Livadeia ( Livadiá, ; or Λεβαδία, Lebadia) is a town in central Greece. It is the capital of the Boeotia regional district. Livadeia lies north-west of Athens, west of Chalkida, south-east of Lamia, east-south-east of Amfissa, and east-north-east of Nafpaktos. The town lies some west of Greek National Road 3, to which it is linked by National Road 48.
The area around Livadeia is mountainous, with farming activities mainly confined to the valleys. The area has traditionally been associated with the production and processing of cotton and tobacco, as well as the cultivation of cereal crops and the raising of livestock. The city also known for having participated in the Trojan War in allegiance with Mycenae.
Livadeia is home to Levadiakos F.C., it currently plays in the Greek Superleague.
Geography
The municipality of Livadeia covers an area of , the municipal unit of Livadeia and the community .
Municipality
The municipality Livadeia was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units:
Historical population
A notable portion of the inhabitants of Livadeia are
Arvanites.
[Sasse, H. (1991). Arvanitika: die albanischen Sprachreste in Griechenland. Deutschland: O. Harrassowitz, p. 4]
History
In antiquity, Lebadeia was a town near the western frontier of
ancient Boeotia, described by
Strabo as lying between
Mount Helicon and
Chaeroneia.
The ancient town was situated at the foot of a precipitous height, which is an abrupt northerly termination of Mt. Helicon. Pausanias relates that this height was originally occupied by the Homeric city of Mideia, from where the inhabitants, under the conduct of
Lebadus, an
ancient Athens, migrated into the plain, and founded there the city named after him.
On the other hand, Strabo maintains that the Homeric cities Arne and Mideia were both swallowed up by
Lake Copais.
Lebadeia was originally an insignificant place, but it rose into importance in consequence of its possessing the celebrated
oracle of
Trophonius. The oracle was consulted both by
Croesus and by Mardonius,
and it continued to be consulted even in the time of
Plutarch, when all the other oracles in Boeotia had become dumb.
[Plutarch, de Def. Orac. 5.] Pausanias himself consulted the oracle, and he speaks of the town in terms which show that it was in his time the most flourishing place in Boeotia. Notwithstanding the sanctity of the oracle, Lebadeia did not always escape the ravages of war. It was taken and plundered both by
Lysander and by Archelaus, the general of Mithridates VI of Pontus.
[Plutarch Lys. 28, Sull. 16.] In the war against Perseus of Macedon, it espoused the side of the
ancient Rome, while Thebes,
Haliartus, and Coroneia declared in favour of the Macedonian king.
When Pausanias visited Lebadeia in the 2nd century, he recorded numerous temples. The most remarkable object in the grove of Trophonius was the temple of the hero, containing his statue by Praxiteles, resembling a statue of Asclepius; a temple of Demeter, surnamed Europe; a statue of Zeus (Pluvius) in the open air; and higher up, upon the mountain, the oracle (τὸ μαντεῖον). Still higher up was the hunting place of Persephone; a large unfinished temple of Zeus Basileus, a temple of Apollo, and another temple, containing statues of Cronus, Zeus, and Hera. Pausanias likewise mentions a chapel of the Good Daemon and of Good Fortune, where those who were going to consult the oracle first passed a certain number of days.
During the Byzantine Greece, Livadeia entered a period of decline, except for the 9th century, when some economic growth occurred. During the Frankokratia Livadeia came back on track, then in the 14th century it came under the control of the Catalan Company. The Ottoman Greece began in 1458, when economic and administrative privileges granted to residents contribute to industry and trade. The city broke free of the Ottomans as a result of the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s.
Antiquities
Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD, reported that the original name of the city was Mideia, and that it took its name Lebadeia from Lebados of Athens, who moved the city from high to low ground,
to its current location on the banks of the Herkyna river. The sacred protector of the city was the hero/god
Trophonios, whose oracle, involving a harrowing descent into an underground chamber, was famous beyond the borders of Greece. At the springs of the Herkyna river are shallow grottos with niches and marble remnants said to be the site of the oracle. On the hill above is a small medieval castle, mostly the work of the
assessed 2018-08-21
Further west, commanding a dramatic view from the hill of Profitis Ilias, are the remains of a large temple of Zeus Basileus, perhaps begun in the 3rd century BC but never completed.[Hansen, Mogens et al., Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford 2004] The cathedral church of St. George houses an important relic, a head of St. George, translated to Venice in the 15th century but restored to Livadeia as a gesture of interfaith cooperation in 1999.
Transport
The closest railway station is Livadeia, about 5 km from the city center.
Sports
Livadeia hosts two sports club with presence in the higher national divisions, Levadiakos F.C. a football club and Livadeia B.C. (A.E. Livadeias) a basketball club.
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| Presence in Super League |
| Presence in A2 Ethniki |
Notable people
Sister cities
Gallery
File:Agios meletios church.jpg|St Meletios church
File:Livadia1.jpg|Herkyna river
File:Lvadia2 evlahos.jpg|Old watermill at Herkyna river
File:IMG 4531 Stone bridge over Herkyna river.jpg|Stone bridge over Herkyna river in Livadeia
See also
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University of Central Greece
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Livadiya, Crimea
External links
