Kopaïs

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The Kopaïs in Boeotia

The Kopaïs or the Kopaïs Lake ( ancient Greek Κωπαΐς , modern Greek Κωπαΐδα , Latin Copais or Copais palus ) was a lake in the ancient landscape of Boeotia in Greece . With no surface drainage, the lake only carried periodic water and attempts were made in ancient times to completely drain the lake . These attempts were successfully resumed in the 19th century. The resulting plain has been called Kopaïda ever since.

Surname

The individual parts of the lake were often named after the different places on its banks. So there were the Kopaïs near the city of Kopai , a Haliartis near the city of Haliartos . Orchomen Lake ( Ὀρχομενία λίμνη , Orchomenius lacus ) it was named after the most important city on Lake Orchomenos , which owned a large part of the lake area. After its most important tributary, the Boeotian Kephisos , the lake was probably already referred to by Homer , but certainly by Pausanias as the Kephisis Lake ( Κηφισὶς λίμνη ). Leukonis is also passed down as a name.

Location and geography

Location of the Kopaïs in Greece

The east-west extension of the lake, about 24 kilometers long and about 13 kilometers wide, was bordered in the south by the Helikon foothills and in the north by the Chlomos Mountains. The eastern edge is framed irregularly by the Ptoon . The height of the lake bed was mostly between 94 and 97 meters above sea level and the lake had a water depth in this area of ​​a maximum of 3 to 4 meters. Among the smaller rock islands of the lake, the island of Gla in the north-east should be mentioned because of its settlement from the Mycenaean period. The main tributary was the Boeotian Kephisos, coming from the west, but there were numerous smaller rivers and streams - including the Melas , the Herkyna , Phalaros, Triton and Lophis - and nearby springs that periodically filled the lake. All of the lake's drains are underground and were called chasmata ( χάσματα ) or baranthra ( βάρανθρα ) in ancient times . In modern Greek the openings in the karst bottom under the lake are called Katavothren and are divided into different groups on the Kopaïs. With the exception of three of these natural gullies on the northern edge, all other catavothren can be found in the east of the lake.

The following cities and their areas joined the lake: In the north Kopai , Holmones , Hyettos and Tegyra ; to the east Phoinikis and Akraiphion ; in the south Koroneia and Haliartus , Tilphossion , Alalkomenai , Okaleai and Onchestos ; to the west Aspledon , Orchomenos and Lebadeia .

history

The shores of the lake were already densely populated in the Bronze Age and the first attempts at draining it go back to this time. For this purpose, no later than the 14th century BC. An extensive canal and dam system, which diverted a large part of the water masses into the Katavothren, created around the entire lake. Three canals ran through the lake - one along the north bank, one in the middle, and the third along the south bank. The northern canal was 40 meters wide and 2.50 deep and was flanked by 30 meters wide dams that were secured by stone walls. The canal led over 25 kilometers the waters of the Kephisos and the Mela to the Katavothren, their remains can be traced for kilometers. Its structure can possibly be dated to the Late Helladic (SH) II phase (15th century BC). The two younger canals, however, are dated to phase SH III A2 or III B1 (14th / early 13th century). Jost Knauss suspects that the hydraulic engineering measures even go back to the Middle Helladic phase.

The aim was the permanent reclamation of the fertile soil of the lowland. Possibly the Mycenaean castle of Gla was connected to the protection of the drainage system. In the Greek myth , the power of the town of Orchomenos, located on the western edge, was based on the wealth it created. The Thebans put an end to this with the help of Heracles . Because Heracles blocked the underground drains so that the lake filled up again periodically. In fact, the Bronze Age Orchomenos, settled by the Minyans in the myth, lost its importance and appeared in historical times, in the 8th century BC. BC, behind Thebes. At the same time, the periodic existence of the lake is guaranteed for historical times.

During this time the lake covered most of the area of ​​Orchomenos and swelled, especially in winter. Earthquakes could clog the katavothren, and the subsequent floods forced the relocation of cities. Eleusis and Athens on the Triton are narrated in lost cities . The cities of Arne and Mideia on the Kopaïs, mentioned by Homer , no longer appear in later tradition. In the bay of Orchomenos there were " floating islands " ( insulae fluitantes ). The lake was famous for its eels, which Aristophanes played an important role in several comedies.

The mining and hydraulic engineering specialist Krates von Olynth made an attempt to dry the lake again during the reign of Alexander the Great , but broke off when the Boeotians quarreled and although it had already drained a large area. The nature of his measures is not clear; It is said that he dug trenches and Diogenes Laertios calls him a "grave digger" ταφρώρυχος . Attempts were made to combine its activities with an attempt to build a tunnel at the Kephalari pass, on the north-eastern edge of the lake - an ambitious, but two-kilometer-long company that was abandoned after a quarter. However, the dating of this tunnel construction is controversial and it could have been tackled as early as the late Helladic period. The tunnel builders had already dug 16 shafts 18 to 63 meters deep from the underground to create a connection to the sea. The tunneling was started from both ends at the same time. Further attempts to drain the lake by means of breakthroughs to other lakes are undated and have not been successfully completed.

In the 19th century, the drainage project was taken up again and successfully implemented. The suggestion went back to the Germans Karl Gustav Fiedler and Russegger in the years 1836 and 1839. The French engineer Moule submitted an expert opinion for this in 1879 and in 1883 a French company initially took up the project, which was carried on by an English company from 1889 has been. Since then, the water has been led into Lake Yliki by means of canals and a 672-meter-long tunnel , from there to the lower-lying Paralimni Lake and another 860-meter-long tunnel into the sea. In this way, 25,000 hectares of arable land were obtained.

Web links

Commons : Kopaïs  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Friedrich Geiger : Kopais. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XI, 2, Stuttgart 1922, Sp. 1346-1360.
  • Spyros Iakovidis : Gla and the Kopais in the 13th Century BC. Athens 2001.
  • EJ Andre Kenny: The Ancient Drainage of the Copais. In: Liverpool Annals of Archeology and Anthropology. Vol. 22, 1935, pp. 189-206, Taf. LX-LXIII.
  • Michel L. Kambanis: Le dessèchement du lac Copais par les Anciens. In: Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique. Vol. 16, 1892, pp. 121-137, Pl. XII.
  • Jost Knauss, B. Heinrich, Hansjörg Kalcyk: The hydraulic structures of the Minyer in the Kopais. The oldest river regulation in Europe - research results 1984 (= Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Volume Management, Technical University of Munich. Report No. 50). Technical University of Munich, Munich 1984.
  • Jost Knauss, B. Heinrich, Hansjörg Kalcyk: The melioration of the Kopais basin in Boeotia. In: Ancient World . Vol. 17, No. 2, 1986, pp. 15-38.
  • Jost Knauss: Munich Copais Expedition, Progress Report on October 1985 and May 1986 surveys. In: Teiresias. Vol. 16, 1986, pp. 3-7.
  • Jost Knauss: The improvement of the Kopais basin by the Minyer in the 2nd millennium BC Chr. Kopais Vol. 2: Hydraulic engineering and settlement conditions in antiquity (= Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Volume Management , Technical University of Munich. Report No. 57). Technical University of Munich, Munich 1987.
  • Siegfried Lauffer : Topographical investigations in the Kopais area, 1971 and 1973. In: Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον . Vol. 29, 1973-1974, pp. 449-454.
  • Ferdinand Noack : Arne. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Athenian Department. Vol. 19, 1894, pp. 405-485, Plates X-XIII ( digitized version ).
  • Theodoros Spyropoulos: Introduction to the study of the Copais area. In: Athens Annal of Archeology. Vol. 6, 1973, pp. 201-215.

Remarks

  1. ^ Strabo , Geographika 9, 411.
  2. ↑ Theophrastos historia plantarum 4, 10, 1; 4, 12, 4; 5, 12, 3; Athenaios 14, 651 A; Hesych sv Πλοάδες ; Pliny , Naturalis historia 16, 168.
  3. ↑ Homer, Iliad 5, 709; also Pindar in Strabo, Geographika 9, 411; Pausanias 9, 13, 3; 9, 24, 1; 9, 34, 5; 9, 38, 6.
  4. ↑ Stephanos of Byzantium sv Κῶπαι .
  5. ↑ Pausanias 9:36 , 5; Strabon, Geographika 9, 414f.
  6. ↑ Diodorus 4:18 ; Pausanias 9, 38, 7.
  7. ↑ Pausanias 9:38, 6.
  8. ^ Strabon, Geographika 9, 406.
  9. ↑ Strabon, Geographika 9, 406f .; Stephanos of Byzantium sv Ἀθῆναι .
  10. ↑ Homer, Iliad 2:507.
  11. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 16, 168. Hesych sv Πλοάδες .
  12. ↑ Aristophanes, Die Acharner 880; Peace 1005; Lysistrata 36.
  13. ^ Strabo, Geographika 9, 407.
  14. ↑ Stephanos of Byzantium sv Ἀθῆναι .
  15. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 4, 4, 23.

Coordinates: 38 ° 27 ′ 0 ″  N , 23 ° 3 ′ 0 ″  E