Boeotia

Boeotia Περιφερειακή ενότητα Βοιωτίας
Peripheral unit
Municipalities of Boeotia
Boeotia within Greece
Country	Greece
Periphery	Central Greece
Capital	Livadeia
Area
• Total	2,952 km2 (1,140 sq mi)
Population  (2005)
• Total	130,768
• Density	44/km2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal codes	32x xx, 190 12
Area codes	226x0
ISO 3166 code	GR-03
Car plates	ΒΙ
Website	www.viotia.gr

Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia (/biːˈoʊʃiə/ or /biːˈoʊʃə/; Greek: Βοιωτία, Greek pronunciation: [vi.oˈti.a]; modern transliteration Voiotía, also Viotía, formerly Cadmeis), is one of the peripheral units of Greece. It is part of the Periphery of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.

Geography

Boeotia lies north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It has a short coastline on the Gulf of Euboea as well. It bordered on Megaris (now West Attica) in the south, Attica in the southeast, Chalcis (now part of peripheral unit Euboea) in the northeast, Opuntian Locris (now part of Phthiotis) in the north and Phocis in the west.

The main mountain ranges of Boeotia are Mount Parnassus in the west, Mount Helicon in the southwest, Kithairon in the south and Parnitha in the east. Its longest river, the Cephissus (Kifisos), flows in the central part, where most of the low-lying areas of Boeotia are found. Lake Copais was a large lake in the center of Boeotia. It was drained in the 19th century. Lake Yliki is a large lake near Thebes.

Boeotia has a mediterranean climate.

Legends

Boeotia was one of the earliest occupied regions in prehistoric Greece.A lot of Greek ancient legends many of them related with the aboriginal population seem to originate in this region.The Muses of the mountain Helicon,the myth of Oedipus and the sphinx,the mythic king Kadmus as bringer of the alphabet, the mythic king Ogyges related with the first mentioned great deluge,and many other legends became part of the Greek culture.Hesiod the ancient poet of Theogony who included a lot of old legends in the first Greek cosmogony and in the genealogical trees of the gods was born in Boeotia.Later Pindar the greatest Greek poet born in Thebes seems to be influenced by an older religion diferrent from the Olympic Greek god system which became also a part of the Greek religious system.In Lebadea existed the very old oracular shrine of Trophonius that was related with the old chthonic religion.In historical times many of these legends were a popular theme used by the tragic Greek poets in their masterpieces Oedipus the king,Antigone,Seven against Thebes and Antiope.

Map showing ancient regions of central Greece in relation to geographical features

Ogyges

In Greek mythology, Boeotia plays a prominent part. Of the two great centres of legends, Thebes, with its Cadmean population, figures as a military stronghold, and Orchomenus, the home of the Minyae, as an enterprising commercial city.The mythological aboriginal king Ogyges is best known as king of the Ectenes or Hectenes who were the autochthones or earliest inhabitants of Boeotia, where the city of Thebes would later be founded. As such, he became the first ruler of Thebes, which was, in that early time, named Ogygia (Ὠγυγία) after him. Subsequently, poets referred to the Thebans as Ogygidae (Ὠγυγίδαι).The first worlwide flood of Greek mythology that is called Ogygian is mentioned during his reign and the name seems to be connected with Ocean but later it came to mean ,"from earliest days".

Amphion and Antiope

The myth of Amphion the legendary founder of Thebes and Antiope is the transformation of ancient legends that seems to have inspired a lot of other similar myths in several areas of Greece.Amphion was son of Zeus and Antiope,who was daughter of the Boeotian river god Asopus The myth took a Dionysiac colour because Zeus was transformed into a satyr in a sole mythic event and Antiope into a maenad.After this she was carried off by Epopeus in Sicyon,where he was venerated later as a hero in the temenos of Athena. Burkert notices the similarity with the myth of Athena Polias and Erechtheus in Athens. Returning to Thebes ,on mountain Kithairon she gave birth to the twins Amphion,son of the god and Zethus son of the mortal Epopeus.A passage in fragments exists in Hesiods Catalogue of women.Other twins of such dual parentage are the Greek Dioscuri who often appear as snakes,protecting the temples.Amphion,the founder of Thebes became a great singer and musician with a golden lyre,and huge blocks of stones formed themselves into the walls of Thebes the city with the seven gates.His brother Zethus became a hunter and a herdsman and the two brothers represent the contrast between two diferrent lifestyles the hunter-life and the civil-life.In Euripides tragedy Antiope they contrasted in debate their active and contemplate lives.

Dionysos to whose worship Antiope was devoted,visited her with madness,which caused her to wander restlessly all over Greece until she was cured.This myth is similar with the myth of Io,a priestess of the goddess Hera in Argos who stung by a gadfly was wandering in madness to Egypt.Her sons Cadmus and Danaos returned to Greece,where they became kings of Thebes and Argos.

In a myth Amphion married the Phrygian princess Niobe and killed himself after the loss of his wife and children.Niobe had fourteen children,seven male and seven female and boasted of them to Leto,because the nymph had only two children,the twins Artemis and Apollo.In his archaic role as bringer of diseases and death,Apollo with his arrows killed Niobe's sons and Artemis with her arrows killed Niobe's daughters..The myth of the seven Athenian youths and seven maidens,who were sent every year to the king Minos of Crete as an offering sacrifice to the terrible Minotaur,seems to be related. Niobe was transformed into a stone on Sipylos in her homeland Phrygia,where she broods over the sorrows sent by the gods.In Antigone the heroine believes that she will have a similar death.

The magic number "seven" which oftenly appears in Greek legends seems to represent a very ancient tradition because it appears as a lyre with seven strings in the Hagia Triada sarcophagus in Crete during the Mycenean age (15th century BC).Apollo's lyre had also seven strings.

Graia.Hellenes and Greeks

Graia (Γραία), which means "old woman" (Proto-Greek language,grau-j), was a city on the coasts of Boeotia and was said to be the oldest city of Greece. The word Γραικός (Graekos, Greek) is interpreted as "inhabitant of Graia" by some authors.The German historical George Bussolt suggested that the name Graeci was given initially by the Romans to the colonists from Graia who helped the Euboeans to establish Cumae in southern Italy,and then it was used for all Greeks. Aristotle said that this city was created before the deluge. The same assertion about the origins of Graia city was found in an ancient marble, the Parian Chronicle, discovered in 1687 and dated in 267-263 BC, that is currently kept in Oxford and on Paros.Reports about this ancient city can be also found in Homer, in Pausanias, in Thucydides, etc.

In the chronicle is also mentioned that Phthia was ruled by Hellen,the patriarch of the Hellenes and that the previous called Graeces were named Hellenes.Hellen was son of Deucalion,who together with Pyrrha survived after the great deluge and Graecus was son of Pandora,sister of Hellen. According to some ancient Greek sources,the area outside the borders of Attica including Boeotia was called Graiki the region where the older deluge of Ogyges occured. There were two great kings who ruled in Thebes (and Boeotia) before the Cataclysm (deluge) of Deucalion , Cranaos (in Attica) and the sons of Lycaon (in Arcadia).

Origins

The origin of Boeotians lies in the mountain Boeon in the region of Epirus-West Macedonia, where Aristotle believed that Ancient Hellas existed.In his Meteorologica he connects the name Graecus with Graii native name of a Dorian tribe in Epirus which was used for the Greeks by the Illyrians.However it is more possible that the homeland of the Greeks was originally in central Greece.

Some toponyms and the common Aeolic dialect indicate that the Boeotians were related with the Thessalians especially with them who were living in Thessalic Phthia.The name Hellenes was firstly used by Homer for a tribe in Thessalic Phthia.The Boetians were a major member of the first mentioned Amphictyonic League. of Anthele in Thermopylae (Anthelian),,an association of Greek states in order to protect the shrine of the chthonic goddess Demeter.It seems that the name Hellenes was used by the members of the league and then it was spread to all Greeks probably when the myth of their ancestor Hellen was invented.

History

Map of ancient Boeotia.

Boeotia had significant political importance, owing to its position on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth, extending westwards between Thessaly and Peloponnesus to the Isthmus of Corinth; the strategic strength of its frontiers; and the ease of communication within its extensive area. On the other hand, the lack of good harbours hindered its maritime development. The Boeotian people, although they included great men like Pindar, Hesiod, Epaminondas, Pelopidas and Plutarch, were portrayed proverbially dull by Athenians (cf. Boeotian ears incapable of appreciating music or poetry and Hog-Boeotians, Cratinus.310).

18th century map of ancient Boeotia.

Ruins of the Cadmeia, the central fortress of ancient Thebes.

The importance of the legendary Minyae has been confirmed by its archaeological remains (notably the "Treasury of Minyas"). The Boeotian population seems to have entered the land from the north at a date possibly before the Dorian invasion. With the exception of the Minyae, the original peoples were soon absorbed by these immigrants, and the Boeotians henceforth appear as a homogeneous nation. Aeolic Greek was spoken in Boeotia.

In historical times, the leading city of Boeotia was Thebes, whose central position and military strength made it a suitable capital; other major towns were Orchomenus, Plataea, and Thespiae. It was the constant ambition of the Thebans to absorb the other townships into a single state, just as Athens had annexed the Attic communities. But the outlying cities successfully resisted this policy, and only allowed the formation of a loose federation which, initially, was merely religious.

While the Boeotians, unlike the Arcadians, generally acted as a united whole against foreign enemies, the constant struggle between the cities was a serious check on the nation's development. Boeotia hardly figures in history before the late 6th century BC. Previous to this, its people are chiefly known as the makers of a type of geometric pottery, similar to the Dipylon ware of Athens. In about 519 BC, the resistance of Plataea to the federating policy of Thebes led to the interference of Athens on behalf of the former; on this occasion, and again in 507 BC, the Athenians defeated the Boeotian levy.

During the Persian invasion of 480 BC, Thebes assisted the invaders. In consequence, for a time, the presidency of the Boeotian League was taken from Thebes, but in 457 BC the Spartans reinstated that city as a bulwark against Athenian aggression after the Battle of Tanagra. Athens retaliated by a sudden advance upon Boeotia, and after the victory at the Battle of Oenophyta took control of the whole country, taking down the wall the Spartans had built. With the victory the Athenians also occupied Phocis, the original source of the conflict and the Opuntian Locris. For ten years the land remained under Athenian control, which was exercised through the newly installed democracies; but in 447 BC the people revolted, and after a victory at the Battle of Coronea regained their independence.

Boeotian cup painted with birds — 560–540 BC, found in Thebes, Greece

In the Peloponnesian War the Boeotians fought zealously against Athens. Though slightly estranged from Sparta after the peace of Nicias, they never abated their enmity against their neighbours. They rendered good service at Syracuse and at the Battle of Arginusae in the closing years of the Pelopennesian War; but their greatest achievement was the decisive victory at the Battle of Delium over the Athenian army (424 BC), in which both their heavy infantry and their cavalry displayed unusual efficiency. About this time the Boeotian League comprised eleven groups of sovereign cities and associated townships, each of which elected one Boeotarch or minister of war and foreign affairs, contributed sixty delegates to the federal council at Thebes, and supplied a contingent of about a thousand foot and a hundred horse to the federal army. A safeguard against undue encroachment on the part of the central government was provided in the councils of the individual cities, to which all important questions of policy had to be submitted for ratification. These local councils, to which the propertied classes alone were eligible, were subdivided into four sections, resembling the prytaneis of the Athenian council, which took it in turns to vote on all new measures.

Two Boeotarchs were provided by Thebes, but by 395 BC Thebes provided four Boeotarchs, including two who had represented places now conquered by Thebes such as Plataea, Scolus, Erythrae, and Scaphae. Orchomenus, Hysiae, and Tanagra each supplied one Boeotarch. Thespiae, Thisbe, and Eutresis supplied two between them. Haliartus, Lebadea and Coronea supplied one in turn, and so did Acraephnium, Copia, and Chaeronea.

Boeotia took a prominent part in the war of the Corinthian League against Sparta, especially at the Battle of Haliartus and the Battle of Coronea (395-394 BC). This change of policy seems due mainly to the national resentment against foreign interference. Yet disaffection against Thebes was now growing rife, and Sparta fostered this feeling by stipulating for the complete independence of all the cities in the peace of Antalcidas (387 BC). In 374 BC Pelopidas restored the Theban dominion and their control was never significantly challenged again.

Boeotian contingents fought in all the campaigns of Epaminondas against the Spartans, most notably at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, and in the later wars against Phocis (356-346 BC); while in the dealings with Philip of Macedon the cities merely followed Thebes. The federal constitution was also brought into accord with the democratic governments now prevalent throughout the land. The sovereign power was vested in the popular assembly, which elected the Boeotarchs (between seven and twelve in number), and sanctioned all laws. After the Battle of Chaeroneia, in which the Boeotian heavy infantry once again distinguished itself, the land never rose again to prosperity.

The destruction of Thebes by Alexander the Great (335 BC) seems to have removed the political energy of the Boeotians. They never again pursued an independent policy, but followed the lead of protecting powers. Though military training and organization continued, the people proved unable to defend the frontiers, and the land became more than ever the "dancing-ground of Ares". Though enrolled for a short time in the Aetolian League (about 245 BC) Boeotia was generally loyal to Macedon, and supported its later kings against Rome. Rome dissolved the league, which, however, was allowed to revive under Augustus, and merged with the other central Greek federations in the Achaean synod. The death-blow to the country's prosperity was given by the devastations during the First Mithridatic War.

Pejorative term

Boeotia came to be proverbial for the stupidity of its inhabitants (OED), probably because of Athens' proud assertion of its cultural superiority compared to its rural neighbours.

Administration

The peripheral unit Boeotia is subdivided into 6 municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):

• Aliartos (2)
• Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra (3)
• Livadeia (1)
• Orchomenos (5)
• Tanagra (6)
• Thebes (Thiva, 4)

Prefecture

Boeotia was created as a prefecture in 1899 (Greek: Νομός Βοιωτίας), and again in 1943 out of the Attica and Boeotia Prefecture. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the peripheral unit Boeotia was created out of the former prefecture Boeotia. The prefecture had the same territory as the present peripheral unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.

New municipality	Old municipalities	Seat
Aliartos	Aliartos	Aliartos
	Thespies
Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra	Distomo	Distomo
	Arachova
	Antikyra
Livadeia	Livadeia	Livadeia
	Davleia
	Koroneia
	Kyriaki
	Chaironeia
Orchomenos	Orchomenos	Orchomenos
	Akraifnia
Tanagra	Tanagra	Schimatari
	Dervenochoria
	Oinofyta
	Schimatari
Thebes (Thiva)	Thebes	Thebes
	Vagia
	Thisvi
	Plataies

Provinces

The provinces were:

• Livadeia Province - Livadeia
• Thiva Province - Thiva (Thebes)

Economy

Boeotia is the home of the third largest pasta factory in Europe, built by Misko, a member of Barilla Group.

Transport

• Greek National Road 1/E75, SE, E, NE
• Greek National Road 3, S, E, Cen., W, NW
• Greek National Road 27, W, SW
• Greek National Road 44, E
• Greek National Road 48, W

Natives of Boeotia

• Bakis
• Epaminondas
• Gorgidas
• Hesiod
• Luke the Evangelist (Traditional location of death)
• Pelopidas
• Pindar
• Plutarch
• Sophocles
• Narcissus (mythology)

See also

• Aeolic Greek
• List of settlements in the Boeotia prefecture
• Thebes
• Graea
• Graiki

References

• Larson, Stephanie L. Tales of epic ancestry: Boiotian collective identity in the late archaic and early classical periods (Historia Einzelschriften, 197). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2007. 238 p.

Sources

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)