Listed 87 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "LEVADIA Province VIOTIA" .
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.
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
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
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)
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
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.
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
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.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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).
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.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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...
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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).
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.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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."
This extract is cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.
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.
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.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
VOULIS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A town of Phocis on the shore of the Sinus Corinthiacus, southeast of Anticyra.
KORONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Greek city of Boeotia,
west of Thebes.
In mythology, Coronea was the kingdom of Athamas, a son of Aeolus
and grandson of Hellen. He was married three times and was involved in a lot of
troubles with his successive wives, which inspired several tragedies in classical
times.
From his first wife Nephele, Athamas had a son named Phrixus and a
daughter named Helle. But he later abandonned Nephele to marry Ino, one of the
daughters of Cadmus, the founder of nearby Thebes.
With Ino, Athamas had two sons, Learchus and Melicertes, yet Ino was jealous of
the children he had had with Nephele and decided to get rid of them. She managed
to induce a famine in the country and to make her husband believe that the oracle
of Delphi required the sacrifice
of Phrixus to end it. But while Phrixus was led to the altar, Nephele gave him
a ram with a golden fleece offered her by Hermes, on which Phrixus and his sister
Helle could fly away.
When Athamas learned what Ino had done, he ordered that she be sacrificed
in place of Phrixus. But then, Dionysus saved her by surrounding her in a cloud
and struck Athamas with madness, so that he killed his own son Learchus. When
she heard that, Ino took her other son Melicertes and jumped with him in the sea.
After that, Athamas was exiled from Boeotia
and seeked refuge in Thessalia,
where he founded another city named Alos
and married for the third time.
It is in Coronea that a battle took place in 447 between the Athenians
supporting democratic regimes in Boeotia
and Boeotian oligarchs led by Thebes.
Athens was defeated and Thebes
was thus able to reconstruct the Boeotian Confederacy under its leadership.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1999), ed.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
ORCHOMENOS (Archaeological site) VIOTIA
Old name of Orchomenus in Boeotia.
Kingdom of Phlegyas, formerly called Andreis.
ANTIKYRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
PARAPOTAMII (Ancient city) CHERONIA
Parapotamioi appears in Pausanias' list of the Phokian League, but
the city had never recovered from its destruction by the Amphiktyons in the Phokian
war. Parapotamion men de oute ereipia eti en, oute entha tes choras oikisthe he
polis mnemoneuousin (10. 33. 8). The more careful modern periegetai have improved
upon this. The site has been identified in the narrow strait, between Mounts Philoboiotos
and Hadyleion, through which the Kephisos passes from the plain of Elateia to
the plain of Chaironeia (Leake ii. 97, Bursian i. 164, Frazer v. 418). The order
in which Hdt. names Hyampolis, Parapotamioi and Abai is not geographical in either
direction. Abai is probably placed last, because there is a note to add to the
name. [p. 404] Hyampolis and Parapotamioi are then in the order in which they
would have been visited by a force coming from Opus.
ALALKOMENES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
ORCHOMENOS (Archaeological site) VIOTIA
It is where the mouth of the Kifissos river used to be, at the drained lake Copais, where Schleman conducted an excavation. His wife published a description of the monuments translated in Greek.
YITTOS (Ancient city) ORCHOMENOS
DAVLIS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A titular see of Greece.
Daulis, later Daulia, Dauleion, often Diauleia, even Davalia, was a town of Phocis,
on the Cephissus, fifteen
Roman miles north-east of Delphi.
At the end of the seventh century it had become a suffragan of Athens.
In 1393 Talantion was cut off from Daulia and made a distinct see:
this was a town at the foot of Mount
Knemis, the ancient name of which was Atalante.
The bishops of Daulia long protested against this division; at last, about the
end of the fifteenth century the two sees were reunited as “Daulia and Talantion”;
they remained so, except for a brief period about 1567.
In 1653 the double see was made an archbishopric, owing to the influence
of a Turkish pasha, but after two years was reduced to its former status. Talantion
was then commonly named in the first place, and finally was the only name in use.
The bishop resided there, as Daulia was almost in ruins. The See of Daulia was
suppressed in 1833, when the Church of the Kingdom of Greece
was organized on an independent basis.
As early as 1205 Daulia became a Latin see. Since 1441, at least,
the see has been titular.
S. Petrides, ed.
Transcribed by: Anthony J. Stokes
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
ALIARTOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A city in the central part of the region, near modern Haliartos, 20
km W of Thebes on the Levadhia road, at the edge of ancient Lake Kopais.
Founded before the Mycenaean period and contemporary with Orchomenos,
the city very soon passed under the control of Thebes; it was one of the first
to mint silver coins bearing the Boiotian shield, the emblem of the Confederacy
(6th c. B.C.). Spared by the Persians in 480, it became one of the 11 Boiotian
districts, with Koronea and Lebadeia, from 447 to 387 and then from 371 to 338.
At the beginning of the Corinthian War (395) Lysander and the Spartan army joined
battle with the Boiotians under the walls of Haliartos, and he was killed there.
During the Third Macedonian War Haliartos joined forces with Perseus against Rome:
the praetor C. Lucretius razed the town, destroyed the garrison, and sold 2,500
citizens as slaves. Its territory was given to Athens, which administered it through
an epimeletes and sent colonists there. The city was never rebuilt.
The acropolis is on a low hill to the W of the modern town between
the highway and the railroad; it controlled traffic between N and S Greece. The
Mycenaean acropolis (ca. 250 x 150 m) is situated at the highest point of the
hill; its rampart is well preserved to the S and W. On the W side of the hill
is a second type of wall composed of large quadrangular blocks laid in more or
less horizontal courses; it dates from the 7th c. B.C. On the S slope and at the
SE corner are remains of two towers; the masonry here is polygonal and very workmanlike,
the stones being laid on one or two courses of wide, flat rectangular blocks.
It possibly dates from the end of the 6th or beginning of the 5th c. A fourth
type of wall, of which only the foundations remain, was made of blocks of crumbly
red or yellow limestone (tower near the SW corner). To the W, 100 m from the NW
corner, was a gate 3.50 m wide. Built in the 4th c., this rampart was razed by
the Romans in 171 B.C. On its surface can be seen significant traces of an Imperial
or Byzantine wall made of small rocks bonded with mortar.
At the very top of the acropolis, excavations have uncovered (1926-30)
a Temple of Athena surrounded by a peribolos wall, a large building, and the passageway
that served both; everything had been razed, no doubt in 171 B.C. The temple,
which was built in the 6th c., was distyle in antis; it was of the archaic elongated
shape (7.10 x 18 m) and open to the E. Several regular courses of limestone have
been preserved, on poros foundations. Fragments of poros columns and some architectural
terracottas were found to the E. Along the N wall are the foundations of an earlier
temple (7th c.?). The peribolos wall, which is rectilinear to the S (36 m) and
a flat semicircle to the N, is of fine polygonal masonry laid in horizontal courses.
To the S of the temple is a large building (21 m N-S, 8.90 m E-W) with polygonal
walls of the same type, dressed on both sides. Two doorways opened in the E wall.
Inside the building four wooden pillars on square stone bases supported the roof.
Its purpose is unknown. A large store of vases, lamps, and terracottas at the
W foot of the peribolos shows that the Temple of Athena was used from the 6th
to the beginning of the 2d c. B.C. A small necropolis, SE of the acropolis, provides
evidence that the site was occupied in Roman times.
E of Haliartos, on the chain dividing Lake Kopais from the Teneric
Plain, was the very ancient Temple of Poseidon Onchestios; it was the center of
the Boiotian Confederacy from 338 to 146.
This is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites, Princeton University Press 1976. Cited from Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ANTIKYRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A port E of Kirrha noted in antiquity for the production of the medicinal
herb hellebore. It was destroyed by Philip of Macedon in 346 B.C. but was rebuilt;
it was captured by the Romans under Otilius. Pausanias identifies it with Homeric
Kyparissos and mentions gymnasia and a Sanctuary of Poseidon. At Palatia, on a
promontory near Aspra Spitia, foundations have been identified with Antikyra by
local inscriptions.
M. H. Mc Allister, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
CHERONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Situated at the NW entrance to the region in the narrow Kephissos
plain lying between Mt. Thourion and Mt. Akontion, at the modern village of Chaironeia
(formerly Kapraina).
The gateway to Boiotia, Chaironeia had a Neolithic settlement but
apparently none in the Mycenaean age. Whether it is the Amne of Homer is doubtful.
Chaironeia was subject to Orchomenos up to the end of the 5th c. B.C., then with
Akmaiphia and Kopai formed one of the 11 Boiotian districts until 387 and again,
after a period of autonomy, from 371 to 338 B.C. It then enjoyed independence
in the Boiotian Koinon and was granted the status of a civitas libera by the Romans.
Three famous battles were fought in the Chaironeian plain: in 338 Philip II's
Macedonians carried off a decisive victory over the Athenians, the Boiotians,
and their allies; in 245 the army of the Aitolian League fought that of the Boiotian
League; and in 86 B.C. Sulla and his 20,000 Romans crushed Mithnidates' forces,
over 100,000 strong, commanded by Archelaos.
The city of Chaironeia, of which there are only insignificant remains,
lies at the foot of Mt. Petrachos, on top of which is the acropolis. Plutarch
(ca. 46-120) was born and died here. In the Church of the Panagia can be seen
a marble Roman seat, the so-called seat of Plutarch, and many inscribed stones
in the walls. At the foot of the N summit of Mt. Petrachos is a little theater
completely cut in the rock; its 14 tiers are arranged in two unequal blocks. Above
the last tier is a dedication to Apollo Daphnaphonios and Artemis Soodina. The
Chapel of Hagia Paraskevi is built on the site of a Temple of Herakles on the
slopes of Mt. Thourion. The sanctuary of Sarapis, where many slaves were freed
from the 3d to 1st c. B.C., has not been traced.
The acropolis occupies both summits of Mt. Petrachos and dominates
the Kephissos valley from a height of 150 m. Around it is a 4th c. rampart, well
preserved and >built in regular courses except on the W slope where the >old wall
has been preserved and strengthened with cyclopean masonry. To the E a ramp cut
in the rock led to the only gate. Several towers fortified the rampart. The field
where the battle of 338 took place is 2 km E of the village, between Mt. Thourion
and the Kephissos, along the banks of the Haimon brook. The victorious Spartans
burned their dead close by the Kephissos. Excavation of a tumulus at this spot
revealed a pyre, 10 m in diameter and 0.75 m high, with bones and fragments of
weapons in the ashes; it was covered over by a conical mound of earth 70 m in
diameter and 7 m high. The bodies of the Sacred Band of Thebans that was crushed
by Alexander were buried several days after the battle. From ancient times the
Lion of Chaironeia was believed to be their funeral monument. Discovered in 1818,
then smashed, restored, and replaced on a plinth 3 m high, the lion stands 5.50
m high; it is made of five blocks of marble, three of them hollow. It is a replica
of the lion on the polyandrion of Thespini. The monument is on the N side of a
rectangular penbolos (approximately 24 x 15 m). Within this area was found a tomb
4.30 x 3.60 m ringed by a wall 2.30 m high and containing 254 skeletons arranged
in seven layers; two of the bodies had been incinerated. The weapons had been
removed (the skeletons are at the National Museum in Athens, the other finds at
the Chaironeia Museum).
P. Roesch, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 7 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
DAVLIS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A city on the E slope of Parnassos overlooking the schize hodos leading
to Arachova and Delphi as well as the approach to Boiotian Kephissos (Soph. Oed.
tyr. 734).
The city goes back to the Mycenaean period and is mentioned by Homer
(Il. 2.520). In the Median wars Daulis was burned by the Persians as were the
nearby cities of Panopeus and Lilaia. In 395 the Thebans failed to seize the city
(Hell. Oxy. 18 (13). 6) although they sacked the whole region; then in 346 it
was destroyed by Philip (Paus. 10.3.1). In 220 the Aitolians tried in vain to
recapture Ambrysos and Daulis (Polyb. 4.25.2) which they had lost about 225, and
in 198 Flamininus seized the city from Philip V (Livy 32.18.7).
Daulis was built on a table-shaped acropolis (468 m high). Its ramparts,
which are well preserved, were quadrangular and built of polygonal masonry, and
rendered the city almost impregnable (Livy 32.18; cf. Paus. 10.4.7). Daulis had
a Sanctuary of Athena, a cult of Athena Soteira, for which there is epigraphical
evidence, and a Sanctuary of Isis. Inside the acropolis is the Church of Haghii
Theodori, built with the reused ancient stones.
Daulis is not to be confused with Daulis in Epeiros.
Y. Bequignon, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ELIKON (Mountain) VIOTIA
Situated in the upper valley of the Permessos (Archontitza) between
Mt. Zagara and Mt. Marandali (Helikon) to the S and Mt. Koursara and Mt. Pyrgaki
(Ascra) to the N, 8 km W of Thespiai. Formerly wooded, the valley was the alsos
or Sacred Grove of the Muses; the sanctuary has been located around the Haghia
Trias Chapel on the right bank of the Permessos. Underneath the walls of the Chapel
of Haghia Trias, which stands on a terrace 50 m from the Permessos, was found
the base of the Great Altar of the Muses (until 1954 mistakenly called "Temple
of the Muses"). It faces E, is 5.80 m long and 9.80 m wide, and stands on
two courses of white poros and one leveling course of conglomerate. The platform,
built of well-bonded limestone blocks, was approached up a step on the W side;
the altar covered two-thirds of its surface to the E. Forty m W of the altar the
remains of a long N-S portico was discovered; it was open to the E and measured
96 x 10 m. The E colonnade (36 monolithic columns) was Ionic, the side colonnade,
which supported the roof, Corinthian. Architectural fragments of this portico,
of stone and terracotta, are in the Thebes Museum. N of the altar, on the left
bank of the Permessos, a second portico was identified at least 48 m long. All
these monuments date from the 3d c. B.C. at the earliest. Some 300 m SW of the
great portico on the foothill of the mountain is a natural semicircular depression
that marks the site of the theater. There were no stone tiers, but the seats in
the proedria row were no doubt of marble. The skene, which was more than 7 m deep
and erected on an artificial terrace, has collapsed; the proskenion, which was
about 22 m wide and 3 m deep, was built on the ground; the limestone stylobate
supported 12 Doric half-columns 2 m high, monolithic and engaged in square pilasters.
There were many statues in the Valley of the Muses, some of the bases of which
are in the Thebes Museum. Near the altar and the portico, possibly, was the great
semicircle on which stood the statues of the nine Muses. The site has been excavated.
P. Roesch, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2003 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
LEVADIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Capital city of the nome, situated at the mouth of the gorges of the
Herkyna on the foothills N of Mt. Helikon and near the W end of Lake Kopais.
The city was famous from the 6th c. B.C. for its Oracle of Trophonios,
which, together with those of Delphi, Abai in Phokis, Dodona, and the Amphiareion,
was one of the five great Greek oracles. It was consulted by Croesus (550 B.C.),
Mardonios (480), and later by Paulus Aemilius (168 B.C.). Pausanias describes
it in detail (9.39.5-13). Together with Koroneia and Haliartos, the city formed
one of the 11 Boiotian districts from 447-387 and from 371-338 B.C., then became
an autonomous city in the Boiotian Confederacy. It was sacked by Lysander in 395
B.C., then again by Mithridates' forces in 86 B.C. Flourishing once again from
the 2d c. A.D., it developed in the Byzantine period, thanks to its strategic
position and its cotton industry.
The ancient city, very little of which remains, was situated on the
right bank of the Herkyna, N of the modern town, at the foot of the acropolis
which has been placed at Trypolithari. In recent excavations some 4th c. buildings
have been discovered at Levadhia. The river Herkyna flows S of the town in a deep
narrow gorge between Mt. Haghios Ilias to the W and Mt. Granitsa (formerly Laphystios)
to the E. There are several abundant springs on both sides of the valley; people
consulting the oracle drank the waters of Lethe and Mnemosyne. In the rock on
the left bank are hollow niches for statues and a square chamber (4 m each side,
3 m high) with two seats, possibly the Sanctuary of Agathos Daimon and Agathe
Tyche. At the W end of the gorge the lower tower of the mediaeval fortress is
apparently built over the Temple of Trophonios.
On Mt. Haghios Ilias, on whose slopes the Catalans built a fortress
in the 14th c. that can still be seen, was the Sacred Grove, near the Chapel of
the Panagia, the Oracle of Trophonios, and the Temple of Zeus Basileus. Recently
discovered by Greek archaeologists, the site of the oracle is a few m SW of the
Temple of Zeus. It consists of a well ca. 4 m deep and 2 m in diameter (approximately
the dimensions given by Pausanias). At the bottom of the well, in the middle,
is a cavity the width of a man's body; it extended toward the SW underneath the
wall of the well. The cave was sealed with a rough stone. In its present state
the somewhat careless construction looks as if it dates from the 3d c. A.D. The
identification seems certain.
The Temple of Zeus Basileus, which was never finished, is in almost
complete ruin. The E foundations and some carved blocks have just been uncovered.
Construction was begun, or perhaps resumed, between 175 and 171 B.C. with money
offered by Antiochos IV Epiphanes, king of Syria. Several inscriptions give the
building plan in detail. It was apparently a large Doric temple, peripteral, oriented
E-W, with an apse in the rectangle of the sekos and a cross-wall with three doors
in it. It may have been intended for ceremonies involving processions around an
inner altar. The Boiotian Confederacy started the Basileia festivals at Lebadeia,
to commenorate the Spartans' defeat at Leuktra in 371; held in Panamos month (August-September),
they included athletic contests and horse races. Foreign delegations, notably
from Athens, took part in the religious ceremonies.
P. Roesch, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ORCHOMENOS (Archaeological site) VIOTIA
One of the oldest and richest cities of heroic Greece, situated close
by the village of Skripou (now Orchomenos) 13 km NE of Levadhia, at the E end
of Mt. Akontion, which plunges like a javelin (whence its name) into the former
Lake Kopais.
Inhabited from Neolithic times, the site became one of the most influential
Mycenaean cities. It was the capital of the Minyans, a half-legendary people from
the Thessalian seaboard, and its authority spread over the whole of the Kopaic
basin and possibly as far as Thebes. The legends that sprang up about it (the
buildings of Agamedes and Trophonios), its great engineering achievements (the
first draining of the Kopais, erection of fortresses such as Gla), and its original
pottery (the gray or yellow Minyan ware) all are proof that a brilliant civilization
flourished there from the 15th to the 12th c. B.C. Its place was gradually won
over by Thebes and it joined the Boiotian League in the 7th c. Allied with Sparta
against Thebes at Koroneia (395) and Haliartos (394), it was destroyed by the
Thebans in 364 B.C. Restored by the Phokaians in 353, again destroyed by Thebes
in 349 Orchomenos was rebuilt by Philip II and Alexander and became one of the
leading cities of the Boiotian League from 338 onward. Sulla fought Archelaos
and Mithridates' army there in 86 B.C. Under the Empire the city rapidly fell
into a decline.
The finds are divided between the Museum of Chaironeia and those of
Thebes and Athens.
Throughout the centuries the different cities sprang up at the E foot
of Mt. Akontion and on its E and NE slopes. On the E foothills of the hill Schliemann
discovered the "Treasury of Minyas," a Mycenaean cupola tomb with a
dromos. In the arched tholos is the gateway to the funerary chamber. In the middle
of the tholos are the remains of a great funerary monument of the Macedonian period.
The Mycenaean city extended from the plain to the lowest terrace. A little to
the N on remains of a pre-Mycenaean or Mycenaean building (about 1700-1450) are
the foundations of a temple of the Geometric period. At the foot of the E slope
of the acropolis, to the NE of the Treasure of Minyas, the theater of Orchomenos,
probably built at the end of the 4th c. B.C., has been recently excavated. Twelve
rows of seats are preserved; proedria seats have nice relief decoration. A number
of bases of statues and of votive tripods have been discovered.
Four hundred m to the W on a second, higher terrace, a Temple of Asklepios
was built in the Hellenistic period. A peripteral Doric structure (11.50 x 22
m, with six columns in front and 11 on each side), it is surrounded by remains
of Classical buildings. On the terraces farther W, stretching to the top of the
hill, was the Hellenistic city built by Philip II and Alexander. At the top, 230
m above the plain, is the acropolis; not much more than a large square tower,
it was built after 335 B.C. In front of it is a large cistern.
The ramparts match the growth of the city. The oldest wall (7th c.),
which is built around the bottom terrace, is in a poor state of preservation;
in some places its masonry is polygonal, in others large blocks are arranged in
irregular courses. Starting from the terrace of the Asklepieion, two ramparts,
one to the N and the other to the S, climb up the steep slope, moving gradually
closer together until they meet at the great tower on the top of the hill, which
they fortify. About 2 m thick on an average, these walls have an outer facing
in polygonal masonry dating from the 4th c. B.C. There are three gates, to the
N and S and near the summit. Three transverse walls link the two outer ramparts:
the first runs along the edge of the Asklepieion terrace to the E; the second,
which has a square tower in the middle, overlooks this terrace to the W, while
the third marked the upper city limit and the beginning of the hilltop fortress
with its citadel. The third wall is on a level with the N and S gates.
At the N foot of the rocky spur below the Asklepieion and the Chapel
of Hagioi Anargyroi, is the chief spring of the Melas river. This is the Akidalia
or spring of the Charites, who were especially venerated at Orchomenos (the Charitesia
festivals and contests). The Sanctuary and Temple of the Charites probably stood
where the Convent of the Dormition (Kimisis tis Theotokou) is today; its church,
built in 874 A.D., is on the site of the temple. Around the church are many inscriptions
discovered at Orchomenos; the other inscribed stones have been removed to the
Chaironeia and Thebes Museums.
P. Roesch, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 29 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
PANOPEFS (Ancient city) CHERONIA
On the frontier with Boiotia, S of and below the Narrows of the Kephisos.
Panopeus, called kallichoros by Homer, was on the Sacred Road from Athens to Delphi;
Athenian women known as Thyiads danced there, on their way to Delphi (Hom. Od.
11.581; Paus. 10.4.1-5). The Phokian king Schedios resided there (Hom. Il. 17.306);
Epeios, builder of the Trojan Horse, was son of the eponymous hero Panopeus (Od.
8.493-5; Il. 23. 665); and Mycenaean remains have been found on the acropolis.
Pausanias found the site a wretched hamlet (no administrative buildings,
gymnasium, theater, agora, or fountains, very poor houses). He was, however, shown
the burial mound of Tityos, and a mudbrick shrine of Prometheus, near which lay
two huge stones, said to be remains of the clay from which Prometheus molded mankind.
He was impressed by the city walls, which are still imposing, especially on the
S side of the hill. The curtains stand as high as 5 to 6 m; one tower, with its
screen-wall partly intact, is ca. 9 m high; and in Dodwell's day some doors and
windows of tower-chambers were preserved. These walls like others in Phokis, must
be later than the destruction of 346 (during the Third Sacred War). N of the citadel,
Leake traced much of the line of wall descending to the edge of the plain, and
enclosing the lower town; and grave inscriptions have been found around the village.
F. E. Winter, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
TEGYRA (Ancient city) ORCHOMENOS
A rock situated N of Lake Copais and the Melas river, 5 km NE of Orchomenos
and W of Topolia. Ranging in height from 250 to 150 m, it is easily recognized
by the mediaeval tower rising in the middle of it (whence the popular name).
Pelopidas fought the Spartans here in 375 B.C. Two miraculous springs
gushed forth by the Temple of Apollo, no trace of which remains. It was the seat
of an Oracle of Apollo Tegyraios up to the Median wars (Plut. Ages. 286; De def.
or. 412 B).
It is unlikely that this small rocky island can be identified with
Delos, as has been claimed. Nearby is the Church of Haghios Nikolaos sta Kambia
(11th c.).
Y. Bequignon, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
