Geography

​Then he says: ‘Copae and Eutresis, and Thisbe rich in doves.’ Now concerning Copae it has been spoken; it is on the northern side on the Copais lake. And the others around it in a circle are these: Acraephiae, Phoenicis, Onchestus, Haliartus, Ocalea, Alalcomenae, Tilphosium, Coroneia. In ancient times indeed there was no common name for the lake, but it was named after each settlement situated by it: Copais from Copae, Haliartis from Haliartus, and so on for the others; but later the whole was called Copais by prevalence, for this part is the deepest recess. And Pindar also calls this lake Cephissis; at any rate he places the Tilphossa spring, which flows under the Tilphossium mountain near Haliartus and Alalcomenae, near which is the tomb of Teiresias; and there also is the sanctuary of Tilphossian [Apollo].

​And the poet, next to Copae, places Eutresis, a village of the Thespians; there they say Zethus and Amphion dwelt before they ruled over Thebes. Thisbe is now called Thisbae; the place is inhabited a little above the sea, bordering on the territory of the Thespians and on that of Coroneia, itself also lying under Helicon on its southern side. It has a rocky seaport full of doves, on account of which the poet says: ‘and Thisbe rich in doves.’ And the voyage from there to Sicyon is one hundred and sixty stadia.

​Next he lists Coroneia, Haliartus, Plataeae, and Glissas. Now Coroneia is situated on a high place near Helicon; the Boeotians, returning from Thessalian Arne after the Trojan War, occupied it, at which time they also took possession of Orchomenus. Having gained control of Coroneia, they established in the plain in front of it the sanctuary of Itonian Athena, named after the Thessalian one, and they named the river flowing by it Cuarius, homonymously with the one there. Alcaeus, however, calls it Coralius, saying: ‘... Queen Athena, goddess of war, who indeed [stands] before the stone temple of Coroneia, along the banks of the river Coralius.’ And there they also celebrated the Pamboeotia festival; and Hades is enshrined together with Athena, as they say, for some mystical reason. Now, the inhabitants in the [Boeotian] Coroneia are called Coronii, but those in the Messenian [Coroneia] are called Coronaeis.

​Haliartus is now no longer in existence, having been razed to the ground in the war against Perseus, and the Athenians hold its territory, the Romans having given it to them. It was situated in a narrow place between the overhanging mountain and the Copais lake, near the Permessus and the Olmeius, and the marsh that produces the reed used for flutes.

​Plataeae, which the poet mentioned in the singular, is situated under Mount Cithaeron, between it and Thebes, along the road leading to Athens and Megara on the boundaries of Attica and Boeotia. For Eleutherae is nearby, which some indeed say belongs to Boeotia. And it has been said that the Asopus flows past Plataeae. Here the Greek forces utterly annihilated Mardonius and his three hundred thousand Persians; and they established the sanctuary of Zeus Eleutherios and instituted a crown-bearing athletic contest, calling it Eleutheria; and there is shown the public burial of those who died in the battle. There is also in Sicyonia a deme called Plataeae, from which very place came Mnasalces the poet. As for Glissas, he speaks of it as a settlement on Mount Hypatus, which is in the Theban territory near Teumessus and Cadmeia, below which lies the so-called Aonian plain, extending from Mount Hypatus.