(Βοιωτία), a country of central Greece, bounded in the south by the Gulf of Corinth, by Magaris and Attica; in the east by Attica and the Euripus; in the north by the Locri Opuntii; and in the west by Phocis. Its surface is calculated to amount to about 1119 English square miles. The country, surrounded nearly on all sides by mountains, divides itself naturally into three parts, the low country of and about Lake Copais, the valley of the river Asopos, and the coast district between mount Helicon and the Corinthian gulf. The country about Lake Copais is a large valley, so completely surrounded by hills that it is connected with the Euboean Sea only by subterraneous passages. The extensive Lake Copais in this hollow is fed by the Cephissus, the principal river of the country. The natural subterraneous passages not being sufficient to carry off the great masses of water accumulating at times in the valley, the early inhabitants often suffered severely from inundations; whence at a very remote period cloacae were built, probably by the Minyans of Orchomenos, to carry off the waters. Remains of these works, as great and stupendous as any that were executed in antiquity, still excite the admiration of the traveller, and for thousands of years they made that part of Boeotia one of the most fertile districts of Greece. For several centuries, however, these drains have been neglected, in consequence of which the country has been changed into a pestilential marsh. Between this valley and the basin of the Aso- pus is situated the Theban plain, which is still distinguished for its fertility. The lowlands and valleys of Boeotia were notorious in antiquity for their moist and thick atmosphere, which was believed to exercise a peculiar influence upon the character of the inhabitants, for they are often spoken of as remarkable for dulness, and a kind of intellectual insensibility. The dialect spoken by the Boeotians was a broad Æolic.

In the earliest times Boeotia was inhabited by several tribes, such as Aonians, Temnicians, Hyantes, Thracians, Leleges, Phlegyans, and the Minyans of Orchomenos, the last of whom appear to have formed a great centre of civilization at a very remote period. But all these tribes were gradually either expelled by the Boeotian Æolians immigrating from Thessaly, or absorbed by them, so that in later times they wholly disappear. The country which before had had no common name henceforth is always spoken of as Boeotia, and the several towns and cities, with Thebes at their head, formed a sort of confederation; in which, however, the Thebans and Boeotians frequently came into hostile collision, Thebes claiming the supremacy of the whole country, and the Boeotian towns insisting upon their independence. The political history of the country is inseparably connected with the history of Orchomenos, Thebes, Platææ, and Thespiae, to which the reader must be referred for details. The Boeotian confederacy continued its nominal existence even under the Roman emperors, although the country was so reduced, that about the time of Augustus, Tanagra, and Thespia alone could be considered as towns, the others having been either entirely destroyed, or existing only as villages. (Compare the Travels of Clarke, Wheler, Dodwell, Sir W. Gell, Hobbhouse, and Thiersch, État actuel de la Grèce, vol. i. p. 280, vol. ii. p. 23; Forchhammer, Helleneika, p. 143, fol.)