Geography

​Since Euboea is stretched along all this coast from Sunium as far as Thessaly, except for the extremities on either side, it would be appropriate to connect the things concerning the island to what has been said, and then in this way to pass on to the affairs of Aetolia and Acarnania, which are the remaining parts of Europe.

​Now the island is oblong, extending for nearly one thousand two hundred stadia from Cenaeum to Geraestus, but irregular in width, and at its greatest about one hundred and fifty stadia. Now Cenaeum is opposite Thermopylae and slightly beyond Thermopylae, while Geraestus and Petalia are towards Sunium. Thus it lies opposite Attica, Boeotia, Locris, and the Malians. And because of its narrowness and the aforementioned length, it was named Macris by the ancients. And it connects with the mainland especially at Chalcis, bending and projecting forward towards the places of Boeotia near Aulis and making the Euripus, concerning which we have spoken at greater length, and nearly so also concerning the places opposite one another both on the mainland and on the island on both sides of the Euripus, both those inside and those outside. And if anything has been left out, we shall now further clarify it. And first, they say that the “Coela” of Euboea are the parts between Aulis and the places around Geraestus; for the coast forms a gulf, but as it approaches Chalcis it bends back again towards the mainland.

​The island was not only called Macris, but also Abantis. At any rate, the Poet, though he speaks of Euboea, never calls the people from it Euboeans, but always Abantes: “And those who held Euboea, the Abantes breathing fury.” “And with him followed the Abantes.” And Aristotle says that Thracians, starting out from Abae in Phocis, colonized the island and named those who held it Abantes; but others say they were named after a hero, just as Euboea was after a heroine. And perhaps, just as a certain cave on the coast facing the Aegean is called “Ox’s Stall”, where they say Io gave birth to Epaphus, so also the island obtained this name from the same cause. The island was also called Oche, and the largest of the mountains there is homonymous with it. And it was also named Ellopia, after Ellops the son of Ion; but others say he was the brother of Aiclus and Cothus, who is also said to have founded Ellopia, a place in the so-called Oria of Histiaeotis near Mount Telethrius, and to have acquired in addition Histiaea, the plain, Cerinthus, Oedepsus, and Orobiae, in which was a most truthful oracle—it was the oracle of Selinuntian Apollo. The Ellopians migrated to Histiaea and enlarged the city, Philistides the tyrant having forced them after the battle of Leuctra. But Demosthenes says that Philistides was established as tyrant by Philip, and was tyrant of the Oreitae Philistides; for in this way the Histiaeans were named later, and the city was called Oreus instead of Histiaea. And some say that Histiaea was colonized by the Athenians from the deme of Histiaeans, just as Eretria was from that of the Eretrians. And Theopompus says that when Pericles was subduing Euboea, the Histiaeans moved to Macedonia by agreement, and two thousand men from Athens came and inhabited Oreus, which was formerly a deme of the Histiaeans.

​And it lies under Mount Telethrius in the so-called Drymus, by the river Callas, on a high rock, so that perhaps, also because the Ellopians who previously inhabited it were mountaineers, this name was given to the city; and it seems that Orion also, having been reared there, was named in this way. But some say that the Oreitae, having their own city, being attacked by the Ellopians, migrated and cohabited with the Histiaeans, and when it became one city, they used both names, just as Lacedaemon and Sparta are the same. And it has been said that in Thessaly also, Histiaeotis was named after those who were transplanted from here by the Perrhaebians.