DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0268
LAKE KOPAIS. 237
Onchestos and Medeon : this mountain, towards the north, joins
the three-topped Ptoon, which separates the lakes Kopais and
Hylika. The. ruins of Akraiphnion1 are on Mount Ptoon, at the
base of which are the remains of the insular city of Kopai. To this
joins Mount Kyrtonon,2 which, with the northern range of Ptoon,
closes in the plain from the vale of Opous, and the sea of Euboea,
and is now called Talanda, having at its eastern base an episcopal
city of the same name.
Next come the bare and craggy hills of Akontios, Laphystios,
Thurion, Edylion, Daulios, Hyphanteion, and Katopterios ; all dif-
ferent names given to parts of the same chain on which were situ-
ated the towns of Orchomenos, Aspledon, and Parapotamioi; and
which separate it from the plain of Elateia and Chaeroneia.
Besides the above-mentioned towns, there were several others on
the plain, whose precise situations are unknown: some of these
have probably been entirely destroyed by inundations, particularly
Assia, Ila, Okalea, Athens, and Eleusis.3
The eels of this lake are as much celebrated at present as they
were in the time of the ancients; they grow to a very large size,
and after being salted and pickled, are sent as delicacies to various
parts of Greece. They are noticed by Aristophanes,4 Pausanias,5 and
others. Julius Pollux.6 enumerates them amongst the good things of
which the ancients were fond ; and Athenseus7 says, that they were
used in the sacrifices of the Boeotians.
Pliny8 affirms that the lake generally rose above its usual level
once every ninth year. After the deluge of Deucalion, nature and
art seem to have combined the means of obviating the calamities
1 Herodotus calls it Akraiphia, and Strabo Akraiphion.
- Upon this mountain Pausanias mentions the three small towns of Kurtones, Korseia, and
Hjettos, b. 9. c. 24.
3 Pausan. b. 9. c. 24. * Acharn. v. 880, gtc. and Lysistrat. v. 36. 5 B. 9. c. 24.
6 B. 6. c. 10. Seg. 63. 7 Deipnosoph. b. 7. c 13. 8 Nat. Hist. b. 16. c. 36.
Onchestos and Medeon : this mountain, towards the north, joins
the three-topped Ptoon, which separates the lakes Kopais and
Hylika. The. ruins of Akraiphnion1 are on Mount Ptoon, at the
base of which are the remains of the insular city of Kopai. To this
joins Mount Kyrtonon,2 which, with the northern range of Ptoon,
closes in the plain from the vale of Opous, and the sea of Euboea,
and is now called Talanda, having at its eastern base an episcopal
city of the same name.
Next come the bare and craggy hills of Akontios, Laphystios,
Thurion, Edylion, Daulios, Hyphanteion, and Katopterios ; all dif-
ferent names given to parts of the same chain on which were situ-
ated the towns of Orchomenos, Aspledon, and Parapotamioi; and
which separate it from the plain of Elateia and Chaeroneia.
Besides the above-mentioned towns, there were several others on
the plain, whose precise situations are unknown: some of these
have probably been entirely destroyed by inundations, particularly
Assia, Ila, Okalea, Athens, and Eleusis.3
The eels of this lake are as much celebrated at present as they
were in the time of the ancients; they grow to a very large size,
and after being salted and pickled, are sent as delicacies to various
parts of Greece. They are noticed by Aristophanes,4 Pausanias,5 and
others. Julius Pollux.6 enumerates them amongst the good things of
which the ancients were fond ; and Athenseus7 says, that they were
used in the sacrifices of the Boeotians.
Pliny8 affirms that the lake generally rose above its usual level
once every ninth year. After the deluge of Deucalion, nature and
art seem to have combined the means of obviating the calamities
1 Herodotus calls it Akraiphia, and Strabo Akraiphion.
- Upon this mountain Pausanias mentions the three small towns of Kurtones, Korseia, and
Hjettos, b. 9. c. 24.
3 Pausan. b. 9. c. 24. * Acharn. v. 880, gtc. and Lysistrat. v. 36. 5 B. 9. c. 24.
6 B. 6. c. 10. Seg. 63. 7 Deipnosoph. b. 7. c 13. 8 Nat. Hist. b. 16. c. 36.