Geography

​Chaeroneia is near Orchomenus, where Philip, the son of Amyntas, after defeating the Athenians, Boeotians, and Corinthians in a great battle, became master of Greece. And there is shown here also the public tomb of those who fell in the battle. And in these same places the Romans also defeated the forces of Mithridates, consisting of many tens of thousands, so that only a few escaped to the sea and fled in their ships, while of the rest, some perished and others were captured.

​Lebadeia is where the oracle of Zeus Trophonius is established, which has a descent into an underground chasm, and the consultant himself goes down into it. It lies between Helicon and Chaeroneia, near Coroneia.

​Leuctra is where Epaminondas, after defeating the Lacedaemonians in a great battle, found the beginning of their downfall. For from that time on they were no longer able to regain the hegemony over the Greeks which they had previously held, and especially since they fared badly also in the second encounter, the one near Mantineia. However, the condition of not being subject to others remained with them, despite having stumbled so badly, until the Roman supremacy. And even under them they continue to be honored because of the virtue of their constitution. This place is shown along the road from Plataeae to Thespiae.

​Next, the poet mentions the Catalogue of the Orchomenians, separating them from the Boeotian nation. And he calls Orchomenus ‘Minyeian’ after the tribe of the Minyae. And they say that from there some of the Minyae migrated to Iolcus, whence the Argonauts came to be called Minyae. It seems that in ancient times this city was both rich and possessed great power. Now, as a witness of its wealth, Homer also stands, for in enumerating the places that had accumulated much wealth, he says: ‘Not even all that comes into Orchomenus, nor all that comes into Egyptian Thebes.’ And as for its power, there is the fact that the Thebans used to pay tribute to the Orchomenians and to Erginus, who was their tyrant, whom they say was overthrown by Heracles. And Eteocles, one of those who reigned in Orchomenus, by being the first to found a temple of the Graces, shows both, namely wealth and power; he, whether succeeding in receiving favors or in giving them, or indeed in both, honored these goddesses. And they say that the place which the Copais lake now occupies was formerly dry and was cultivated in all kinds of ways, being under the control of the Orchomenians who lived near it; and they therefore present this also as a proof of their wealth.

​As for Aspledon, some used to call it without the first syllable. Then both the town itself and the country were renamed Eudeielos, perhaps bringing in some characteristic proper to its inhabitants from the evening slope, and especially its being mild in winter. It is twenty stadia distant from Orchomenus, and the river Melas is between them.

​And Panopeus, a Phocian city, and Hyampolis lie above the Orchomenian territory. And bordering on these is Opus, the metropolis of the Epicnemidian Locrians. Now they say that formerly Orchomenus was situated in a plain, but when the waters overflowed, the inhabitants moved up to Mount Acontium, which extends for sixty stadia as far as Parapotamii in Phocis. And they relate that those who are called Achaians in Pontus are colonists of the Orchomenians who wandered there with Ialmenus after the capture of Troy. And there was also a certain Orchomenus near Carystus. For those who wrote on the Catalogue of Ships have handily supplied us with such material, and we follow them whenever they say things appropriate to our subject.