Chaeronea is a village in the Regional Unit of Viotia. In the recent past it was the seat of the homonymous municipality, while now it belongs administratively to the Municipality of Levadea. It is built at an altitude of 130 meters, in the valley of Boeotian Kifissos. Its population, according to the 2011 Census, amounts to 457 inhabitants. Until 1928 it was called Kapraina, a name due to the many boars, ie wild boars, that existed in the area.
The ancient name of the city is Arni, from the eponymous daughter of Aeolus, as the ancient traveler Pausanias tells us in his Boeotians and goes on to note that the newer name of the city is due to the surname of the hero of Chaeronea "Chaero" (horse tamer), son of Apollo and Thera, recites the Boeotian poet Hesiod.
Chaironia is located in the same area where the ancient Boeotian city of Chaironia was built. Several buildings and the ancient theater of the city have been preserved. However, the main attraction of the area is the famous Leo of Chaeronia, a monument erected after the battle of Chaeronia, in 338 BC. The ancient writer Plutarch also came from Chaeronea.
Mythology, ancient and Roman history
Chaeronea is mentioned for
the first time by Homer, under the name Arni and with its king Areithos,
in the list of Boeotian cities that took part in the Trojan War.
Chaeronea was a member of the "Common Boeotians", sometimes
insignificant and dependent on Orchomenos and sometimes free, rich and
prosperous (387-374 BC), minting its own coins. Copper and silver coins
have been found bearing on one side the Boeotian shield and club and on
the other the letters "HAI" or "CHEIRONE".
In the historical
years and before the battle of 338 BC. Chaeronea is hardly mentioned.
Herodotus informs us that Xerxes, after the battle of Thermopylae,
crossed the ancient Phocis, crossed the strait of the river banks
(Vassilika, Pr. Ilias and Anthochori) and reached Panopea (Agios
Vlasis). On his way down to Panopeus, the Persians destroyed everything,
burned the Phocian cities and near them Chaeronia.
The following
battles have taken place in the area of Chaironia:
In 447 BC
according to Thucydides, Chaeronea was occupied by the Athenian general
Tolmides with the cooperation of democratic Boeotians, but for a short
time.
In 424 BC the Athenians tried again to capture it, with the
cooperation of the Democrats of Orchomenos, to whom Chaeronea belonged,
but they did not succeed because their plan was betrayed by Nicomachus
by Panopeus. Since then the strategic position of Chaeronea fell to
oligarchic Boeotian forces.
In 353 BC, during the Third Holy War,
Chaeronia was besieged by the leader of Phocis, Onomarchos, but
successfully resisted. However, it was later occupied by the son of
Onomarchos Falireas.
In 338 BC the battle of Chaeronea took place
between Macedonians and mainly Athenians and Thebans. It is one of the
most debated battles in history, in terms of how it was fought and,
above all, its political significance.
In 245 BC the Thebans, allies
of the Achaean confederacy, collide in Chaeronea with an Aetolian army
and, before the help of their allies arrives, suffer a terrible defeat.
They lose over 1,000 men with their general Abiocritus and are forced to
become members of the Aetolian confederacy.
In 146 BC, when all of
Greece was enslaved by the Romans, the Roman general Metellus
exterminated in Chaeronea a military division of 1,000 Arcadians, which,
after the defeat of the army of the Achaean confederacy at Scarpheia of
Locris, was retreating from Elateia to the Peloponnese.
In 88 BC a
battle took place in Chaeronea between the Roman general Brettius Sulla,
the philosopher tyrant of Athens Aristion and the ally of Archelaus
Cappadocis. Archelaus had been sent by the king of Pontus, Mithridates,
who had dominated all of Asia Minor, in order to expel the Romans from
Greece and subsequently occupy it.
In 86 BC in Chaeronea there was
another battle between the Mithridatic troops, led by Archelaus and
Taxilus, with 10,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry and 90 scythe-bearing
chariots, and Leucius Cornelius Sulla, commander-in-chief of the Romans,
with 15,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry. The Roman forces, with the help
of the Chaeronites, ascended by night by an unknown path to Mount
Thurius, surrounded the Mithridatic army and attacked them. Only 10
thousand made it and left with Archelaus to Chalkida. The Romans set up
two trophies, one down on the plain and one up on Thurio, with a Greek
inscription dedicated to the Chaironites. This inscription has been
found and is exhibited in the Museum of Chaironia.
On March 15, 1311, the battle between the last Frankish Duke of Athens-Thebes, Vartheros Bryennius III, with 6,400 infantry, 8,000 horsemen and 700 Frankish knights, and the Catalan Company, which occupied the area, took place at the eastern foothills of the "Thuri" mountain. in front of the present-day villages of Prosilio and Romaikos and behind a swampy area with 4,000 horsemen, 4,000 footmen and many skilled archers captured. The Catalans won. With this hopeless defeat and the death of Bryenios, the Duchy of Athens - Thebes passed into the hands of the Catalans, until 1380.
During the Greek revolution of 1821, two battles took place in the area of Chaironia: on July 7, 1823, Odysseus Androutsos attacked the encamped army of the Turk Berkoftsalis, who, together with Selim Pasha, set fire to the monastery of Davlia on June 13, and in 1825 Gouras destroyed Abbas Pasha's cavalry in Chaeronea.
The marble "Lion of Chaeronea". It was built by Pausanias, by the
Thebans in memory of the fallen men of the Holy Company who were buried
in this area, after the victory of Philip in 338 BC. The lion of
Chaeronea is the most recognizable historical symbol of Boeotia.
The
archaeological museum which includes:
Neolithic collection with major
exhibits:
Clay model of a small house. From the settlement of the
Neolithic period in Magoula Balomenu.
Clay figurine of a woman with
written decoration of geometric designs. From the settlement of the
Neolithic period in Magoula Balomenou, Haironia.
Macedonian weapons
and objects from the battle of Chaeronea.
Bounties from the
necropolises of Chaironia, Agios Vlasios and Livadeia.
The ancient
theater that has survived to this day and is located at the bottom of
the village at the foot of Petrachos. It is remarkable, because its
entire hollow part is carved in a single piece of rock of Petrachus.
Today the theater is probably abandoned.
The citadel of Chaeronea is
built on the five successive ridges of the ridge of Petrachos, starting
from the rock of the theater and rising to the highest peak of the
mountain. Of the towers, enclosures and corridors, only the foundations
are preserved in some places and the wall at a height of 2 and 3 meters
in others. The wall is one meter wide in some places and two in others
and is constructed in the iso-building style with cubic well-hewn
gray-black stones, which are 1.30 m long, 1.00 m wide and approximately
0.60 m high. A small cave (about 80 sq.m.) is located in the acropolis
of Chaironia. It is legendary as the place of writing of Plutarch.
The Roman baths on the west side of Chaeronea
The holy Lykouresi
monastery at a distance of 3 km N.E. of Haironia, in the gorge of the
small river Aemona. Its church dates from the 15th century. Athanasios
Diakos started from this in 1821 to liberate Livadia. The Monastery has
a library, a conference center and a model ecological farm.
Ragavi
tower. He belonged to the great family of Postelniki (Ministers of
Foreign Affairs of Wallachia, archaeologists, poets, sages, writers),
Ragavis. The area had been granted to the Ragavis with the liberation of
our homeland from the Turks.
After the revolution of 1821 and the establishment of the newest Greek state, Khaironeia became the seat of the homonymous municipality established in 1835 (B.D. 1/10/1835, FEK18) with a population of 768 inhabitants and a district that included the villages of Khaironeia (146 ), Agios Vlasi (131), Mera (56), Vramaga (104), Metopardi (89), Veli (69), Romaikon (77), Arapochori (84), Karamoussa (12), Lykouresi Monastery. Then followed successive annexations and detachments of neighboring settlements such as Davlia and Distomos. The Municipality of Haironeia was maintained until 1914. The settlement of Haironeia became an honorary Municipality again in 1994, while in 1998, with the Kapodistrias plan, it was united with the villages of Prosilio, Akontio, Thurio, Agios Vlasis, Vasilika, Anthochori and Prophet Ilias.
Haironia as a municipality in the prefecture of Attica and Boeotia
was established for the first time on October 18, 1835. It was included
in the prefecture of Boeotia in 1899 and returned to the prefecture of
Attica and Boeotia in 1909 and operated until its abolition in 1912.
The community of Khaironia was established on August 31, 1912 with
the detachment of the Kopraina settlement from the municipality of
Khaironia and its designation as the seat of the community. The
community was detached to the prefecture of Boeotia from the prefecture
of Attica and Boeotia in 1943 and was recognized as a municipality on
August 20, 1994. It functioned as a municipality until its abolition in
2010 and its annexation to the municipality of Levadeon.
National Highway 3 passes near the village connecting it to Livadia, Lamia and other cities of mainland Greece. Also, the Athens-Leianokladi regional railway line serves the village with the train station of the same name.