1. Etymology

The word Βοιωτία is variously transliterated into English: Boiotia (directly from the Greek), Boeotia (through Latin) or Bœotia (very old-fashioned). Here we shall use the mode through Latin, as it is still the one in common use. The name that the Boeotians used for themselves, Boiotoi (Βοιωτοί) is a Greek tribal name of a well-known type and is the form from which the toponym Boeotia was later created. Its derivation is unknown. The ancient Greek etymologies of the name from cattle, notably the βόες Κάδμου, or from an eponymous ancestor Boeotus, are not much worse than the modern idea that the name originated with Mount Boion in Epirus and Macedonia. There is also a Boion in Doris as another unlikely candidate.

2. Origin

All traditions agree that the Boeotians lived somewhere in what was later termed Thessaly at a site called Arne, not yet located, where they became a people, before moving on to Boeotia. They consider the Boeotians a combination of natives from Arne with an immigrant stock, sometimes Cadmeans (Herodotus 1.56, Ephorus, FGrH 70 F119), sometimes another group, such as the Pelasgi (Hellanicus, FGrH 4 F4) or the Athamanes (Herodotus 7.197, Hellanicus, FGrH 4 F126). The Cadmeans are nowadays generally rejected as a late creation, imitating the return of the Heraclids. The evidence from modern studies of dialect, however, does suggest that something lies behind the tradition of fusion.

3. Dialect

The Boeotian dialect of the Archaic and Classical inscriptions that one can examine in Inscriptiones Graecae 7 shows characteristics of both Aeolic and Northwest Greek dialects. It is remarkably uniform throughout Boeotia, with no local variations so far discovered. An economical explanation is that it evolved before the Boeotians moved into what is termed Boeotia, when the Aeolic-speaking locals in Arne combined with an immigrant stock that used a Northwest Greek dialect.

4. History according to the sources

The Boeotians in most traditions were expelled from what was later called Thessaly by a tribe that came from Epirus over the Pindus, the Thessalians, who gave their name to the land. The traditions, however, get badly tangled up as to exactly when this happened, before or after the Trojan War. Thucydides (1.12) tried to sort things out by suggesting a “section” (ἀποδασμὸς) came into Boeotia before the War. Book 2 of the Iliad contains the “Catalogue of Ships,” which gives a listing by ships of the Greek contingents besieging Troy. The Boeotians take first place, with a substantial force, under various named commanders from various well-known towns — and some not so well known. Clearly the “Catalogue” has the Boeotians entering Boeotia before the Trojan War. But other traditions set the Boeotian invasion after the War (several of these come ultimately from Hellanicus, [Gomme, Comm. on Thuc. 1.117 on 1.12] and also Ephorus, FGrH 70 F119) usually one or two generations after Troy was taken. Other factors also make a Boeotian settlement of Boeotia after the Trojan War preferable: the wars of Oedipus, Athamas, Erginus and other kings in Boeotia before the coming of the Boeotians; the Seven and the Epigoni and the eclipse of Thebes; all these required time and fit badly with a Boeotian invasion before the Trojan War. The so-called Little Catalogue of the Iliad (13.685–700) brigades the Boeotians with various groups from Thessaly, as well as Ionians (earlier inhabitants of Boeotia?) and Athenians. The Little Catalogue may well have assumed a Thessalian homeland for the Boeotians. The Catalogue of Book 2 with the Boeotians already in Boeotia should be a modification of Mycenaean traditions made in post-Mycenaean times to conform with post-Mycenaean realities.

Two or three generations after the Trojan War the Boeotians invaded what later became termed Boeotia. The entry point is much the same in all traditions: around Chaeronea heading towards Orchomenus, the usual place for attacks. After gaining control of western Boeotia, in all traditions the Boeotians paused for a couple of generations before moving against eastern Boeotia and Thebes. The siting close to Coronea of the sanctuary of Itonian Athena and the celebration of the Pamboeotia there strengthen the belief that western Boeotia was the area where the Boeotians settled first. It seems also that Coronea was the centre long enough for the religious sites to become so sanctified as not to be easily moved. Quite likely the traditional couple of generations are a considerable underestimate of the actual length of the stay before the Boeotians pushed eastward.

When eventually they did resume their advance, they apparently moved both to the north and south of Lake Copaïs. The northern wing ultimately reached Anthedon, while the southern arrived at Thebes and Thespiae. Then, after another pause the Boeotians advanced into and slightly beyond the Asopus valley. Here they stalled. A local legend (Strabo 9.1.7) sets the Athenians under king Melanthus against the Boeotians under king Xanthus in a pitched battle, in which Xanthus was killed. With his death the Boeotian kingship was extinguished, and the Boeotians made no significant further advances.

The fate of the earlier inhabitants is traceable in broad outline. Some withdrew to Euboea and resettled there; some withdrew to the highlands of Phocis; some went to Athens; some went via Athens to Asia Minor, especially to the Aeolic area; some families joined the Boeotians; even in the fifth century there were patches of land between Boeotia and Attica, the juridical status of which remained uncertain (Thuc. 5.42). Most of the inhabitants spoke a non-Attic but Ionic dialect, that of Oropus being the best known and the most thoroughly analysed. A fairly rapid integration of the newcomers and the old families of Thespiae may have happened, if Wilamowitz is right in considering that the story of the exploits of Heracles among the fifty daughters of Thespius indicates intermarriage and the preservation of their estates by the old families.

5. The archaeological evidence

The traditional dates of 1124 BC for entry into Boeotia and 1064 BC for the death of Xanthus are no help, and the archaeological evidence is sparse and limited. The great Mycenaean palaces so far excavated in Greece were all destroyed by the end of Late Helladic IIIB (about the last quarter of the 13th century on Carbon 14 dating); the vast majority of settlements in Greece, including Boeotia, up to 90%, also stop being occupied at the end of LH IIIB. The careful surveys by Fossey and Bintliff of Boeotian districts show the decline in the number of settlements occupied continuing through LH IIIC and sub-Mycenaean and leveling off at the time Protogeometric pottery came into use. Levels of occupation and hence population did not get back to anything like Late Helladic IIIB levels until the Middle Geometric period (ca.850–800 BC).

The students of the collapse of complex societies, such as Joseph Tainter seem to have adopted the argument of Rhys Carpenter (1966) that climatic changes led to famine, depopulation and migration in much of the eastern Mediterranean, a position supported by some climatologists, such as R.A.Bryson. The Boeotians, then, under pressure from hungry Epirotes and having a bad time themselves, would have moved down into a depopulated or nearly depopulated district. They stayed for some time in the western part, establishing sacred sites and games, until their own increase of population, and perhaps reinforcements from Thessaly, compelled further expansion. Then they settled as far as Thebes, then in the Asopus valley, then a little beyond, where above Plataea they stopped, or were stopped.

6. Social and political organization in the Archaic and Classical periods

The Boeotians have left no evidence of ever possessing tribes (phylai) or phratries and so apparently did not have family-based sub-units. When during the Archaic period, around 700 BC, the hoplite armament and phalanx were introduced, larger towns, with a minimum of trouble, were able to incorporate hoplites from neighbouring villages into larger local phalanxes without forcing a resettlement of the villagers, no doubt to mutual satisfaction. These larger units formed the basis of the later Boeotian federal army.

But in most of the Archaic period the Boeotians were far from united, or even friends. The large local phalanxes honed their skills on neighbouring phalanxes. Orchomenos, for instance, made a dedication at Olympia on its victory over Coronea in about 550 BC (SEG 11. 1205).

The invasion by Thessaly, however, brought about a change. The Thessalians had conquered Phocis some time earlier, but to judge by coin types of the early Boeotian League they did not attack Boeotia until around 525 BC. Then the core of the League was formed. After a hard-fought battle at Ceressus, a site not yet located, the League was victorious, Thessalians withdrew, and the core members tried to get all Boeotians to join them. Plataea refused, and with Oropus became a firm ally of Athens and won a brisk battle over the Boeotian League. Under its Boeotarchs it continued until at least the end of the Persian Wars in Greece (479 BC).