Geography

​This happens in two ways: either while the cities remain unmoved, when the rise of the waters is less than the inundation because of the height of the dwellings or because of their distance, or by relocation, when those who have frequently been in danger from the encroachment obtain a release from their fear by taking in exchange lands further away or on high ground. And for those who have been relocated in this way, while they keep the same name, it follows that, whereas formerly they were called so truly from the local circumstance, they are now no longer called truly; for it is plausible that Plataeae was named from the blade (plate) of oars, and Plataeans were those who lived by rowing, but now living far from the lake they would no longer be addressed truly. Also, Helos, Heleon, and Hilesium were so called because of being situated by the marshes (hele); but now these places are not in the same state, either because they have been relocated or because the lake has subsided considerably because of the outlets that were formed later; for indeed this also is possible.

​And the Cephisus especially shows this, filling the Copaic lake. For when it increased so that Copae—which the poet also names, and from which the lake has received its name—was in danger of being swallowed up, a chasm occurred near the lake close to Copae and opened an underground channel of about thirty stadia, and received the river; then it burst forth to the surface at Upper Larymna of Locris. For there is indeed another Larymna, the Boeotian one, on the sea, to which the Romans annexed Upper Larymna. And the place is called Anchoe, and there is also a lake of the same name; and from there the Cephisus finally empties into the sea. At that time, then, when the flood ceased, there was also a cessation of danger for the inhabitants, except for the cities that had already been swallowed up. But when the passages were choked up again, Crates the miner, a man of Chalcis, began to clear away the obstructions, but stopped because of the sedition of the Boeotians, although, as he himself says in his letter to Alexander, many places had already been dried up, among which some supposed that ancient Orchomenus was situated, and others Eleusis and Athens beside the Triton river; these cities are said to have existed when Cecrops ruled over Boeotia, which was then called Ogygia, and to have disappeared being flooded later. And they say that a chasm also occurred near Orchomenus and received the Melas river, which flows through Haliartia and forms there the marsh that produces the flute-reed. But this river has completely disappeared, either because the chasm scatters it into unseen passages, or because the marshes and lakes around Haliartus consume it beforehand, from which the poet calls Haliartus ‘grassy,’ saying ‘and grassy Haliartus.’

​These rivers, then, flow down from the Phocian mountains, of which the Cephisus takes its beginning from Lilaea, a Phocian city, just as Homer also says: ‘and those who held Lilaea by the springs of Cephisus;’ and flowing through Elatea, the largest of the cities among the Phocians, and through Parapotamii and Phanoteus, likewise Phocian towns, it proceeds to Chaeronea of Boeotia, and then through the territory of Orchomenus and of Coronea empties into the Copaic lake. And the Permessus and the Olmeius, joining each other from Helicon, fall into the same Copaic lake near Haliartus; and other streams also empty into it. It is indeed large, having a circumference of three hundred and eighty stadia, but the outlets are nowhere to be seen except for the chasm that receives the Cephisus and the marshes.