Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/429

 fmm the lattCT snuther rhannel flowing nmJcr Mt. Mi™»iaum into Iho Eubofan sa, Tbrae fciliivith™ wen nM mifficient lo earry off the wftlen of the laki?, which coniv^ucntlf often inuDclmtcd the KomHuidinf* plain. The traditJon of Ibe O^pun deluge probablj refers to anrh ftn iimn- dction; and it ia also Tinted that a Boeotian Athena BOEOTIA. 411 kmilr- (Stnih.ii. p.407; Paiut.i..a4. §20 To the di»lnct cauatmctcd at a verj early period two »rtifi=U) Emi«arii or Ttmnela. of which the diiHtion maj (till be distinctly traced. One of Ihtm runs from the ^tem end of the lake, and is carried throiieh the rock M far a.i Upper Larjmna, almoit parallel to tho central of ll« three kitavithm men-
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I. The Luke CchhSi. L The Lake Hillco. I. The lake n«ii called UoriM e I. Tho Rlier Ceiihluni. ap, copiid from Forchhammer's Jle'lenika, Is de:iigncd more particnlnrlj' lo show llie minevus chtuinels nhieh drained the bko Ci>|ui^ Thn^e marked arc the al channels ; tlioso marked m- ^ - ^ «. aic the artiBcisl enu:>sarii or tunnels. tioDcd above; it is nenrly four miles in lenph, with abont twsilj Teitical ehafta let down into it along the whole distance. Thew ahafts are iww choked up, bnt the apntuns. aboit four feat square, are still Trsible. Tbe deepeet of them i conjectured to hare bf«i from 100 to 150 lat deep. The aecend lunnel tinite* the lake* Copnu uid Uylica, ninaing under tlw plain of Aciacphiom, and in much shorter. As the whole plain ii no» caltivated, the apertures of the thafts m more difficult to find, but Forch- liimmer counted eight, and he was informed that there wen fifteen in all. Then two Rnat wcrka are perhaps the moat strikini; monomenta of what is calkd the heroic age. Raapectini; the lima of thnr execution histoi7 is tilent; but we maj ufelj assij^ii them to the old Hinjae of Orehomenus, which was one of the most powerful and weallhy cities of Greece in the earliest times. Indeed, it wiu partly through theee tunnels that Orehomenus oi-tiuned much of ita wealth j lor whila they were in full opention, there was an abun- dant outiol for Ihe waten of the Ccpliissus, and nearij the whole of what is oow the lake Cupais waa B rich i^ain. These Imuieb are said to hare been ■topped up by the Thehan hero Heracles, itho by Ibis meaos inundated the lands of the Minyao of Orcho- menns (Uiod. JT. 18; Pniu. ii. 38. § S; Pulyaen. i. 3. g 5), and it is probable that after the fall of the power (f the Minyao these tunnels were neglected, and thus became gradually choked ap. In the timo of Aleiander the Great Crates was employed to clear them out. and fartially succeeded in his task; but tlui work was soon afterwards inlermpled, and the tunnela n^ain became obstructed. (Strab. ii. p.40T.) Straho slates that Crates cleared out the kalaviitbiB, but it Fry improbable that these natural chamjele w up; a bttfaat lundcd them with the two artificial tunneb, as many modem writera also have done. {The be^t account of the kalaidtbra and ttmnela of the Uko Copais is given by Furchbammer, HflUnikHi p. 159j SB). ; eomp. Grolc, Sol. ii. sub fin.) jit'^,'V(i/i *■ ti' The lake CoFAiB (Kvroli Kiii.¥r,) was in moi«; ancient times called L'Emisaia (KiM^ffrrlt aI^uti.) Hoin. ;/. V. 70S ; Strab. ii. p. 407), fnim the river of this n-ime. It also bore separate denominstions from the towns utualed upon it, Usiurtua, Orcbo- menus, Oacbestus, Acracphia, and CopiU! (Strab. itp. 410, seq.); but the name of Copais finally became tlw genenl one, because the north-ostem eitremity of the baain, upon which Cojae stood, was the deep- est part. Stmbo rays (is. p. 407) that the liikc was SHU stadia in drcunfcience; but it is impossible to nuikc an;^ exail tta'emeut tsspecting its eitint.