CHALKIS (CHB), Ancient city, EVIA

Overview

  Chalkida, the historic capital of Evia, is of particular archaeological interest. It was flourishing during the classical and Hellenistic periods. However, the archaeological finds, as well as written evidence, confirm that the town had been inhabited much earlier and was already flourishing in the Early Geometrical period (1100-750 B.C.) trading with the West and East.
  There are three explanations for the derivation of its name: firstly it took its name from the copper mines, secondly from Chalkida, the daughter of Asopos or thirdly from "Chalki" or "Kalki", the purple shellfish which the Phoenicians used for a dye in the town.
  Descriptions of ancient visitors and historians gives us a picture of a large thickly-wooded city with one of the most important markets in Greece, colonnades round the market place, many temples, beautiful public buildings, gymnasiums, theatres, stately homes and fortified walls with tall towers. The town had two harbours and a bridge with two towers at each end, over the channel of Evripus. A fortified enceinte surrounded the town and a second larger one surrounded Kanithos and Evripus. There was also an important wall with towers round the acropolis of Chalkida which was situated on the hill Vathrovouni, south of the modern town. The successive destruction of the town by its various conquerors and the natural disasters which it suffered over the centuries and the fact that the modern city is built on the ruins of the ancient town are the reasons why the recent archaeological findings don't reveal fully the beauty and greatness of ancient Chalkida.
This text (extract) is cited May 2003 from the Prefecture of Evia tourist pamphlet (1997).