1. Akraiphnio and the Akraiphnia area. Geographical location
Akraiphnia, the area of Akraiphnio, is located in northeastern Boeotia and includes the settlements of Akraiphnio (centre of the region with the same name), Kastro and Kokkino, as well as the coastal area of Skroponeri in the Gulf of Euboea. Nowadays, the main North-South road network, the “National Road” (Highway) passes through Akraiphnio. However, from antiquity to modern times, the main road network passed through Thebes, a little further south, connected to Akraiphnia with a secondary road. To the south and southeast, Akraiphnia is adjacent to the lakes Hylike and Paralimne; through them it communicated with the Gulf of Euboea and the town of Anthedon, which – in Antiquity – belonged to Boeotia. To the northeast, Akraiphnia extended to Larymna in Phthiotis.
2. Historical overview of the region
Akraiphnia is an area rich in archaeological sites and monuments, located mainly on Mount Ptoon and the eastern part of Kopais. It has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The citadel (acropolis) of Glas was a significant site in the Late Helladic period, when the lake was drained by the Minyans of Orhomenos. In historical times, mainly from the Archaic to the Roman period, the most important towns were Kopai and Akraiphia, while the Oracle of Apollo Ptoos was second in prominence after Delphi. Very little is known about the Byzantine period, however, concerning the Frankish period and Modern times there is safer evidence from written sources and archaeological findings regarding the settlements (Topolia, Karditsa etc.) and religious life (St George, St Vlasios, Monastery of St Pelagia etc.). In modern times, the significance of the region increased during the drainage of Lake Kopais.
3. Prehistory
3.1. From the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age
In the Kopais area we find traces of habitation since the early prehistoric periods. Several caves in the cliffs northeast of the lake were inhabited during the Late Neolithic period. The archaeological programme "Kopais Project", active in the area since 1994, has brought to light important finds of human activity and the environment from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. The cave Sarakino is the largest and better studied. It is located near the village of Akraiphnio, at the 100th km of the National Highway, 80m above the rocks that define the area from the east, which has kept it safe from flooding. It shows traces of continuous habitation from the Upper Paleolithic period (ca. 18,000 BC) to the Middle Bronze Age (1800 BC). Most significant was the Mesolithic phase (8th millennium BC), although there was heavy activity in the Neolithic period too (7th-4th millennium BC). During the 1970s, archaeologists uncovered a settlement with a cemetery, dating mostly during the Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) in the area south of Lake Yliki, 12 km from Thebes, in Lithares. This Early Helladic settlement is situated in a naturally fortified location and is unique in terms of design and layout. From the Middle Helladic period the evidence is meagre. Prehistoric remains have also been found in the nearby area of Paralimne.
3.2. Late Bronze Age
The area of northeastern Kopais became particularly significant in the Late Bronze Age (also known as the Late Helladic period (1600-1100 BC)). At that time, Orhomenos emerged not only as one of the most prominent sites in Central Greece but also as one of the most important sites of the Mycenaean world.
3.3. The drainage of Lake Kopais
The Minyans, traditionally associated with Orchomenos, based their wealth and power mainly on the utilization of Lake Kopais. The drainage of the lake was the largest land reclamation project not only in prehistoric times, but in antiquity in general. During this project, the water from the lake and the surrounding rivers were channeled, through large canals, to the natural holes and cracks of the soil. Road and suitable levees were also constructed. The whole scheme was designed to drain the lake, to manage and lead the water to the crops through repositories and canals, and to create a road network. The river Kifissos, in the northern edge, was diverted into an artificial canal almost 25km in length, 40m wide and 2-3m deep, with a constant slight incline of 0.1%. The canal linked – through water – Orhomenos, the capital of the Minyans, with the area east of Glas and Akraiphnio, where the sinkhole of the houses and the large sink basins were situated. From there, a road connected that area with the bay of Larymna, in the Gulf of Euboea. A second smaller canal followed the southern edge of the lake, roughly from Aliartos to Hagia Marina, where it joined the northern canal. The reclamation works in ancient Kopais reveal excellent design and research, and have been studied in depth by modern scholars. Furthermore, the experience from this study has been utilized in part in the modern-day drainage of the lake.
3.4. The citadel (acropolis) of Glas
Along with the drainage project, a fort was constructed in the islet of Glas, which probably belonged to a broader defense system, with fortified sites in the East (Hagia Marina, Mytikas, Kantza, Hagios Ioannis, Stroviki etc.) and the West (Petromagoula in Orhomenos). This is the largest Mycenaean fortress with strong cyclopean walls, 3km long, which covers an area of 200 acres. The mid-20th century excavations explored the surrounding area and the gates, while they uncovered warehouses and two large symmetrical buildings, which were named “melathra” (i.e. palaces). They were thought to be the residence of the officials who oversaw the drainage operations, and the collection and storage of the valley products. The citadel, which commanded the whole region, was active from the beginning of the 13th century BC to ca. 1200 BC. The destruction of the work is probably due to a large earthquake that closed the large sinkholes east of Akraiphnio. The mythological version that it was Heracles, who used leather pieces to block the large caves, where the lake water ended up, possibly reflects the conflict between Orhomenos and Thebes, which – from that time onwards – gained sovereignty in Boeotia.
3.5. Akraphnion and the Homeric “polystaphylos Arne”
Homer, in the list of ships (Iliad B, 500), mentions the towns of Hyle, Kopas and the legendary “polystaphylon Arne”. The latter, according to Strabo, was none other than Akraiphion (Strabo, IX, 34), located on Mount Ptoo, over the Tineriko plain. However, it is also possible that Arne was the ancient name of Glas, as it is not safe to identify the name with Akraiphio. According to archaeological data Akraiphio was founded on the 8th century BC.
4. Antiquity
4.1. The area of ancient Akraiphnia and its settlements. Kopai.
Kopai and Akraiphia were the major towns in the area from the Archaic to the Late Roman period. At the location around Kopai, the lake was deeper and was named Kopais (Kopaida). The ancient city was built on the northern fringes of the lake, on a lakeside hill which turned into an island when the lake flooded. North of the hill flowed the river Kifisos. Several archaeological remains have been uncovered on the hill and north of the mouth of Kifisos. According to written sources, this was also the location of sanctuaries dedicated to Dimitra Tauropolos, Dionysus and Sarapis (Pausanias, IX, 24.1). On the hill, the ancient polygonal walls were reconstructed and used during the Middle Ages, when the site was named Topolia. In modern times the village has been moved to another location and was named Kastro. Noteworthy sculptures, dated to the 6th century BC, have been found at the archaeological site and today they can be found in the Museum of Thebes. The inhabitants of Kopai often quarreled with the people of Akraiphia for the lake area. The Boeotian koinon dealt with this issue, as can be deducted from an inscription, engraved on a rock of a rocky hill between the two cities.
4.2. Mythology and the naming of Akraiphia
The mythological founder of Akraiphia was Akraipheuphs, son of Apollo. Ancient sources mention several names for the city: Akraiphia (Herodotus, VIII, 125, 6), Akraiphiaia or Akraiphion (Strabo, IX, 27 and 34). The city reached its period of prosperity during the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The city, which was economically powerful, minted its own currency, depicting the Boeotian shield and the beetle (kantharos), while on the coins of the beginning of the 4th century we find the inscription AKRI (ΑΚΡΗ). During the periods 447-387 and 378-338 BC, Akraiphia was one of the cities participating in the Koinon of Boeotia, together with the settlements of the area of Kopais and Chaeronea. From 446 to 395 BC, Akraiphia, together with Kopai, elected a boeotarches. In later years, Akraiphnion was directly linked with Thebes. According to Pausanias (IX, 23.5), many people of Thebes fled there in 355 BC, in order to escape the wrath of Alexander the Great, who campaigned against Thebes when the latter revolted against the Macedonian garrison. In 196 BC Akraiphia was occupied by the Roman army of Appius Claudius. During the Roman period, Epaminondas from Akraiphia was a distinguished man, ambassador to the emperor Caligula on behalf of the Boeotian Koinon and priest of the imperial cult during the reign of Nero. The city is referred to as Akraiphia, as in the Late Roman period (5th – 6th centuries), while it appears to have remained uninhabited during the Early and Middle Byzantine periods.
4.3. The acropolis of Akraiphia
The acropolis is situated on the hill of Vigliza or Skopia, south of the city. On its flat top surface, the Hellenistic walls are maintained in rather good condition. Large quantities of building material from the acropolis were used in the construction of the village in recent years. For the lower town there is little archaeological evidence. A very large cemetery was excavated in 1980 south of the acropolis and included finds dating from the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods. The rich and varied ceramic and terracotta offerings reveal contacts with Athens and Corinth.
4.4. The Ptoos sanctuary
4.4.1. Foundation, organization and monuments
East of Akraiphnio, on Mount Pelagia, lies the shrine of the local hero Ptoos, whose cult was replaced by that of Apollo Ptoos. The sanctuary of Apollo was built a little to the East, near an ancient sacred spring, known today as Perdikovrysi. Excavations on the sanctuary began by the French Archaelogical School in 1885; they uncovered parts of the temple’s foundations, the tank near the oracle spring, a guest house and other buildings. In the sanctuary there were many terraces, where important sculptures from the Archaic period were found, including kouroi, votive offerings, tripods and many inscriptions (now in the Museum of Thebes). One of the significant finds is the offering of Hipparchos, son of Peisistratos, tyrant of Athens from 527 BC. The temple was located on the highest point of the sanctuary and has been rebuilt several times. The last and best documented phase was that at the end of the 4th century BC. The temple was of Doric order, peripteral in antis, with an oblong cella and a pronaos.
4.4.2. Cults and the role of the oracle in the late classical world
The sanctuary was located on an ancient road connecting Thebes with northeastern Boeotia, dedicated – as in Delphi – to Apollo and Athena Pronaia. The oracle was second in importance in central Greece, after Delphi. Many pilgrims flocked there as it was famous for its infallible oracles. According to tradition, in 480 BC, the Persian general Mardonius visited the temple and received an oracle that only he understood, as – he claimed – its language was Carian (Caria was an area in Asia Minor). In 226-224 BC Akraiphia, which controlled the sanctuary, re-established the Ptoia, the local sacred games, held every five years, which included mainly artistic events (music, singing and poetry), as well as horse racing.
5. The Roman period
In Roman times, Akraiphia fell into poverty and the games were interrupted for about 30 years. In 37 – 42 AD, the wealthy citizen of Akraiphia Epaminondas revived the games and generously supported the sanctuary, impressing on large inscriptions his pro-Roman attitude and political support to the emperors. At the same time, there is evidence concerning the cults of Zeus Saviour, Heracles and Hermes. Around 100 AD the oracle had ceased to function, although the games continued to be held, on an annual basis, until the 3rd century AD.
6. The Byzantine period
Very little is known on the history of Akraiphia during the Early and Middle Byzantine periods. There is only fragmented archaeological evidence, mainly on the fortified sites of Topolia (ancient Kopai) and Glas (with the remains of a small church). It seems that life in the ancient towns of northeastern Boeotia shrank after Late Antiquity or discontinued completely. The ruined church of St Basil near the intersection of Akraiphnio and the National Road is considered important evidence of the Middle Byzantine period. The church is dated to the 11th century, based on the sculptural decoration, while in later years a narrow narthex was added to the western side. Around the church an extensive Byzantine settlement was excavated, as well as tombs from the Frankish period.
7. Late Middle Ages – Early Ottoman period
7.1. Changes on the settlements’ names
In 13th to 15th century sources, we can observe that the names of settlements in the area have changed, and none of the ancient names have survived. Instead of the ancient towns of Akraiphia and Kopai, we now find the names Karditsa, Topolia, Kokkino etc. In these names we can detect a Slavic influence (Topolia, i.e. elms) and the endings in –itsa, as well as roots from the Arvanitika dialect, such as Glas, deriving from (Ma)goulas (fort). In Ottoman records, from the mid-15th century, only Topolia is recorded as a Greek settlement; Karditsa, Kokkino and northeastern Boeotia in general were inhabited mainly by Arvanites. Ottoman sources describe Lake Kopais to be smaller, compared to its ancient or modern size and call it Swamp Topolia, probably after the most significant town of the area.
7.2. History
After 1204 Karditsa was included in the Duchy of Athens. More evidence is available concerning the Frankish period. The area was in line with Atalanti and Vodonitsa, belonging to the metropolis of Davlia/Talanti. The most prominent monument is the old church of St George in Karditsa or Gardanitsa (in Latin sources), in the centre of modern Akraiphnio. According to the founder’s inscription the church was built in 1311. It was founded by Antonio De Flama, the Flemish ruler of the Latin-held Boeotian Karditsa, as a gift of gratitude to God for saving him in the battle against the Catalans in Kopais, where the core of the western army was killed, and the Duchy of Athens and Thebes was destroyed. The church was meant as a katholikon and its architecture follows the 12th century Byzantine model. It belongs to the type of the four-pillar cross-in-square with dome church and has many later additions. The masonry is of the pseudo-enclosed technique with ceramic decorations, especially in the eastern parts, while it also includes spolia from earlier buildings (spoils, mainly architectural parts and inscriptions in secondary use). In the interior, excellent 16th-century frescoes were found, probably the work of the Kontarides, painters from Thebes.
7.3. Monuments and remains of monuments
There are some remarkable monuments surviving from the 13th to the 17th century, such as the Late Byzantine tower of Hagia Marina and the “Frankish bridge” over the Melas river, and the ruins of the church of St Nicholas with 17th-century frescoes in Kokkino. In the caves of Kopais we find small churches, such as Hagia Triti (13th century) at the location of “Vystika”, St Vlasios or Zoodochos Pigi with a built 14th-century templon and exceptional frescoes of the Macedonian style of the 16th century. Nearby is the cave church of St Nicholas the Young (17th century).
8. Modern period
8.1. Monastery of Pelagia
In modern times, the spiritual centre of the area is the Monastery of Pelagia, 5 km east of Akraiphnio, in Ptoo. The monastery is dedicated to the Nativity of Mary and celebrates on September 8. Its construction dates back to the 16th century, while its katholikon, a cross-in-square with dome church, acquired its present form in the 19th century.
8.2. Monastery of Sagmatas
The Monastery of Sagmatas, where St Clement lived in the 12th century, is located on Mount Hypatio, south of Lake Yliki, 30 km east of Thebes. There are scattered archaeological finds from the Middle Ages, but the founding of the monastery, dedicated to the Transfiguration, is safely dated to the 16th century; in design and architecture it follows 11th and 12th-century standards. The katholikon is a cross-in-square with dome, a three-apse bema in the east and a large lite in the west. Several ornate marble slabs decorate the floor. On the first half of the 19th century the monastery’s estate was distributed to landless refugees. During the Greek Civil War it was destroyed and abandoned, and it reopened in 1971.
8.3. From 1821 to modern times
Karditsa and the Monastery of Pelagia took part in the 1821 War of Independence. Due to its location between Atalanti and Athens, the area was a theatre of conflict between Odysseas Androutsos and Omer Vryonis and Köse Mehmet. On 29 January 1829, in nearby Martino, took place a significant battle for the liberation, where Dimitrios Ypsilantis defeated Mahmud’s army. In 1835 Karditsa became the seat of a province with the same name. The area was linked to the drainage works of Late Kopais, as the lake water was diverted through a tunnel to Lake Yliki. In 1901 a power plant was constructed in Bouka, which originally served only the English company Lake Copáis, active in the drainage project. In 1935 Karditsa was renamed Akraiphnio. Its citizens were pioneers in the farmers’ movement called “the Kopais problem”, while the issue of the exploitation of the fertile land was solved only in 1952.
Nowadays the area presents significant and varied agricultural production, while part of the population works for the mines of LARCO in St John (at Neo Kokkino) and the factory in Larymna. The rich cultural heritage and natural beauty of the area attract a growing number of visitors.