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30-454: When the lake existed, the towns of Haliartus , Orchomenus , and Chaeronea were on its shores. Rivers feeding the lake included the Cephissus , Termessus and Triton . The lake was (and is) surrounded by fertile land, but the lake increasingly encroached on the surrounding land because of inadequate drainage. First, though abotive, plans to drain the lake were made in 1834-1838. In 1865

60-474: A French company, Montferrier and Bonnair, signed a contract with the Greek government to drain the lake. But in 1873 after having drained the lake partially, the company went bankrupt and drainage of the lake was halted until 1880, when a new contract was signed with another French company. Though massive drainage works took place between 1882 and 1886, the attempt was unsuccessful: The organic material accumulated on

90-496: A past tense verb rather than the present tense in some instances. Their interpretation is that he did this in order to make it seem as if he were in the same temporal setting as his audience. Unlike a modern day travel guide, in Description of Greece Pausanias tends to elaborate with discussion of an ancient ritual or to impart a myth related to the site he is visiting. His style of writing would not become popular again until

120-640: A town of ancient Boeotia , and one of the cities of the Boeotian League . It was situated on the southern side of Lake Copais in a pass between the mountain and the lake. It is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad by Homer , who gives it the epithet ποιήεις (grassy) in consequence of its well-watered meadows. During the Second Persian invasion of Greece , it was destroyed by

150-514: Is apparently the same as the Lophis of Pausanias. The stream on the eastern side, called Kefalári, is formed by the union of two rivulets, which appear to be the Permessus and Olmeius, which are described by Strabo as flowing from Helicon, and after their union entering Lake Copais near Haliartus. The tumulus, of which Leake speaks, perhaps covers those who were killed along with Lysander, since it

180-459: Is honest about his sourcing, sometimes confirming contemporary knowledge by him that may be lost to modern researchers. Until twentieth-century archaeologists concluded that Pausanias was a reliable guide to sites being excavated, classicists largely had dismissed the writings of Pausanias as purely literary. Following their presumed authoritative contemporary Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff , classicists tended to regard him as little more than

210-705: The Bronze Age , and later during the Roman Times . During the Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans drained the late partially by diverting a portion of water volume feeding the late towards natural sinkholes situated near the eastern end of the lake and through them eventually to the sea. The Bronze Age draining attempts happened at least in two phases. First attempt was made by building low earth dams totalling in length to ca. 22 km (14 mi) to gain land from

240-453: The 1st century geographer Strabo recorded. Modern excavation has found enormous channels dug in the 14th century BC which drained water into the sea to the northeast; Strabo mentions work being done on these channels by an engineer named Crates of Chalcis in the time of Alexander the Great . Several attempts at partial or complete drainage of lake Copais were made in antiquity. First during

270-401: The 5th century BC comic playwright Aristophanes record that in antiquity Lake Copais was known for its fish, especially the eels. 38°27′N 23°03′E  /  38.45°N 23.05°E  / 38.45; 23.05 Haliartus Haliartus or Haliartos ( Ancient Greek : Ἁλίαρτος ), also known as Ariartus , Ariartos , Hariartus , or Hariartos (Ἀρίαρτος or Ἁρίαρτος), was

300-533: The Haliartians had a sanctuary of the goddesses called Praxidicae situated near this mountain. The towns Peteon , Medeon , Ocalea , and Onchestos were situated in the territory of Haliartus. Its site is located at the Kastri Maziou near modern Aliartos (formerly named Moulki, but renamed after the ancient town). The remains of Haliartus are situated upon a hill about a mile (1.6 km) from

330-661: The Persians (480 BC), but afterwards the citizens rebuilt it. In the Peloponnesian War appears as one of the chief cities of Boeotia. It is chiefly memorable in history on account of the Battle of Haliartus fought under its walls between Lysander and the Thebans , in which the former was slain, 395 BCE. In 171 BCE Haliartus was destroyed a second time. Having espoused the cause of Perseus of Macedon , it

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360-498: The Persians and had been purposely left in that state. The Haliartia (Ἁλιαρτία), or territory of Haliartus, was a very fertile plain, watered by numerous streams flowing into Lake Copais, which in this part was hence called the Haliartian marsh. These streams bore the names of Ocalea , Lophis , Hoplites , Permessus , and Olmeius . The territory of Haliartus extended westward to Mount Tilphossium , since Pausanias says that

390-565: The area by digging out a river, the Cephissus, which poured into the basin. Polyaenus explains that he did this because he was fighting the Minyans of Orchomenus: they were dangerous horseback fighters, and Heracles dug the lake in order to unhorse them. Another story has the lake overflow in the mythical time of Ogyges , resulting in the Ogygian deluge . The travel writer Pausanias and

420-444: The early nineteenth century when contemporary travel guides resembled his. In the topographical aspect of his work, Pausanias makes many natural history digressions on the wonders of nature documented at the time, the signs that herald the approach of an earthquake , the phenomena of the tides , the ice-bound seas of the north, and that at the summer solstice the noonday sun casts no shadow at Syene ( Aswan ). While he never doubts

450-439: The existence of the deities and heroes, he criticizes some of the myths and legends he encountered during his travels as differing from earlier cultural traditions that he relates or notes. His descriptions of monuments of art are plain and unadorned, bearing a solid impression of reality. Pausanias is frank in acknowledging personal limitations. When he quotes information at second hand rather than relating his own experiences, he

480-415: The lake bottom was set ablaze, which caused the lake bed recede by ca. 4 m (13 ft) lower than the drainage canal and by 1887 the lake was filled again. This time a British company, Lake Copais Co Ltd., was contracted to continue the project, and the company successfully finished draining the lake by 1931 and recovering 241,000 km (93,000 sq mi) of land. The Greek government expropriated

510-449: The lake. Excavated remains indicate that up to 400,000,000 m of stone and roughly 200,000,000 m of earth were moved to build the dams. However, after the dams failed another, apparently more successful, attempt was made by constructing a ca. 25 km (16 mi) long canal conveying water from the lake basin towards natural sinkholes northeast of the lake. At this point the lake basin was divided into two, one north and another south of

540-460: The levee, leading to partial reclamation of the southern part of the basin. An incomplete tunnel with planned length of 2.2 km (1.4 mi) at Kephalari, close to the sinkholes, leading water rivers Cephissus and Melas to a small torrent leading eventually to the Euboean Gulf may also be a Bronze Age work; however, currently there is no consensus about the matter and some researchers date

570-568: The mainland of Greece, writing about various monuments, sacred spaces, and significant geographical sites along the way. In writing his Description of Greece , Pausanias sought to put together a lasting written account of "all things Greek", or panta ta hellenika . Being born in Asia Minor , Pausanias was of Greek heritage. He grew up and lived under the rule of the Roman Empire , but valued his Greek identity, history, and culture. He

600-462: The recovered area in 1953, and redistributed it to landless farmers. The Kopais Lake Agency was created in 1957 to supervise the draining of the lake and building of a new road. The task was completed that same year, but the agency with full-time staff of 30 (including a driver for the president of the agency) still existed until 2010. Before this the lake drained into the sea by numerous subterranean channels. Some of these channels were artificial, as

630-471: The ruins of Haliartus. From this spot there is a distance of about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) to a tumulus westward of the Acropolis, where are several sarcophagi and ancient foundations near some sources of waters, marking probably the site. of the western entrance of the city." The stream which flowed on the western side of the city is the one called Hoplites by Plutarch, where Lysander fell, and

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660-515: The sites and cultural details he mentions although knowledge of their existence may have become lost or relegated to myth or legend. Nothing is known about Pausanias apart from what historians can piece together from his own writing. However, it is probable that he was born c.  110 AD into a Greek family and was probably a native of Lydia in Asia Minor. From c.  150 until his death around 180, Pausanias travelled throughout

690-669: The tunnel much later, perhaps during the Hellenistic period . The drainage system collapsed during the Late Helladic IIIB or Late Helladic IIIC at the latest. In the Roman Times, two drainage attempts are documented. The first attempt is attributed to a local Epameinondas Epameinondou, and the second to the Emperor Hadrian . There was a legend that the lake came into being when the hero Heracles flooded

720-464: The village of Mazi, on the road from Thebes to Lebadeia , and at the distance of about 15 miles (24 km) from either place. The hill of Haliartus is not more than 50 feet (15 m) above the lake. It was visited in the 19th century by William Martin Leake who says, "that towards the lake the hill of Haliartus terminates in rocky cliffs, but on the other sides has a gradual acclivity. Some remains of

750-450: The walls of the Acropolis, chiefly of polygonal masonry, are found on the summit of the hill; and there are several sepulchral crypts in the cliffs, below which, to the north, issues a copious source of water, flowing to the marsh, like all the other streams near the site of Haliartus. Although the walls of the exterior town are scarcely anywhere traceable, its extent is naturally marked to the east and west by two small rivers, of which that to

780-601: The west issues from the foot of the hill of Mazi; the eastern, called the Kefalári, has its origin in Mount Helicon. Near the left bank of this stream, at a distance of 500 yards (480 m) from the Acropolis, are a ruined mosque and two ruined churches, on the site of a village which, though long since abandoned, is shown by these remains to have been once inhabited by both Greeks and Turks. Here are many fragments of architecture and of inscribed stones, collected formerly from

810-400: Was a Greek traveler and geographer of the second century AD. He is famous for his Description of Greece ( Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις , Hēlládos Periḗgēsis ), a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from his firsthand observations. Description of Greece provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology , which is providing evidence of

840-762: Was keen to describe the glories of a Greek past that still was relevant in his lifetime, even if the country was beholden to Rome as a dominating imperial force. Pausanias's pilgrimage throughout the land of his ancestors was his own attempt to establish a place in the world for this new Roman Greece, connecting myths and stories of ancient culture to those of his own time. Pausanias has a straightforward and simple writing style. He is, overall, direct in his language, writing his stories and descriptions unelaborately. However, some translators have noted that Pausanias's use of various prepositions and tenses may be confusing and difficult to render in English. For example, Pausanias may use

870-585: Was near this spot that the battle was fought. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Smith, William , ed. (1854–1857). "Haliartus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . London: John Murray. 38°22′47″N 23°05′18″E  /  38.379818°N 23.088416°E  / 38.379818; 23.088416 Pausanias (geographer) Pausanias ( / p ɔː ˈ s eɪ n i ə s / paw- SAY -nee-əs ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Παυσανίας ; c.  110  – c.  180 )

900-573: Was taken by the Roman praetor Lucretius , who sold the inhabitants as slaves, carried off its statues, paintings, and other works of art, and razed it to the ground. Its territory was afterwards given to the Athenians , and it never recovered its former prosperity. Strabo speaks of it as no longer in existence in his time, and Pausanias , in his account of the place, mentions only a heroum of Lysander, and some ruined temples which had been burnt by

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