Orchomenos is a town in the prefecture of Boeotia and has a population of 5,238 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Municipality of Orchomenos which has a population of 10,732 inhabitants and an area of 230,098 acres. Orchomenos is built in a plain location, on the north side of the plain of Kopaida. It flows from the Black River (Mavropotamos) which is a tributary of the Boeotian Kifissos. The main activity of the inhabitants of Orchomenos is agriculture.
There are numerous mythological
references to Orchomenos. The most important mythical cycle begins
with King Athamas who had children Frixos and Elli. The myth of the
golden fleece and the Argonaut campaign is therefore connected with
Orchomenos.
Orchomenos seems to have been inhabited since the
Neolithic period, around 6000 BC. It flourished but experienced the
early Mycenaean period between 2,000 and 1,200 BC, when it was
inhabited by an ancient Pelasgian tribe, the Minyas. During that
period the area experienced great prosperity. Characteristic of the
great development of the Minya society are the drainage works that
were done then, for the first drainage of Kopaida. Homer mentions in
the Iliad the wealth of the inhabitants of Orchomenos. The city
participated in the Trojan War with Ascalaphus and Ialmenos as its
leaders.
Orchomenos declines with the invasion of the ancient
people of Boeotia in the region of Boeotia. The Boeotians starting
from Thebes gradually occupied almost the entire area of today's
Boeotia. Orchomenos from the 8th century BC. and then, under the
rule of the Boeotians, it was an important city of the Boeotian
community. During the Corinthian War the city was on the side of
Sparta which maintained a garrison in the city. In 375 BC, the
Thebans, led by Pelopidas, took advantage of the absence of the
Spartan garrison and suddenly captured Orchomenos. Shortly
afterwards, they clashed with the Spartans in the city of Tegira,
just outside Orchomenos. In the Battle of Tegira, the Thebans
prevailed. During the Theban hegemony, the Thebans devised a plan to
destroy Orchomenus, because he had allied with Sparta. The plans
were thwarted by Epameinondas who disagreed. However, in 364 BC,
when Epameinondas was on a mission to Byzantium, the Thebans carried
out their plans and destroyed Orchomenos
The city was rebuilt
by the Phocians during the Third Holy War, but was destroyed for the
second time by the Thebans in 353 BC. After his victory in the
Battle of Chaeronia, Philip rebuilt Orchomenos. The Macedonians
rebuilt the castle of the city that survives to this day and for a
while defined Orchomenos as the seat of the Boeotian public. The
city declined after the looting carried out by the Roman general
Sulla in the area in 86 BC.
The city maintained important
sanctuaries and monuments in the 2nd century AD, when Pausanias
visited it. In Orchomenos, the Graces were worshiped mainly and in
their honor, the Graces were organized.
The modern Orchomenos emerged in the 1960s from the merging of two smaller neighboring villages, Petromagoula and Skripou. Until then, the name Orchomenos referred only to the local municipality. With the gradual increase of the population, the two villages were united and the resulting single settlement was named Orchomenos. The names Petromagoula and Skripou were retained as neighborhood names of the new settlement.
Orchomenos is a place of importance in many myths. The place was a
refuge for the newborn god Dionysus, who, as the illegitimate son of
Zeus, was persecuted by his wife Hera. King Athamas and his wife Ino had
the boy put in girls' clothes and raised in the women's chamber.
In Homer, the city's residents are regular participants in the war
against Troy. King Ialmenos and his brother Askalaphos are named as
their military commanders.
In the Heracles legend, King Erginus
of Orchomenos appears as the oppressor of the city of Thebes. Heracles
and King Amphitryon defeat the Minyan army, kill King Erginus and
destroy the city and castle.
Orchomenos also has a place in the
legend of Actaion, the hunter torn apart by his own dogs. Actaion had
been torn apart near the city and now haunted the city and its
surroundings as a ghost. In order to free the city from the plague, an
oracle predicted, not only the hunter's remains had to be found and
buried, but also a statue of the ghost had to be erected. Both happened.
A beehive-shaped building, the so-called “Treasury of Minyas”, was
uncovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1880 during his first excavation
campaign in Orchomenos. However, the building is not a treasure house,
but the remains of a domed tomb from the 14th century BC. It can compete
in size with the treasury of Atreus in Mycenae and also has very strong
structural similarities to it. At the time of Pausanias, in the 2nd
century AD, it was still completely preserved. In the vicinity of these
tholos, fragments of frescoes depicting hunting and warriors were found
in building remains that also date from the Mycenaean period, which
reveal parallels to similar wall paintings in the palaces of Tiryns and
Pylos.
Carved into the slope of the local mountain Akontion, on
whose summit the Acropolis sat, are the ruins of a theater that is
partly carved into the mountain and was excavated in 1972. It probably
dates from the 4th century BC. Remains of the Hellenistic city wall are
further impressive ancient remains. So far, no traces have been found of
the Charite sanctuary mentioned by Pausanias.
After Sulla's
victory over Mithridates, a victory stele was erected at the site and
was recently rediscovered. However, according to the Athens Ministry of
Culture, it must first be restored before it is opened to the public.
The church of Kimisis tis Theotokou (Κοίμησις της Θεοτόκου) was
founded in 873 AD by the Protospatharios Leon and was originally part of
the Panagia monastery complex of Skripou. Its floor plan combines the
domed Greek cross with the three-aisled basilica (building type). The
outer walls contain a large number of richly decorated spolia, which
probably come from the ruins of the Charite Temple.
Agios
Nikolaos sta Kambia (Άγιος Νικόλαος στα Καμπιά 'in the fields') is
located outside and originally belonged to the monastery of Hosios
Lukas. The cross-domed church was built in the middle of the 11th
century and, in contrast to most Byzantine churches, is not built of
bricks, but of marble blocks. Of the interior furnishings, only the two
early Byzantine-Corinthian column capitals have been preserved. Wall
paintings can still be seen in the crypt with four pillars and
ornamented double arches.
The small church of Agios Sozon was
built in the 12th century.