The Cephissus (), called the Boeotian Cephissus to distinguish it from other rivers of the same name, or Kifisos () is a river in
central Greece. Its
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
is . The river rises at
Lilaia in
Phocis
Phocis (; ; ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gu ...
, on the northwestern slope of
Mount Parnassus
Mount Parnassus (; , ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is, and historically has been, especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers scenic views of the c ...
. It flows east through the
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 ...
n plain, passing the towns
Amfikleia
Amfikleia (, before 1915: Δαδί - ''Dadi'') is a town and a former municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Amfikleia-Elateia, of which it is a municipal unit.
The municipal unit h ...
,
Kato Tithorea
Kato Tithorea (, ) is a town in Phthiotis, in central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Amfikleia-Elateia, of which it is the seat. It has a population 1,841 according to the 2011 Greek census. It is situ ...
and
Orchomenos. It drained into
Lake Copais
Lake Copais, also spelled Kopais or Kopaida (; ), was a lake in the centre of Boeotia, Greece, west of Thebes. It was first drained in the Bronze Age, and drained again in the late 19th century. It is now flat dry land and is still known as Kop ...
, which was therefore also called the Cephisian Lake, until 1887, when the lake was eliminated in favor of agricultural land. An artificial outflow has been created to
Lake Yliki
Lake Yliki ( ''Yliki'', Ancient Greek: Ὑλίκη ''Hylike'', Latinised as ''Hylica'') is a large natural lake of Boeotia, central Greece. Situated 8 km north of Thebes at 78 m elevation, it has been an important source of drinking water for the ...
(ancient Hylice), further east.
Hydrology
The Cephisus, a post-glacial river, never had sufficient flow deriving from drainage to establish a clear channel to the
Gulf of Euboea
The Gulf of Euboea, Euboean Gulf, Euboic Sea or Euboic Gulf () is an arm of the Aegean Sea between the island of Euboea (northeast coastline) and the Greek mainland (southwest coastline). Trending diagonally northwest–southeast, the gulf is div ...
. Its main flow was seasonal melt water, which collected in a three-lake system in the lowlands of Boeotia. First it entered
Lake Copais
Lake Copais, also spelled Kopais or Kopaida (; ), was a lake in the centre of Boeotia, Greece, west of Thebes. It was first drained in the Bronze Age, and drained again in the late 19th century. It is now flat dry land and is still known as Kop ...
, which was never more than a wetland a few feet deep. Today it has been totally drained for agriculture, revealing katabothra, or caves in the karst topography leading down to
Lake Yliki
Lake Yliki ( ''Yliki'', Ancient Greek: Ὑλίκη ''Hylike'', Latinised as ''Hylica'') is a large natural lake of Boeotia, central Greece. Situated 8 km north of Thebes at 78 m elevation, it has been an important source of drinking water for the ...
as well as
Bronze-Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
works to stem the flow. There was never enough cross-section to totally drain the marsh, and no surface channels between lakes.
The underground paths to Lake Yliki are now open, causing its level to rise sufficiently to drown all traces of Bronze-age settlement in its valley. Lake Yliki connects by underground channels to
Lake Paralimni
Lake Paralimni (, ''Limne Paralimni'', Latinised as ''Lacus Paralimnus''), formerly named Lake Ougria, Latinized to Uggria, is the easternmost of an east-west sequence of three ancient lakes in Central Greece that divided the mountains of Phocis f ...
, which hangs over the Gulf of Euboea. It was never connected to the Gulf by surface channel, but some water is believed to have escaped via the
katabothra.
The artificial adjustment of the lake waters was an engineering problem of some magnitude in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the later 20th century the waters of the two remaining lakes were preempted by the Athens aqueduct. The city of Athens had grown to include one-third of the population of Greece. Waters were being tapped from rivers as far away as western Greece through deep tunnels, which take advantage of the difference in altitude. The mountains are primarily of limestone, which is soft enough to present easy tunneling, whether under the Pindus mountains, beneath the passes of the
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
, or through the ridges of
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
Mythology
In Greek mythology, the river god
Cephissus was associated with this river.
Pausanias records a
Theban tradition that the river Cephissus formerly flowed under a mountain and entered the sea until
Heracles
Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
blocked the passage and diverted the water into the
Orchomenian plain. Pausanias also says that the Lilaeans on certain days threw cakes and other customary items into the spring of the Cephissus and that they would reappear in the
Castalian Spring
The Castalian Spring, in the ravine between the Phaedriades at Delphi, is where all visitors to Delphi — the contestants in the Pythian Games, and especially pilgrims who came to consult the Delphic Oracle — stopped to wash themsel ...
.
[ Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 10.8.1]
History
The Cephissus valley is of strategic importance, connecting northern Greece via the passes of
Mount Oeta
Mount Oeta (; , polytonic , ''Oiti'', also transcribed as ''Oite'') is a mountain in Central Greece. A southeastern offshoot of the Pindus range, it is high. Since 1966, the core area of the mountain is a national park, and much of the rest has ...
and
Mount Kallidromo (including
Thermopylae
Thermopylae (; ; Ancient: , Katharevousa: ; ; "hot gates") is a narrow pass and modern town in Lamia (city), Lamia, Phthiotis, Greece. It derives its name from its Mineral spring, hot sulphur springs."Thermopylae" in: S. Hornblower & A. Spaw ...
) to southern Greece and the
Gulf of Corinth
The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf (, ) is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea, separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isthmus of Corinth which includes the shipping-designed Corinth Canal and ...
.
As a result, in the
Frankish period a chain of forts and watchtowers was established along its course by the rulers of the
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens (Greek language, Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, ''Doukaton Athinon''; Catalan language, Catalan: ''Ducat d'Atenes'') was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during ...
.
References
External links
Landforms of Boeotia
Rivers of Central Greece
Rivers of Greece
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