1. Place name

The place name is attested in ancient sources as Acraephia (Ἀκραιφία, Hdt. VIII. 135.1, Stephanus Byzantinus), Acraephiae(Ἀκραιφίαι) and Acraephium (Ἀκραίφιον) (Strabo ΙΧ. 2.27 & ΙΧ. 2.34), Acraephnium (Ἀκραίφνιον, Hellenica Oxyrhynchia XVI 3; Pausanias IX.XXIV.1) and Acraephnia (Ἀκραίφνια, FGrHist 115, Theopompus, fr. 362), while the form Ἀκραίφια is also attested on inscriptions (IG VII 41356 & 28711). A citizen of that city was called Ἀκραιφιεύς (SEG 31, 393), Ἀκραιφνιεύς (FGrHist 115 Theopompus, fr. 362), Ἀκραίφνιος and Ἀκραιφνεώτης (FGrHist 70, Ephorus, fr. 229).

2. Geographical location

The site of the ancient city is found south/southwest of the modern village of Acraephnio (formerly called Karditsa), close to the east coast of Lake Kopais and to the northwest of Iliki. To the north, its territory reached as far as the rocky ‘promontory’ Ftelia —an inscription (horos) carved on a rock defined the borders between Acraephnium and Kopai (IG VII 2792 = SEG 36, 411)— and the hill ‘Megalo Vouno’; its eastern limit was the Ptoon mountain chain, and its southern boundary was the hilly extension of Mt Sphingion or Phikion (also known as Fagas). Its western limit lay in the basin of Lake Kopais. With a territory of 47 km² and a perimeter of 34.6 km, Acraephnium was one of the smaller cities of Boeotia; there were no secondary settlements (komai) in its countryside (chora).

3. History

Acraephnium was one of the earliest members in the league of Boeotian cities that coalesced, probably even before 520 BC, under the leadership of Thebes. In the period between 446 and 387/6 BC, the city, together with Kopai and Chaeronea, formed one of the eleven members of the First Boeotian Confederacy (Hellenica Oxyrhynchia XVI 3). Although we have no direct evidence on this, the city almost certainly participated in the Second Boeotian League as well (378-338 BC). An inscription describing a citizen of Acraephnium as αφεδριατεύοντα (IG VII 2724a) confirms the city’s involvement in the Third Boeotian League (338-171 BC).

In 196 BC, following the destructive attack of the Roman consul Flaminius on the city, Acraephnium was placed under the protection of Poplius Cornelius Lentulus. From the 1st c. BC to the 1st c. AD the city enjoyed special privileges because of its pro-Roman stance.

4. Archaeological remains

The acropolis of Acraephnium is situated on the hill Skopia (also known as Vigliza). It was fortified with a wall exhibiting two building phases, the earlier dating to the 4th c. BC and the later one to the Hellenistic era. The outer part of the defensive wall was constructed in irregular polygonal masonry, and its inner part in isodomic ashlar masonry. Its front was reinforced in Hellenistic times with a series of poros stone blocks, probably following the destruction of its southwest section. In Hellenistic times, a pentagonal tower was added to the southwest corner of the defensive wall; this was apparently destroyed in the late 3rd or early 2nd c. BC —perhaps when the city was besieged by Flaminius. A second wall around the lower city encloses the northern and western feet of the hill. Surface foundations of buildings can be seen in the terrace of the west side, as well as outside the fortifications, on the hill’s north slope. The Middle Byzantine church of St. George is situated between the modern village and the northern defensive wall; many ancient architectural members have been incorporated into this church, including Ionic capitals, funeral stelae and inscriptions. It is thought the Christian church has been erected over an ancient temple, possibly of Dionysus (modern scholars are still seeking its site). The agora and the altar of Zeus Soter have also been uncovered. There is no sign of the gymnasium, or of the theatre, whose existence is attested only in one inscription (IG VII 4148).

The city’s proximity to Lake Kopais, which often overflowed during the wintertime, created frequent problems, the most important of which was the loss of a substantial portion of the city’s meagre arable lands (6.37 km²). To this end, the inhabitants had sealed off the mouth of the ‘Gulf of Acraephnium’ (apparently already by the 6th c. BC) by building an earthen embankment 12 stadia long, and a polygonal wall 1.50-2.00m thick and over 2.00m tall. Notwithstanding the fact that during the 4th c. BC this had ruptured in some parts (these were roughly patched to avoid the worst), the embankment probably remained in constant use until the early Roman period. Under Claudius (37-38 AD), and notwithstanding its reinforcement with mortar (κονίασις), at a cost of no less than 6,000 denarii shouldered by the affluent Epaminondas Epaminondou, a citizen of Acraephnium (IG VII 2712) and benefactor of the city and of the Boeotian League; this proved insufficient, and soon (c. 42 AD) water covered most of the arable land (SEG 15, 330). On the other hand, the lake was an important source of income for the city, being renowned for its eels, which were considered a great delicacy in the ancient Greece (Aristophanes, Acharnes 880-892; Athenaeus, Deipnosophists VII. 297d). The most important asset of the city, however, was the oracle of Apollo Ptoos which was administered by Acraephnium. Acraephnium retained the administration of the oracle even when the chora of the city was controlled by the Thebans.

Plutarch (De defectu oraculorum, 411Ε-412D, 414A) claimed that the city was in decline in the early 2nd c. AD, most likely because of the collapse of the embankment and the final loss of its arable land. Pausanias, who visited Boeotia in c. 175 AD, had absolutely nothing to say about the city (ΙΧ. 23.5-6 & 24.1), but only mentioned the oracle of Ptoos. Acraephnium experienced a final bloom with the revival of the Ptoia festival in the nearby sanctuary of Apollo Ptoos in the late 2nd-early 3rd c. AD; one of the rare pieces of evidence for the existence of the city in Late Roman times is provided by an inscribed honorary pedestal of a statue dedicated to Emperor Trajan Decius (249-251 AD). Furthermore, a copy of Diocletian’s decree ‘On Prices’ (301 AD) was set up in the sanctuary of Apollo Ptoos, and not in the city’s agora, which can be interpreted as an indirect piece of evidence for the decline of Acraephnium’s importance in the early 4th century AD.

5. Excavational data

Despite the above, recent archaeological research conducted in the plain (1994-1998), on either side of the national highway connecting Athens and Lamia, elucidated crucial facts about the picture of the city, indicating continued habitation in the area. Four pottery kilns (three rectangular and one circular), at least three building complexes and the remains of many walls were discovered on the western fringes of the ancient city’s lowland cemetery; all these suggest the presence of a flowering Roman settlement which developed there from the 1st to the late 4th or early 5th c. AD.

Further west of this Roman settlement, an Early Christian cemetery was excavated; it remained in use from the mid-5th to the 7th c. AD. In the 10th-11th centuries, a Middle Byzantine settlement emerged at the site of the abandoned cemetery. The triconch church of Agios Vaσsileios, preserved on the north side of the national highway and still visible and accessible, belonged to this settlement. The settlement was probably destroyed in the early 13th c., although in the wider area we find indications of habitation until the late 13th century.

The city’s ancient cemeteries are large and rather rich in burial gifts. A cemetery, which remained in use from the 3rd c. BC to the 2nd c. AD was excavated on the western and northern feet of the ancient acropolis, inside modern Akraifnio, east of the Middle Byzantine church Agios Georgios. A Late Geometric cemetery probably existed north of the modern village. Roman period graves have been found south and southeast of the hill of the ancient acropolis, even as far as 2 km north of the modern village, along the road leading to Kokkino.

Undoubtedly the richest of all, known even before the mid-19th c., was the lowland cemetery. It extends over a narrow strip of flatland, reaching from the hill of the acropolis to the riverbed of Boeotian Cephissus. Rescue excavations (1974-1993) have revealed 2,100 graves dating from the Middle Geometric Ι (830-800 BC) to the Middle Hellenistic era (2nd c. BC). The excavations of 1993-1994 added a further 82 graves (6th-3rd c. BC), while the most recent archaeological research of 1994-1998 another 598, all dating from the Late Geometric to the Late Hellenistic era (1st c. BC). A group of Roman graves and a family funeral monument(late 2nd-early 3rd c. AD) were excavated further west of this cemetery. A Middle Neolithic pit grave and a Late Protogeometric (900 BC) cist grave can be considered sporadic and unrelated finds. The study of the burial gifts has suggested the existence of dynamic local pottery and metalworking workshops already by the Late Geometric I period.

6. Cults

Apart from the deities whose worship is attested in the city, like Zeus Soter (IG VII 2733), in whose honour the Soteria games (athletic and music contests) were held, Dionysus (Pausanias ΙΧ. 23.5), and perhaps Hermes and Hercules (for the institution of gymnasiarchia is mentioned on inscriptions), as well as Apollo and Athena on Mt Ptoon (IG VII 4155), we should also mention a rural sanctuary, excavated in 1997-1998 in the plain. This rural sanctuary, whose establishment can be dated to the Late Geometric period, was destroyed by fire. The rites continued to be practiced outdoors until the Classical period, and the sanctuary was dedicated to Athena, perhaps in her role as Ergane (weaver), if we are to judge from the finds in an apothetes (a clay bust of the goddess donning a headdress decorated with relief volute plumes and clay effigies of hands engaged in what seems to be weaving). Architectural remains of the Late Classical period probably belong to outbuildings connected with the activities of the sanctuary during this time. Finally, during the reign of Nero (54-68 AD) we have evidence for the existence of the Imperial Cult in Acraephnium; its priest was the aforementioned civic benefactor Epaminondas Epaminondou (IG VII 2713).

7. Coinage

Acraephnium established one of the earliest mints of the Boeotian League. By the late 6th c. BC, this mint produced silver staters (didrachmas) and two subdivisions (obols, hemiobols) based on the Aeginetan weight standard; these coins featured the initial Η in the centre of the incuse on the reverse. Between 456 and 446 BC, while the city was independent of Thebes, Acraephnium minted staters once more, bearing the kantharos on the reverse, symbol of the local cult of Dionysus.