Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/119

 B ix. c. ii. 3740. BCEOTIA. 1 1 1 All in reverence to the goddess abstained from every act of violence ; wherefore the Thebans, at the time of the expedi- tion of the Epigoni, abandoning their own city, are said to have taken refuge here, and on the strong mountain above it, the Tilphossium. 1 Below Tilphossium is the fountain Til- phossa, and the monument of Teiresias, who died there on the retreat. 37. Cha3roneia 2 is near Orchomenus, 3 where Philip, the son of Amyntas, after having overcome, in a great battle, 4 the Athenians, Boeotians, and Corinthians, became the master of Greece. There are seen the sepulchres erected at the public charge of the persons who fell in that battle. 38. At Lebadeia 5 is the oracle of Jupiter Trophonius, having a descent through an opening, which leads under- ground. The person himself, who consults the oracle, de- scends into it. It is situated between Helicon and Chasroneia, near Coroneia. 39. Leuctra 6 is the place where Epaminondas overcame the Lacedaemonians in a great battle, and first weakened their power ; for after that time they were never able to regain the supremacy over the Greeks, which they before possessed, and particularly after they were defeated in a second battle at Mantinea. Even after these reverses they preserved their independence until the establishment of the Eoman dominion, and were always respected by that people on account of the excellency of their form of government. The field of battle is shown on the road which leads from Platseae to ThespisB. 40. The poet next mentions the Orchomenians in the Cata- logue, and distinguishes them from the Boeotian nation. He gives to Orchomenus the epithet Minyeian from the nation of the MinysD. They say that a colony of the Minyeians went hence to lolcus, 7 and from this circumstance the Argonauts were called Minyse. It appears that, anciently, it was a rich 1 Petra. a Kapurna. 3 Scripu. 4 On the 7th of August, B. c. 338. Of the details of this battle we have no account. The site of the monument is marked by a tumulus about a mile or a little more from the Khan of Kapurna, on the right side of the road towards Orchomenus. A few years ago (according to Mure) the mound of earth was excavated and a colossal lion discovered, deeply im- bedded in its interior. See Smith. 5 Livadhia. 6 Lefka. 7 See below, ch. v. 15.