CHAP. 21.—EUBŒA.
Eubœa[1] itself has also been rent away from Bœotia; the
channel of the Euripus, which flows between them, being so
narrow as to admit of the opposite shores being united by
a bridge[2]. At the south, this island is remarkable for its
two promontories, that of Geræstus[3], which looks towards
Attica, and that of Caphareus[4], which faces the Hellespont;
on the north it has that of Cenæum[5]. In no part does
this island extend to a greater breadth than forty miles,
while it never contracts to less than two. In length it
runs along the whole coast of Bœotia, extending from
Attica as far as Thessaly, a distance of 150 miles[6]. In
circumference it measures 365, and is distant from the
Hellespont, on the side of Caphareus, 225 miles. The cities
for which it was formerly famous were, Pyrrha, Porthmos,
Nesos, Cerinthos[7], Oreum, Dium, Ædepsos[8], Ocha, and
Œchalia; at present it is ennobled by those of Chalcis[9]
(opposite which, on the mainland, is Aulis), Geræstus[10],
Eretria[11], Carystus[12], Oritanum, and Artemisium[13]. Here are
also the Fountain of Arethusa[14], the river Lelantus, and the
warm springs known as Ellopiæ; it is still better known,
however, for the marble of Carystus. This island used
formerly to be called Chalcodontis and Macris[15], as we learn
from Dionysius and Ephorus; according to Aristides, Macra;
also, as Callidemus says, Chalcis, because copper was first
discovered here. Menæchmus says that it was called
Abantias[16], and the poets generally give it the name of
Asopis.
1. Now called Eubœa, as also Egripo, or Negropont,—a corruption of
the former word and "pont," "a bridge."
2. Hardouin speaks of this as existing in his time, 1670, and being 250
feet in length. It is supposed to have been first constructed about
B.C.
411, for the purpose of uninterrupted communication with Bœotia.
3. Now Capo Mandili.
4. Now Kavo Doro, or Xylofago.
5. Now Lithadha, with a mountain 2837 feet above the sea.
6. These measurements are not exactly correct. The length from north
to south is about ninety miles; the extreme breadth across, thirty, and
in one part, not more than four miles.
7. Still extant in the time of Strabo, who speaks of it as an inconsiderable place.
8. Its site is now called Lipso. It contained warm baths sacred to
Hercules, and used by the Dictator Sylla. They are still to be seen.
9. Now Egripo, or Negropont, having given name to the rest of the
island. The Euripus is here only forty yards across, being crossed by a
bridge, partly of stone, partly of wood. The poet Lycophron and the
orator Isæus were natives of this place, and Aristotle died here.
10. Near the promontory of that name, now Capo Mandili. In the
town there was a famous temple of Poseidon, or Neptune. According
to Hardouin, the modern name is Iastura.
11. One of the most powerful cities of Eubœa. It was destroyed by the
Persians under Darius, and a new town was built to the south of the old
one. New Eretria stood, according to Leake, at the modern Kastri, and
old Eretria in the neighbourhood of Vathy. The tragic poet Achæus, a
contemporary of Æschylus, was born here; and a school of philosophy
was founded at this place by Menedemus, a disciple of Plato.
12. Now Karysto, on the south of the island, at the foot of Mount
Ocha, upon which are supposed to have been its quarries of marble.
There are but few remains of the ancient city. The historian Antigonus,
the comic poet Apollodorus, and the physician Diocles, were natives of
this place.
13. Probably on the promontory of the same name. It was off this
coast that the Greek fleet engaged that of Xerxes, B.C. 480.
14. There were tame fish kept in this fountain; and its waters were
sometimes disturbed by volcanic agency. Leake says that it has now
totally disappeared.
15. From the fact of its producing copper, and of its being in shape long
and narrow.
16. Strabo remarks, that Homer calls its inhabitants Abantes, while he
gives to the island the name of Eubœa. The poets say that it took its
name from the cow (Bou=s) Io, who gave birth to Epaphus on this
island.