has been compared to a serpent; the Graces were said to be particularly attached to this river, and are hence called it's goddesses. It rises near the city of Lilæa, where the ancients state that it rushed out of the mountain with a noise like the bellowing of a bull; after traversing the whole of Phocis, it enters Boeotia, and joins the Copaic lake: it must not be confounded with two rivers of the same name in Attica. A few miles from the left bank of the river, under mount Cnemis, was Elatia Eleuta, the most considerable of the Phocian cities after Delphi, and very important from it's commanding the entrance into Phocis and Boeotia on this side; it was captured and burnt by the army of Xerxes, but was afterwards restored, and again frequently attacked. Lower down the river, on it's right bank, were Daulis 156 Daulia, a very ancient city, celebrated for the tragic story of Philomela and Procne; and Panopeus 157 Agios Blasios, mentioned by Homer as the residence of the giant Tityus 158. CHAPTER XVII. GRECIA MERIDIONALIS. BOOTIA. 1. BOTIA, now forming part of Livadia, touched to the N. on the territory of the Locri, to the W. on Phocis, to the S. on Megaris and Attica, and to the E. on the Euboean Sea; it comprehended 1.000 square miles. It was perhaps the richest and most fertile country in Greece. It's inhabitants were remarkable for their natural stupidity and untoward genius, even to a proverb (Bouwría vs) 1; yet no single province of 156 Phocida quis Panopen? quis Daulida? quis Cyparissum 157 mæstissima mater Stat. Theb. VII. 344. Concinit Ismarium Daulias ales Ityn. Ovid. Heroid. XXI. 154. Φωκήων ὄχ ̓ ἄριστον, ὃς ἐν κλειτῷ Πανοπῆϊ 158 Id. Od. A. 580. 1 Γνῶναί τ' ἔπειτ', ἀρχαῖον ὄνειδος άλα- Hom. II. P. 306. Pind. Olymp. VI. 151. Quòd si Judicium subtile videndis artibus illud Hor. Epist. II. i. 244. Greece, save Attica, could furnish a list of poets and other writers, containing such names as Hesiod, Pindar, Corinna, and Plutarch: the men were brave, hardy, and athletic, the women were the handsomest and most elegant of all Greece. 2. Boeotia was first occupied by the several barbarous tribes Aones, Ectenes, Temmices, and Hyantes, who were all connected with the Leleges; some of these were expelled by Cadmus, who, passing over from Euboea with a colony of Phoenicians and Arabs, founded the city of Thebes, to which he gave the name of Cadmea. The Cadmeans were twice compelled to evacuate their new possessions: once by the Epigoni, when they took refuge among the Illyrians, till they were able to regain their territory; and the second time by the Thracians and Pelasgi, on which occasion they fled to Thessaly. After some years, they again re-established themselves in their original abode, to which they now communicated the name of Boeotia, derived, according to some, from Bootus, son of Itonus, or as others say from Boug bos, owing to Cadmus having been led by an or to the spot where he built his city 2. From the earliest period there was a natural enmity between the Boeotians and Athenians; partly arising from their proximity, and partly from the protection afforded by the latter to the Plateans, who, having resolved to detach themselves from the Boeotian confederacy, sought the aid of their powerful neighbours. This led to hostilities, which ended in the Boeotians being obliged to cede their territory on the right bank of the Asopus to their rivals, who some years afterwards subjugated the whole of their country; the Athenians were, however, at last totally defeated at Coronea, and Boeotia once more gained it's independence. When the pride and ambitious spirit of the Athenians became a little humbled, after the battle of Egospotamos, the Boeotians seem to have been inspired with more amicable and generous feelings towards them. During the persecutions of the Thirty Tyrants at Athens, many of those who fled from their cruelty and oppression, found refuge in Thebes; and it must not be forgotten that it was thence Thrasybulus and his brave associates planned the gallant enterprise, which restored Athens to freedom, and to her proper rank among the states of Greece. At the battle of Charonea, Boeotia fell into the hands of the Macedonians, but it was wrested from them at the battle of Cynoscephala by the Romans. In the last stand made by the Achæans for the liberties of Greece, the assistance, which they apparently derived from the Thebans, drew down upon the latter the vengeance of the Romans, who, after the destruction of Corinth, dismantled Thebes, imposed a heavy fine on the whole country, and dissolved the national assembly. From this period Boeotia ceased to exist as an independent republic. 3. The Southern limits of Boeotia were formed by the mountains of Citharon Elatea, and Parnes Nozea: the former, once covered with timber and much frequented by beasts of the chace3, was dedicated to Jupiter Citharonius, and was famous for the metamorphosis of Actæon, the death of Pentheus, the exposure of Edipus, and the mystic orgies of the Bos tibi, Phoebus ait, solis occurret in arvis, en age, segnes 4 'Αλλ' ἔα με ναίειν ὄρεσιν, ἔνθα κλῇζεται Ovid. Met. III. 13. Virg. Georg. III. 43. Soph. Ed. Tyr. 1451. Bacchanalian priestesses 5. Parnes was covered with vines and corn, and was noted for the hunting of boars and bears upon it; on it's summit was a temple of Jupiter Parnethius. In the South Western part of the province, and on the borders of Phocis, was Mount Helicon Zagora, so famed as the seat of Apollo and the Muses 8. 4. No mountain in Greece produces such a variety of plants and shrubs, though none of a poisonous nature. On it's summit, which is nearly as high as Parnassus was the grove of the Muses, adorned with several statues; and hard by were the fountains Aganippe 10 Tateza, the sources of the small rivers Permessus 11 and Olmius, and Hippocrene 12, iжπоν кρývη or the horse's fountain, which burst forth from the ground when struck by the horse Pegasus. Here too was the 9 Aut in umbrosis Heliconis oris, Hesiod. Theog. init. Hor. Carm. I. xii. 5. Ut studio majore petant Helicona virentem. Id. Epist. II. i. 218. 10 Nam neque Parnassi vobis juga, nam neque Pindi Ulla moram fecere, neque Ãonia Aganippe. Perge linquere Thespia Rupiз Aonios specus, Lympha quos super inrigat Frigerans Aganippe :· 11 Tum canit errantem Permessi ad flumina Gallum Virg. Ecl. X. 12. Catull. LXI. 30. Virg. Ecl. VI. 64. Callim, Lar. Pall. 71. 12 Ιππω ἐπὶ κράνα Ελικωνίδι, καλὰ ῥεοίσᾳ, Λῶντο fountain He-donacon 13 Neochorio, where Narcissus, becoming enamoured of his own reflection, and thinking it the nymph of the place, was drowned. Between Helicon and the Corinthian Gulf was Thisbe 14 Kakosia, noticed by Homer as abounding in wild pigeons, a characteristic which it preserves at the present day; it's port was Tipha, the birth-place of Tiphys, pilot of the Argo 15: farther Eastward was Creusa Livadostro, the harbour of Thespiæ. 5. To the North of Mt. Citharon, and near the source of the Asopus, was Platææ 16 Kokla, one of the most ancient Boeotian cities, and memorable for the defeat of the great Persian army under Mardonius, by the confederate Greeks under Pausanias, B. c. 479, on the same day with the battle of Mycale; it was burnt by the army of Xerxes, but was speedily restored 17: in the third year of the Peloponnesian war, being beseiged by the Spartans, at the instigation of the Thebans, who were jealous of it's independence, it was razed to the ground, and all it's inhabitants were put to death 18. Nearer the Copaic lake was Leuctra Lefka, celebrated for the defeat of the Spartans by the Thebans under Epaminondas, B. c. 371; this victory, said by Pausanias to be the most brilliant ever obtained by Greeks over Greeks, put an end to the Spartan sovereignty of Greece, which had continued for nearly 500 years. 6. Still farther N. was Thespia Eremo Castro, which was especially sacred to the Muses 19; it was a town of considerable antiquity, whose inhabitants alone of all the Baotians refused to tender earth and water as a token of submission to Xerxes: they assisted Leonidas at Thermopyle, and hence drew upon them the anger of the Persians, who burnt their city 20. "It was the birth-place of the celebrated courtezan Phryne, who, on receiving as a present from Praxiteles a beautiful statue of Cupid, presented it to her native city 21; she was so wealthy as to offer to rebuild the walls of Thebes, if it might be inscribed on them that they were destroyed by Alexander, and restored by herself. Close to Thespia was Ascra, the residence of Hesiod 22, who removed hither from Cumæ in Asia Minor. 13 Ovid. Met. III. 407. 1 Κώπας, Εὐτρησίν τε, πολυτρήρωνά τε Θίσβην Hom. Il. B. 502. Quæ nunc Thisbeas agitat mutata columbas. Ovid. Met. XI. 300. 15 Alter erit tum Tiphys, et altera quæ vehat Argo Delectos heroas: Virg. Ecl. IV. 34. 16 Οἵ τε Πλάταιαν ἔχον, ἠδ ̓ οἳ Γλίσσαντ' ἐνέμοντο, Hom. Il. B. 504. 17 Herod. VIII. 50; IX. 28.-Thucyd. III. 53, et seq.-Diodor. Sic. XI. 250. 18 Thucyd. II. 71, et seq.; III. 20, et seq. 19 Hence Ovid calls the Muses "Thespiades Deæ;" Met. V. 310. See also quotation from Catullus in Note 10. 20 Herod. VII. 132. 222; VIII. 50. "Cicero (in Verr. Act. II. iv. 2,) says, that this celebrated statue was the only thing worth seeing in Thespia: Pausanias states that it was sent to Rome by Caligula, but afterwards restored to Thespia by Claudius; Nero removed it again to Rome, when it is said to have been destroyed by fire. Pliny, however (XXXVI. 5.), asserts, that it still existed in his day in the Schools of Octavia. Hence Hesiod is called "Ascræus senex," Virg. Ecl. VI. 70; and poetry after his style and subject, "Ascræum carmen," Id. Georg. II. 176. 7. Copais Palus L. of Topolias, is the largest lake in Greece, being 70 miles in circuit; it was much famed for it's eels, which grew to a large size, and were highly prized by the ancient epicures: on the Eastern side of it are several subterranean canals, now called Katabothra, by which the waters of the lake find their way into the Euboean sea at Anchoë. On the Southern shore of the lake was Haliartus Mikrakoura, surrounded by meadows and marshes; it was destroyed by the Romans in the war with Perseus, king of Macedon, upon which occasion it's inhabitants were sold, and their territories given to the Athenians. Orchomenus 23 Scripou, was on the Western shore of the lake, where it is joined by the R. Cephissus; it was the second city of Boeotia, and at one time of such importance, as to vie with the most opulent cities in the world. 8. Orchomenus is called by Pindar the City of the Graces, from a temple conse crated to them there 24; it's first inhabitants were the Phlegyæ, a lawless race, who were destroyed by the gods for their impiety, and were succeeded by the Minya, from whom the city is surnamed Minyeia 25. Here were the tombs of Minyas and Hesiod, the remains of the latter having been conveyed hither from Locris at the command of Apollo. On the coast of the lake, near Haliartus, was Alalcomenæ Sulinara, celebrated for the worship of Minerva, thence surnamed Alalcomeneïs; to the W. of it was Coronea Corumnies, where the Thebans and their allies were defeated by the Spartans under Agesilaus, B. c. 394.7 Close by were the temple of Minerva Itonis, where the general council of the Baotian states assembled, until it was dissolved by the Romans; and Libethrius Mons, one of the summits of Helicon, sacred to the Muses and the nymphs called Libethrides 28. To the W. of Coronea, on the borders of Phocis, was Lebadia Livadia, called anciently Midea, which derived it's name from Lebadus, an Athenian; it was celebrated for the Ovid seems to have thought that Hesiod was born at Ascra : Esset perpetuo sua quam vitabilis Ascra, Epist. ex Pont. IV. xiv. 31. 27 Xenoph. Hell. IV. 3. 8, et seq.-Diodor. Sic. XIV. 442.-Plut. Ages, 17. 28 Nymphæ, noster amor, Libethrides: aut mihi carmen, Virg. Ecl. VII. 21 (where see the remarks of Heyne). |