Hestiaia in Evia

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In ancient Greece, Hestiaia was an old and important city on the island of Evia , 5 km off the north coast. The area of ​​Hestiaia comprised all of the north, about 25% of the island of Evia. From 445 BC. The city is also called Oreos (Ὠρεός), Latin Oreus . Oreos was east of the mouth of the Kallas River (now the Xerias ) and at the foot of Mount Telethrium , opposite Antron on the Thessalian coast. Originally two places, they were merged after the Peloponnesian War and the name Oreos dominated. The current name of Oreos is Oreoi , while the current settlement of Istiéa is further east (see below for the history).

About the name

Hestiaia, ancient Greek feminine: Ἑστίαια; epic: Ἱστίαια Histiaia ; Ionic also: Ἱστιαίη Histiaie , Ἱστιαεῖς Histiaeis , Ἱστιαῖοι Histaioi , Ἱστιαιῆτις Histiaietis , Ἱστιαιῶτις Histiaiotis; modern Greek: Ιστιαία = Istiea; Inhabitants: Ἑστιαιεύς Hestiaieus or Ἱστιαιεύς Histiaieus or in the plural also Ἱστιαῖοι Histiaioi .

Derived from the city name, the entire extreme north was called Histiaiotis ( Ἱστιαιῶτις ), Ionic Histiaietis ( Ἱστιαιῆτις ). Later it was named after the neighboring settlement in which Athens 446 BC. Founded a colony and occupied with clergy , called Oreos or Oreoi ( Ὠρεοί , today Orei = neugr. Ωρεοί ). Today the modern towns of Orei on the coast and Istiea in the interior are two cities approx. 5 km apart.

About history

Homer already named the city and gave it the nickname “grape-rich” ( πολυστάφυλος ).

Hestiaia was occupied by the Persians in the Persian Wars after the Battle of Artemision . After the expulsion of the Persians, Hestiaia came under the hegemony of Athens along with the other cities of Euboea and belonged to the Attic League . After a revolt of the island of Evia against Athens in 445 BC. After the conquest of the island by Pericles, the inhabitants of Hestiaia were expelled. The other cities were spared. From this it can be concluded that Hestiaia played a leading role in the uprising and was therefore severely punished. Athens settled Athenian colonists. From this time on the name changed to Oreos. In the second uprising of the island against Athens in 411 BC. Hestiaia is said to have remained loyal to the Athenians as the only city in Evia.

At the end of the Peloponnesian War, Hestiaia was subjugated by Sparta, the Athenian settlers were expelled and some of the old inhabitants were brought back. In the future Hestiaia stuck to Sparta and remained hostile to Athens. In the Theban War, after the Battle of Leuktra , the city rebelled against Sparta. It was fought over several times during the Diadoch Wars and the clashes in the Hellenistic period.

In connection with the 2nd Punic War, Livy mentions two castles for the city , one above the sea and one in the center of the city. In the First Macedonian-Roman War between Rome and Philip V , the city is defeated in 199 BC. Conquered by the Romans. The elder Pliny mentions it as an abandoned place in the 1st century AD.

In 1474, the first mention of the town of Xirochóri, located about two kilometers to the east, was renamed Istiéa (Ιστιαία) after the founding of the Greek state in 1833. Until 2010 Istiéa formed its own municipality, since the district reform Kallikratis the place is the seat of the large municipality Istiéa-Ädipsós. The actual place Istiéa has 7353 inhabitants (2001) and is the largest settlement in Northern Euboea. Also Orei (3329 Ew. 2001), which previously formed its own city, is part of the large municipality of Istiéa-Ädipsós.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herodotus 8:23 .
  2. ↑ Thucydides 1, 114.
  3. ↑ Herodotus 8:23 .
  4. ↑ Strabon 10, 1, 3.
  5. ↑ Herodotus 7, 23: " γῆς δὲ τῆς Ἱστιαιώτιδος ".
  6. ↑ Pausanias 7:26, 4
  7. ↑ Homer, Iliad 2, 537: " πολυστάφυλόν θ᾽ Ἱστίαιαν " - "the grape-rich Histiaia".
  8. ↑ Herodotus 8:23 .
  9. ↑ Thucydides 8:95.
  10. ↑ so also Diodorus 12, 7, 1.
  11. ↑ Plutarch , Pericles 23.
  12. ↑ Pausanias 7:26, 4.
  13. ↑ Thucydides 8, 95, here also under the name Oreos
  14. ↑ Diodorus 15, 30, 1.
  15. ↑ Xenophon , Hellenika 5, 4, 56-57.
  16. ↑ Livius 28, 6, 2: “duas arces urbs habet, unam imminentem mari, altera urbis media est” .
  17. ^ Livius 31, 46, 6-16.

literature

Coordinates: 38 ° 57 '  N , 23 ° 5'  E