Euboea (/juːˈbiːə/yoo-BEE-ə;Ancient Greek:Εὔβοια,romanized: Eúboia,IPA:[ěu̯boi̯a]), also known by its modern spellingEvia (/ˈɛviə/EV-ee-ə;Modern Greek:Εύβοια,IPA:[ˈevi.a]), is the second-largestGreek island in area and population, afterCrete, and thesixth largest island in theMediterranean Sea. It is separated fromBoeotia in mainlandGreece by the narrowEuripus Strait (only 40 m (130 ft) at its narrowest point).[1] In general outline it is a long and narrow island; it is about 180 km (110 mi) long, and varies in breadth from 50 km (31 mi) to 6 km (3.7 mi). Its geographic orientation is from northwest to southeast, and it is traversed throughout its length by a mountain range, which forms part of the chain that boundsThessaly on the east, and is continued south of Euboia in the lofty islands ofAndros,Tinos andMykonos.[2]
Like most of the Greek islands, Euboea was known by other names inantiquity, such asMacris (Μάκρις) andDoliche (Δολίχη) from its elongated shape, orEllopia (after Ellops the son ofIon),Aonia andAbantis from the tribes inhabiting it,[3] orOcha/Oche (Ὄχη), which is also the name of one of the highest mountains on the island.[4] The nameEuboea (Εὔβοια) derives from the wordsεὖ'good', andβοῦς'ox', meaning'(the land of) the well(-fed) oxen'.Strabo writes that it took the nameEuboea either from the heroine Euboea or because of a cave on the island at the Aegaean coast which was calledBoösaule (βοὸς αὐλὴ, meaning'cow's stall'), whereIo was said to have given birth toEpaphus.[4]
In theMiddle Ages, the island was often referred to byByzantine authors asChalcis (Χαλκίς), the name of its capital, orEuripos (Εὔριπος), the name of the strait that separates the island from the Greek mainland; but the ancient name Euboea remained in use by classicizing authors until the 16th century.
The phraseστὸν Εὔριπον'to Evripos',rebracketed asστὸ Νεὔριπον'to Nevripos', becameNegroponte ('Black Bridge') in Italian byfolk etymology, theponte'bridge' being interpreted as the bridge of Chalcis. This name was most relevant when the island was underVenetian rule.[5] That name entered common use in the West in the 13th century,[6] with other variants beingEgripons,Negripo, andNegropont.[5]
UnderOttoman rule, the island and its capital were known asEğriboz orAğriboz, again after the Euripos strait.
Topography of Euboea and parts of the Greek mainland.Landscape near EretriaView ofKantili mountain.
Euboea was believed to have originally formed part of the mainland, and to have been separated from it by anearthquake. This is fairly probable, because it lies in the neighbourhood of afault line, and bothThucydides andStrabo write that the northern part of the island had been shaken at different periods.[3] In the neighbourhood ofChalcis, both to the north and the south, the bays are so confined as to make plausible the story ofAgamemnon's fleet having been detained there by contrary winds. TheEuripus Strait is narrowest, only 40 m, at Chalcis itself. The extraordinary changes of tide that take place in this passage have been a subject of note since classical times, and it was so feared by sailors that the principal line of traffic from the north of the Aegean to Athens used to bypass Chalcis and the Euboic Sea.[3] At one moment the current runs like a river in one direction, and shortly afterwards with equal velocity in the other. A bridge was first constructed here in the twenty-first year of thePeloponnesian War (410 BC).[3]
Geography and nature divide the island itself into three distinct parts: the fertile and forested north (which suffered major damage in the August 2021 forest fires); the forested mountainous centre, with agriculture limited to the coastal valleys; and the barren south.[6]
The main mountains includeDirfi (1,743 m (5,719 ft)),Kantili (1,246 m (4,088 ft)), Pyxaria (1,341 m (4,400 ft)) in the northeast andOchi (1,394 m (4,573 ft)) in the south. The neighboring gulfs are thePagasetic Gulf in the north,Malian Gulf,North Euboean Gulf in the west, theEuboic Sea and thePetalion Gulf. ThePetalioi archipelago lies to the southwest, while theMonilia islands lie to the west.
With a total land area of 3,684 km2 (1,422 sq mi), the island had a population of 198,130 at the 2001 census.
Exhibits in the archaeological museum of Chalcis.Silverdrachma of theEuboean League. Obverse: Head of thenymph Euboea. Reverse:Bull's head,kantharos to right EY[ΒΟΙΕΩΝ]"of the Euboeans".
The history of the island of Euboea is largely that of its two principal cities,Chalcis andEretria, both mentioned in theCatalogue of Ships. Both cities were settled byIonian Greeks fromAttica, and would eventually settle numerous colonies inMagna Graecia andSicily, such asCumae andRhegium, and on the coast ofMacedonia. This opened new trade routes to theGreeks, and extended the reach of Western Civilization.[7] The commercial influence of these city-states is evident in the fact that the Euboic scale of weights and measures was used among the Ionic cities generally, and inAthens until the end of the 7th century BC, during the time ofSolon.[3] The classicistBarry B. Powell has proposed that Euboea may have been where theGreek alphabet was first employed, c. 775–750 BC, and thatHomer may have spent part of his life on the island.[8]
Silver tetrobol from Euboia, Histaia. Wreathed head of the Nymph Histiaia right; [ΙΣΤΙ] – ΑΕΙΩΝ, Nymph Histiaia seated right on stern of galley, ornamented with wing, holding naval standard; AP monogram and labrys in exergue; BMC 61; BCD 391
Chalcis and Eretria were rival cities, and appear to have been equally powerful for a while. One of the earliest major military conflicts in Greek history took place between them, known as theLelantine War, in which many other Greek city-states also took part.[9] In 490 BC, Eretria was utterly ruined by the Persian armies. Eretria, Athens, and other Ionian Greek states had previously burned the Persian city of Sardis and participated in the Ionian revolution. After Eretria was destroyed, its inhabitants were transported as captives toPersia.[clarification needed] Though it was restored nearby its original site after theBattle of Marathon, the city never regained its former eminence.[10] Following the battles ofThermopylae andArtemisium in 480 BC,Persian forces occupied Euboea along with Attica and Boeotia.[11] Following their decisive defeat at theBattle of Plataea the following year, the Persians withdrew from all of their European possessions, including Euboea.
Both cities gradually lost influence to Athens, which saw Euboea as a strategic territory. Euboea was an important source ofgrain andcattle, and controlling the island meant Athens could prevent invasion and better protect its trade routes frompiracy.Athens invaded Chalcis in 506 BC and settled 4,000 Attic Greeks on their lands. After this conflict, the whole of the island was gradually reduced to an Athenian dependency.[12] Another struggle between Euboea and Athens broke out in 446. Led byPericles, the Athenians subdued the revolt, and capturedHistiaea in the north of the island for their own settlement.[10]
St Demetrius inAvlonari (10th)Negroponte and the other Greek and Latin states of southern Greece, c. 1210.Medieval church of Agia Paraskevi,Chalcis.Kokkinokastro (Castelrosso) ofKarystosBourtzi castle,Karystos
Unlike much ofByzantine Greece, Euboea was spared the bulk of the barbarian raids duringlate antiquity and the early medieval period, due to its relatively isolated location. TheVandals raided its shores in 466 and in 475, but the island seems to have been left alone by theAvars andSlavs, and it was not until a failed Arab attack on Chalcis in the 870s that the island again came under threat.[6] As a result, the island preserved a relative prosperity throughout the early medieval period, as attested by finds of mosaics, churches and sculpture throughout the 7th century, "even from remote areas of the island". In the 6th century, theSynecdemus listed four cities on the island,Aidipsos, Chalcis, Porthmos (modernAliveri) andKarystos, and a number of other sites are known as bishoprics in the subsequent centuries (Oreoi andAvlon), although their urban character is unclear.[6] In the 8th century, Euboea formed a distinct fiscal district (dioikesis), and then formed part of thetheme ofHellas.[6]
In 1157 all the coastal towns of Euboea were destroyed by aSicilian force,[13] while Chalcis was burned down by theVenetians in 1171.[6] During the 13th century, the Greek element of the island was strengthened by the Byzantine Emperor Michael Palaiologos.[14]
Euboea came into prominence following theFourth Crusade. In the partition of the Byzantine Empire by the crusaders after 1204, the island was occupied by a number ofLombard families, who divided it into three baronies, theTriarchy of Negroponte; each barony was split in 1216, giving sixsestiere. The island's rulers came early on under the influence of theVenetian Republic, which secured control of the island's commerce in theWar of the Euboeote Succession (1256–1258) and gradually expanded its control, until they acquired full sovereignty by 1390.
Albanians started settling Euboea gradually, since 1402, encouraged by theVenetians. In 1425, a total of 10,000 Albanians from various regions were settled in Euboea. A further indeterminate number of Albanians settled in the island in 1435. These Albanians intermingled with the local Greeks of the island.[15] A contemporary report (1687) notes that in 1471 Greeks had abandoned the island and by 1687 almost all of the island was inhabited by Albanians. This is not corroborated in other reports, so it likely presents a doubtful depiction of the demographic situation in the island.[16] According toJohann Georg Von Hahn (1854), Albanians were present in all of the cities of southern Euboea, excluding the town ofKarystos, which was inhabited solely by Greeks.[17][18] According to Hahn, the Albanians numbered 25,000 in south Euboea, out of the total population of 72,368 of the island as a whole.[17]
The Greek inhabitants of south Euboea spoke a certain dialect related toOld Athenian.[19] This dialect was spoken in Kymi, Avlonari, Konistres, Aliveri, Karystos and other places.[20]
Although the nameNegroponte remained current in European languages until the 19th century, the Turks themselves called the city and the islandEğriboz orAğriboz after the Euripos Strait. Under Ottoman rule, Ağriboz was the seat of asanjak that also encompassed much ofContinental Greece.
The Chalcis' Bridge connecting the island with the mainland ofGreece.
In 1982, in the Greek-speaking village of Antia in southern Euboea, the entire population knew the localwhistled language calledsfyria (from the Greek wordsfyrizo 'whistle'),[21] but only a few whistlers remain in the 21st century.[22]Sfyria is "a whistled version of spoken Greek, in which letters and syllables correspond to distinct tones and frequencies."[21]
Euboea is linked to the mainland by two bridges, one that runs through Chalcis and is also accessible fromThebes, and another which bypasses Chalcis and is accessed from Athens. All of Euboea's modern bridges aresuspended.
In the 1980s, theDystos lake was filled with grass which was set on fire by farmers to make more farmland. This act caused devastation of much of the plants and the environment in that area.[citation needed] A part of the lake later regenerated. Also the municipalities of Anthidona and Avlida in the mid to late 20th century, which once were part ofBoeotia, reverted to Chalcis.[citation needed] Since then, the postal codes have corresponded with the rest of Euboea, including Skyros.
A week-long majorforest fire in 2021 destroyed over 50,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land in the north of the island, one of the largest forest fires in modern Greek history.
The promontory of Canaeum, which lies opposite the Malian Gulf, together with the neighbouring coast ofTrachis, was the scene of the events connected with the death ofHeracles, as described bySophocles in theTrachiniae.[2]
Based on the records of the 2nd century AD geographerPausanias, it is suspected that theTitan godCrius is an indigenous deity.[24]
The population of the island, according to the census of 2001, was 198,130, making it the second most populous island of Greece. As a whole the Euboeans share a cultural identity similar to that of the people in the rest ofCentral Greece and speak asouthern variety ofGreek. In the southern part of the island there areArvanite communities. Until the 1970s there were still monolingual speakers of Arvanitika in southern Euboea. As of the late 20th century, in southern Euboea there were about 60 villages inhabited by Arvanites.[25]Sarakatsani andVlachs could be found mainly in the mountainous areas in central and northern Euboea respectively, but nowadays they have abandoned the nomadic way of life and live permanently in the towns and villages across the island.
The island belongs toEuboea Prefecture which also includes two municipalities on the mainland,Anthidona andAvlida, as well as the island municipality ofSkyros. At the 2001 census the prefecture had a population of 215,136 inhabitants, whereas the island itself had a population of 198,130. The prefecture's land area is 4,167.449 km2 (65 sq mi), whereas the total land area of the municipalities actually on the island is 3,684.848 km2 (264 sq mi), which includes that of numerous small offshore islets (Petalioi) near Euboea's southeastern tip.
^Φάραντος, Χαράλαμπος Δ. (1984).Δύο σταυρεπίστεγοι Ναοί στις περιοχές των χωριών: Μετόχι και Λενωσαίοι της Νότιας Εύβοιας (in Greek). Εταιρεία Ευβοϊκών Σπουδών.Τὸ ὀλιγάνθρωπο τῆς περιοχῆς ἀνάγκασε τοὺς Φράγκους δυνάστες τῆς Εὔβοιας νὰ ἐπιτρέψουν τὴν ἐγκατάσταση ̓Αλβανῶν ( Αρβανιτῶν ) στὴ Νότια Εὔβοια · ἀπὸ τὸ 1402. Αὐτοὶ οἱ νέοι κάτοικοι, οἱ ̓Αρβανίτες, ἀναμείχτηκαν μὲ τὸν ἑλληνικὸ (= ντόπιο) πληθυσμό, ποὺ κατοικοῦσε στὸν ἴδιο χῶρο, καὶ ρίζωσαν στὸν σκληρὸ αὐτὸν τόπο.
^Nakratzas, Georgios (1996).Hē stenē ethnologikē syngeneia tōn sēmerinōn Hellēnōn, Voulgarōn kai Tourkōn: Ēpeiros-Notia Hellada. Batavia. pp. 89–90.ISBN9789608580008.[...] για να ενισχύσει το 1425 με την εγκατάσταση 10.000 Αλβανών. Η εποίκηση αυτή συνεχίστηκε το 1435 με την εγκατάσταση στο νησία ενός άγνωστου αριθμού Αλβανών. Στη βιβλιογραφία αναφέρεται πως το 1471 ο ελληνικός πληθυσμός εγκατέλειψε την Εύβοια, με συνέπεια το 1687 σχεδόν ολόκληρος ο πληθυσμός του νησιού να αποτελείται από Αλβανούς. Η πληροφορία αυτή δε διασταυρώνεται και από άλλες βιβλιογραφικές πηγές, γεγονός που καθιστά την αξιοπιστία της αμφίβολη. Εκείνο που είναι γενικά παραδεκτό είναι η διαπίστωση του Hanh ότι τον 19ον αιώνα ολόκληρος ο πληθυσμός της νότιας Εύβοιας, με μοναδική εξαίρεση την Κάρυστο, αποτελούνταν από 25.000 Αλβανούς, οι οποίοι πέρασαν ολοκληρωτικά στην ελληνική κουλτούρα.
^abHahn, Johann Georg (1854).Albanesische Studien (in German). Verlag von Friedrich Mauke. p. 32.
^Elsie, Robert (2010).Historical Dictionary of Albania. Historical Dictionaries of Europe. Scarecrow Press. p. 172.ISBN978-0-8108-7380-3.
^Παντελίδης, Νικόλαος (2016).Tο παλαιοαθηναϊκό ιδίωμα: Πηγές, μαρτυρίες, χαρακτηριστικά.Glossologia: University of Athens. p. 24. "Η γλωσσική ποικιλία της Αθήνας (και της Αττικής γενικά) εντάσσεται, όπωςπροαναφέρθηκε, σε μια ομάδα μαζί με τα ιδιώματα της Αίγινας, των Μεγάρων και της νοτιότερης Εύβοιας (Κύμη, Αυλωνάρι, Κονίστρες, Αλιβέρι, Κάρυστος κ.λπ.)
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