The Asopos (, referred to in Latin sources as ''Asopus'') is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

and northern

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. In antiquity, it formed the border between the cities of

Thebes Thebes or Thebae may refer to one of the following places: *Thebes, Egypt, capital of Egypt under the 11th, early 12th, 17th and early 18th Dynasties *Thebes, Greece, a city in Boeotia *Phthiotic Thebes Phthiotic Thebes ( or Φθιώτιδες Θ ...

and

Plataea Plataea (; , ''Plátaia'') was an ancient Greek city-state situated in Boeotia near the frontier with Attica at the foot of Mt. Cithaeron, between the mountain and the river Asopus, which divided its territory from that of Thebes. Its inhab ...

. The

Battle of Plataea The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Polis, Greek city-states (including Sparta, Cla ...

was fought on its banks. According to Pausanias (5.14.3) the Boeotian Asopus can produce the tallest

reeds Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

of any river. Its source is on the northern slope of the

Cithaeron Cithaeron or Kithairon (Κιθαιρών, -ῶνος) is a mountain and mountain range about sixteen kilometres (ten miles) long in Central Greece (geographic region), Central Greece. The range is the physical boundary between Boeotia region in t ...

mountain, southwest of

. It empties into the

South Euboean Gulf The South Euboean Gulf (, ''Notios Evvoïkos Kolpos'') is a gulf in Central Greece, between the island of Euboea and the Greek mainland (Boeotia and Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a h ...

, near

Skala Oropou Skala Oropou () is a community in East Attica, Greece, on the South Gulf of Euboea, due north of Athens city center. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oropos, of which it is a community. It is part of Athens me ...

. Its total length is 57 km. Its basin is 718 km². The Asopos flows along the following places, from the source downstream:

Lefktra Lefktra (, ) is a village in the regional unit of Boeotia, Greece, and a part of the municipality of Thebes. Before 1915, its name was ''Parapoungia'' ().Agios Thomas,

Oinofyta Oinofyta ( Greek: Οινόφυτα) is a village and former municipality in eastern Boeotia, Greece. Following the local government reform of 2011, it is now part of the municipality of Tanagra, of which it is a municipal unit. It was formerly n ...

Sykamino Sykamino (Greek: Συκάμινο meaning mulberry) is a town and former community of Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oropos, of which it is a municipal unit. Sykamino has historically been an ...

. The river is polluted with hexavalent

chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

due to industrial activity.

Mythology

Pausanias (9.1.1) cites Plataean tradition that Asopus was ancient king of that region in succession to King Cithaeron who gave his name to the mountain as King Asopus gave his name to the river and that the city Plataea was named after

daughter of the river Asopus. Pausanias then comments that he thinks that this eponymous Plataea was daughter of King Asopus rather than of the river Asopus. Oroe, a tributary river of Boeotian Asopus is termed by

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

(9.51.2) and Pausanias (9.4.4) daughter of Asopus. Pausanias says that the Boeotian city of Thespiae was named either from Thespia, daughter of Asopus or from

Thespius In Greek mythology, Thespius (; Ancient Greek: Θέσπιος ''Théspios'') or Thestius (; Ancient Greek: Θέστιος) was a legendary founder and king of Thespiae, Boeotia. His life account is considered part of Greek mythology. Biography Th ...

, a descendant of

Erechtheus Erechtheus (; ) in Greek mythology was a king of Athens, the founder of the ''polis'' and, in his role as god, attached to Poseidon, as "Poseidon Erechtheus". The name Erichthonius is carried by a son of Erechtheus, but Plutarch conflated the tw ...

who came there from

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. This Thespius is otherwise unknown to us. Finally Antiope mother of

Amphion and Zethus Amphion ( ()) and Zethus (; Ζῆθος ''Zēthos'') were, in ancient Greek mythology, the twin sons of Zeus (or Theobus) by Antiope. They are important characters in one of the two founding myths of the city of Thebes, because they constructed ...

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

is sometimes a daughter of Asopus.

Statius Publius Papinius Statius (Greek language, Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; , ; ) was a Latin poetry, Latin poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid (Latin poem), Theb ...

's ''Thebaid'' tells of the warrior

Hypseus In Greek mythology, the name Hypseus (; "one on high", derived from ''hypsos'' "height") may refer to: *Hypseus, a king of the Lapiths and son of the river god Peneus either by (1) the naiad Creusa, daughter of Gaia; (2) Philyra, daughter of As ...

, mortal son of Asopus, who leads the men of Alalcomene, Itone,

Midea Midea may refer to: * Midea Group (美的集团), a Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer * Midea, Greece, a Greek town * Midea (Argolid), a citadel in the town of the same name * Midea or Mideia, name of four figures in Greek mythology * ''Mi ...

Arne Arne may refer to: Places * Arne, Dorset, England, a village ** Arne RSPB reserve, a nature reserve adjacent to the village * Arné, Hautes-Pyrénées, Midi-Pyrénées, France * Arne (Boeotia), an ancient city in Boeotia, Greece * Arne (Thess ...

, Aulida,

Graea Graea or Graia () was a city on the coast of Boeotia in ancient Greece. Its site is located near modern Dramesi in Paralia Avlidas. History Graea is listed under Boeotia in Homer's Catalogue of Ships in the ''Iliad''. It seems to have included ...

, Pleteon, and Anthedon. This Hypseus is slain by

Capaneus In Greek mythology, Capaneus (; Ancient Greek: Καπανεύς ''Kapaneús'') was a son of Hipponous and either Astynome (daughter of Talaus) or Laodice (daughter of Iphis), and husband of Evadne, with whom he fathered Sthenelus. Some call h ...

References

External links

*{{Commons-inline River gods in Greek mythology Rivers of Greece Landforms of Boeotia Rivers of Central Greece Landforms of East Attica Rivers of Attica Drainage basins of the Aegean Sea