Eutresis (Boeotia)
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Eutresis () was a town of
ancient 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 ...
, mentioned by
Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
in the
Catalogue of Ships The Catalogue of Ships (, ''neōn katálogos'') is an epic catalogue in Book 2 of Homer's ''Iliad'' (2.494–759), which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy. The catalogue gives the names of the leaders of each conting ...
in the ''
Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...
'', and said to have been the residence of Amphion and Zethus before they ruled over Thebes. In the time of
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
it was a village in the territory of
Thespiae Thespiae ( ; ) was an ancient Greek city (''polis'') in Boeotia. It sits at the foot of Mount Helicon and near right bank of the Thespius River (modern name Kanavari River). Thespiae was a Boeotian state sporadically involved in the military fe ...
.
Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...
places it on the road from Thespiae to
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 ...
; but
William Martin Leake William Martin Leake FRS (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English soldier, spy, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British Army, spending much of his career in the Mediterrane ...
conjectures that there is an error in the text, and that for Θεσπιῶν (Thespiae) we ought to read Θισβῶν ( Thisbe), since there is only one spot in the ten miles between Plataea and Thespiae where any town is likely to have stood, and that was occupied by Leuctra. We learn from Stephanus that Eutresis possessed a celebrated temple and
oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...
of
Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
, who was hence surnamed Eutresites. The ''
Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax The ''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' is an ancient Greek periplus (περίπλους ''períplous'', 'circumnavigation') describing the sea route around the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It probably dates from the mid-4th century BC, specifically t ...
'', in its description of the coast of Boeotia, speaks of "ὁ λιμὴν Εὔτρητος καὶ τεῖχος τῶν Βοιωτῶν": "the harbor of Eutresis(?) with a fort of the Boiotians."


Archeology

Its site is located near modern Arkopodi, about from Lefktra (site of ancient Leuctra). Excavations by Hetty Goldman and later archeologists found some remains of
Cyclopean walls Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typi ...
of the
Mycenaean period Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainla ...
similar in construction to those at Gla. The archeology shows that the place was abandoned in the last phase of the Mycenaean period and again populated from the 6th century BCE onwards. In one of the Mycenaean clay tablets with inscriptions in
Linear B Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...
script that were found in Thebes in 1995, the toponym Eutresis is written in the form "e-u-te-re-u". In the tablet (catalogued as TH Ft 140), Eutresis appears as the supplier of the largest quantity of oil in a series of locations that appear listed. According to the archaeologist Vassilis Aravantinos, Eutresis would have been the second largest town in the area controlled by the palace of Thebes after the capital itself. This identification, while generally accepted, is not undisputed.


Attribution


References


Further reading

* Goldman, Hetty (1927). ''Excavations at Eutresis: Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Eutresis in Boeotia''. Harvard University. Cities in ancient Boeotia Former populated places in Greece Places in the Iliad Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece {{AncientBoeotia-geo-stub