Boeotia is a region of central Greece, with Livadeia serving as its capital. Boeotia is located north of Megaris, northwest of Attica, southwest of Euboea, south of Locris, and east of Phocis, and the region was initially inhabited by the Minyans, who founded the city of Orchomenus and occupied the islands of Lemnos and Thera. The Mycenaeans later founded the city of Thebes, and the Boeotian people from Thessaly were expelled from Thessaly by the Thessalians two generations after the end of the Trojan War, leading to their migration into Boeotia even before the Dorians invaded Ancient Greece and destroyed the Mycenaean civilization. In addition to Thebes and Orchomenus, other significant towns included Plataea and Thespiae. In 480 BC, during the Greco-Persian Wars, the Boeotians surrendered to the invading Achaemenid Persians and aided Xerxes I in his quest to conquer the Greek city-states, but, at the time of the Peloponnesian War, Boeotia was the center of the pro-Spartan Boeotian League as a result of Sparta's willingness to ally with any enemy of Athens, including the Persians themselves. Boeotia also fought in the Corinthian War, although King Philip II of Macedon's conquest of Greece at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC ended Boeotia's prosperity. Alexander the Great's destruction of Thebes in 335 BC ended Boeotia's independence, and the country was again devastated during the First Mithridatic War. Boeotia continued to decay during the Middle Ages, and it was not until 1895 that the canals of Kopais were again put into working order. In 2011, Boeotia had a population of 117,920 people.
Gallery[]
