Geography

​He calls ‘Thespeia’ the present-day Thespiae; for among many names, some are used in both ways, both in the singular and in the plural, just as they are used in both masculine and feminine, while others are used in only one of the two ways. The city is situated near Mount Helicon, on its southern side; both the city itself and Helicon overlook the Crisaean Gulf. Thespiae has Creusa as its port, which they also call Creusis. In the territory of the Thespians is also Ascra, near the part towards Helicon, the homeland of Hesiod; for it is on the right of Helicon, situated on a high and rugged place, distant from Thespiae about forty stadia. Hesiod himself has satirized this place with reference to his father, stating that his father migrated from Cyme in Aeolis, saying later: ‘And he settled near Helicon in a wretched village, Ascra, bad in winter, hard in summer, never good.’ Helicon is contiguous with Phocis on its northern side, and slightly on its western side at the furthest harbor of Phocis, which they call by its physical characteristic ‘the Recess’; for both Helicon and Ascra, and also Thespiae and its port Creusa, lie above this harbor of the Crisaean Gulf. This is considered the deepest recess of the Crisaean Gulf, and indeed of the Corinthian Gulf. The distance from the recess of the harbor to Creusa is ninety stadia, and from there to the promontory which they call [Holmae] is one hundred and twenty. In the deepest recess of the gulf lie Pegae and Oenoe, of which we have spoken before. Now, Helicon is not far distant from Parnassus, and is rival to it both in height and in circumference; for both mountains are snow-swept and rocky, and are bounded within a small area. Here are the sanctuary of the Muses, the Hippocrene (Fountain of the Horse), and the cave of the Leibethrian nymphs; from which one might infer that it was Thracians who consecrated Helicon to the Muses, who also dedicated Pieria, Leibethrum, and Pimpleia to the same goddesses; they were called Pieres, but since they have disappeared, Macedonians now hold these places. And it has been said that this Boeotia was once inhabited by Thracians, who drove out the Boeotians, and also by Pelasgians and other barbarians. Thespiae was formerly known because of the Eros of Praxiteles, which he sculpted, and Glycera the courtesan dedicated to the Thespians, since she was from there by birth, having received it as a gift from the artist. Formerly, therefore, some would travel up to Thespiae merely to see the Eros, as the city was otherwise not worth seeing; but now it is the only one of the Boeotian cities that survives, along with Tanagra; of the others, only ruins and names are left.

​And after Thespiae, he lists Graia and Mycalessus, of which we have spoken; and likewise concerning those who ‘dwelt about Harma and Eilesium and Erythrae, and those who held Hyle and Peteon.’ Peteon is a village of the Theban territory near the road to Anthedon; and Ocalee is midway between Haliartus and Alalcomenium, distant thirty stadia from each; and a river of the same name flows by it. As for Medeon, the Phocian one is on the Crisaean Gulf, distant one hundred and sixty stadia from Boeotia, while the Boeotian one is named after it, and is near Onchestus under Mount Phoenicius, from which it has also been renamed Phoenicis; this too is said to belong to the Theban territory, though some say that both Medeon and Ocalea belong to Haliartus.