ENTRY TYPE
General Issues |
SUMMARY
The population growth in Boeotia through the Middle Byzantine and Frankish eras, to the 13th century, remained largely within the ancient settlement network. The 14th and early 15th centuries AD appear to have been a disastrous time for Boeotian settlements, with the large scale abandonment of most of the countryside, and a nucleation of population into the two regional towns of Thebes and Livadheia and a limited number of large villages. The florescence of Boeotian populations and economy under the Pax Ottomanica, as well as the severe decline in the 17th-19th c. are documented both at the province level through census records and through surface archaeology. Boeotian urban life in Ottoman times has left very scanty traces, and most evidence comes from Western travellers’ descriptions and the pictures accompanying them in their books. |
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