Boeotia occupies an area of 3,000 sq. km/1,160 sq. mi in central Greece, between the gulfs of Corinth and Euboea and between Phocis and Attica. The plain around its capital, Thebes, and in the Asopos valley - supplemented in modern times by the land won by the drainage of Lake Kopais - have made Boeotia an agricultural region since ancient times; and its inhabitants were traditionally regarded as rather uncouth rustics, in spite of the fact that Hesiod, Pindar and Plutarch all came from Boeotia. In the field of art it produced only the sculptor Kalami, famed for his figures of horses.
In Mycenaean times Boeotia had important fortified towns such as Thebes, Orchomenos and Gla. In the historical period a league of cities was formed, of which Thebes became leader in the time of Epameinondas (371-361 B.C.). The city of Thebes was destroyed on several occasions, e.g. by Alexander the Great in 335 B.C. and by Catalan mercenaries in the 13th century, and did not recover its position until the 19th century. During the Turkish occupation the chief town of the region was Livadiá.
Although most visitors only pass through Boeotia on the way to somewhere else, it has a number of sites and monuments which are well worth seeing. The Mycenaean period is represented by Orchomenos and Gla, the first millennium B.C. by Chaironeia and the Kabirion of Thebes, and the Christian era by the churches of Skripoú, one of which can be seen when visiting Osios Loukás or Orchomenos.
Read More
Read Less
Read More
Read More
Read Less
