea, which was also called
Poemandris. Tanagra was supposed to be the same town as the Homeric Graea. Being
near the frontiers of Attica, it was frequently exposed to the attacks of the
Athenians; and near it the Athenians sustained a celebrated defeat, B.C. 457.
Here was a temple to Dionysus, and minor temples erected to Themis, Aphrodite,
Hermes Criophorus, and Hermes Promachus. Recent excavations at Tanagra have discovered
the line of the walls, the site of many of the towers, and of the theatre. In
1873 the Necropolis was explored and yielded many terra-cotta statuettes and "figurines".
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TEFMISSOS (Ancient city) THIVES
A mountain in Boeotia, near Hypatus, and close to Thebes, on the road from the latter place to Chalcis.
THERAPNES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A town in Boeotia.
THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
(Thespeiai and Thespiai), or Thespea (Thespeia, Thespia). Now
Eremo or Rimokastro; an ancient town in Boeotia on the southeastern slope of Mount
Helicon, at no great distance from the Crissaean Gulf. It was burned to the ground
by the Persians, but subsequently rebuilt. At Thespiae was preserved the celebrated
marble statue of Eros by Praxiteles, who had given it to Phryne, by whom it was
presented to her native town. From the vicinity of Thespiae to Mount Helicon the
Muses are called Thespiades, and Helicon itself is named the Thespia rupes.
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THISVI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
afterwards Thisbae (Thisbai). Now Kakosia. A town of Boeotia, on the borders of Phocis, and between Mount Helicon and the Corinthian Gulf.
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