Orkhomenos Attractions
The little town of Orkhomenós, situated at the north end of a rocky ridge known in antiquity as Akontion and now called Dourdouvana, on the northwestern margin of the Kopais plain in Boeotia, is of interest for its ancient remains and for the ninth century church of Skrípou (a village now incorporated in the town).
6km/4mi northwest of Livadiá on the road to Lamía a side road branches off on the right to Orkhomenós, continuing to Kástro, on the Athens-Salonica expressway.
The site of ancient Orkhomenos was already occupied in Neolithic times. Later it became the capital of a Minyan principality which belonged to the Mycenaean cultural sphere. Homer refers to the wealth of the Minyans, and evidence of this is provided by a large tholos tomb dating from the heyday of the city (14th century B.C.). In the seventh century Orkhomenos was overshadowed and finally conquered by Thebes. The site was refortified during the Macedonian period and was occupied into Byzantine times, when it was abandoned.
6km/4mi northwest of Livadiá on the road to Lamía a side road branches off on the right to Orkhomenós, continuing to Kástro, on the Athens-Salonica expressway.
The site of ancient Orkhomenos was already occupied in Neolithic times. Later it became the capital of a Minyan principality which belonged to the Mycenaean cultural sphere. Homer refers to the wealth of the Minyans, and evidence of this is provided by a large tholos tomb dating from the heyday of the city (14th century B.C.). In the seventh century Orkhomenos was overshadowed and finally conquered by Thebes. The site was refortified during the Macedonian period and was occupied into Byzantine times, when it was abandoned.
Tholos tomb
From the village of Skrípou a road runs north to the site of ancient Orkhomenos, at the east end of the Akontion ridge. In the lower part of the site, near the modern cemetery, the excavators found early circular structures, the tholos tomb already mentioned and two temples. The long triangular area of the site is divided up by two cross walls. At the western tip is the acropolis (alt. 228m/748ft).
Church of St Nicholas in the Fields
Situated 5km/3mi northeast of Skrípou is another old church, Áyios Nikólaos sta Kámpia (St Nicholas in the Fields). Built about 1040 by the architect of the principal church at Ósios Loukás, it has a simplified version of the same ground-plan.
Panagia of Skrípou Church
Immediately east of the ancient site of Orkhomenós is the church of the Panayía of Skrípou, which according to an inscription in the apse was built by a high Imperial official called Leon in 873/874 on the site of an earlier fifth century church. This church is important as being the earliest example of a domed cruciform church in Greece. The walls contain many architectural fragments from ancient buildings.
