Lefktra
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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'' ().EETAA local government changes
Lefktra
Lefktra is located in the foothills of Mount Kithairon at 353 meters average elevation. The population of Lefktra is 779 people (2021 census). Thebes is sixteen kilometers away and Athens 70 km away, via the old national road. There are bus lines from Thebes to Lefktra and vice versa daily, and from Athens to Lefktra at the weekends. Residents' main occupations are agriculture and stockbreeding. Livadostra and Koromili beaches are ten minutes away by car. Between 1912 and 1997 Lefktra was an independent community (an independent municipality after 1989). In 1997, at the
Kapodistrias reform Kapodistrias reform (, "Kapodistrias Plan") is the common name of law 2539 of Greece, which reorganised the country's administrative divisions. The law, named after 19th-century Greek statesman (Ioannis Kapodistrias), passed the Hellenic Parliamen ...
, it was merged into the municipality Plataies, along with the communities Melissochori, Loutoufi and Kaparelli. In 2010, at the
Kallikratis reform The Kallikratis Programme () is the common name of Greek law 3852/2010 of 2010, a major administrative reform in Greece. It brought about the second major reform of the country's administrative divisions following the 1997 Kapodistrias reform. ...
, Plataies was merged into the municipality of Thebes.EETAA local government changes
Plataies


Etymology

Lefktra is named after the ancient village of Leuctra (, ) in
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 ...
, seven miles southwest of Thebes.


Defeat of Sparta

The
Battle of Leuctra The Battle of Leuctra (, ) was fought on 6 July 371 BC between the Boeotians led by the Thebes (Greece), Thebans, and the History of Sparta, Spartans along with their allies amidst the post–Corinthian War conflict. The battle took place in the ...
(371 BC) was fought in the vicinity of ancient Leuctra, in which the Thebans under
Epaminondas Epaminondas (; ; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greeks, Greek general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek polis, city-state of Thebes, Greece, Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre ...
defeated the
Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...
, ending the
Spartan hegemony Spartan hegemony refers to the period of dominance by Sparta in Greek affairs from 404 to 371 BC. Even before this period the polis of Sparta was the greatest Spartan army, military land power of classical Ancient Greece, Greek antiquity and govern ...
. Following their victory, the Thebans became a new power within the Hellenic world, until the rise of
Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...
. The base of Theban
Tropaion A tropaion (, ), from which the English word "trophy" is derived, was a monument erected to commemorate a victory over one's foes by the ancient Greeks and later, by the Romans. The armour of the defeated foe would be hung upon the monument. O ...
(Trophy) tower, erected at the battle site circa 371BC..


References

Populated places in Boeotia Thebes, Greece {{CGreece-geo-stub