BOEOTIA, a district of central Greece, bounded by Phocis and Locris on the west and north ; by Attica, Megaris and the Corinthian gulf on the south; and by the Strait of Euboea on the northeast; area, i,ioo square miles. In the north the basin of the Cephissus and Lake Copais lies between the watershed range of Parnassus (q.v.) and Helicon (5,4 7of t.) and the Locrian ridges, which extend eastward from Mt. Oeta, and form with their landward spurs the pass and battlefield of Chaeronea, be tween the Cephissus valley and the Copais lake-land and also the south boundary of Copais, with other battle grounds at Coronea and Haliartus. Through this coast-range natural tunnels (kata vothra) carried off the overflow from Copais. South of this, a wider lowland is divided by the low ridge of Teumessus into the Ismenian plain dominated by Thebes, and the valley of the Asopus which rises east of Helicon and flows eastward into the Euboean strait, under the steep north front of Cithaeron and Parnes. Though the Boeotian fenland has foggy winters and sultry summers, its rich soil, though liable to floods, is good for crops, plantations and pasture. The central position of Boeotia, the strength of its frontiers and the ease of internal communica tion enhanced its political importance. But the lack of harbours restricted trade and sea power. The Boeotians were proverbially as dull as their native air, but they were sturdy fighters, and pro duced men of such varied distinction as Hesiod, Pindar, Epami nondas, Pelopidas and Plutarch.
The two great centres of Boeotian legend, "Cadmeian" Thebes and "Minyan" Orchomenus, were outposts of the Minoan culture of Crete already in the 14th century B.C., and Orchomenus had passed through two periods of settlement already before its great "bee-hive" tomb (so called "Treasury of Minyas") was built. To its Minyan engineers are probably due the artificial conduits which supplemented the katavothra of the Copais. The quarrels of the Cadmeian dynasty with Orchomenus, and its disastrous wars with Argos (123o-1m0) explain the complete replacement of these earlier regimes by the Boeotian immigrants, of northern Aeolic dialect, about 1120. But Orchomenus and also some marginal communities in the south, Plataea, Thespiae, Tanagra, never acquiesced in the political leadership of Thebes, whose central position and military strength might otherwise have made it a suitable capital, and realized the ambition of the Thebans to absorb other townships into a single state, as Athens had unified Attica (q.v.). But the outlying cities only tolerated a loose fed eration which in early times had a mainly religious character. Boeotia hardly figures in history before the late 6th century, when the resistance of Plataea to the federating policy of Thebes led to a long quarrel between Athens and Thebes.
During the Persian invasion of 48o, Thebes assisted the in vaders, but Plataea and some other States were on the patriot side, and for a time the presidency of the Boeotian League was taken away from Thebes. But in 457 the Spartans reinstated Thebes as a bulwark against Athenian aggression. Athens retali ated by a sudden advance upon Boeotia, and after the victory of Oenophyta the land remained for ten years under Athenian con trol, exercised through newly installed democracies; but in 447, after a reactionary victory at Coronea, the old constitutions were restored, and Thebes recovered its primacy in the league. In the Peloponnesian War the first blow was struck by Thebes against Plataea, and in 424 Boeotians decisively defeated Athen ian forces at Delium. Though slightly estranged from Sparta after the peace of Nicias, they rendered good service at Syracuse and Arginusae and made possible the Spartan occupation of their outpost at Decelea in northern Attica. And at the close of the war, Athens might have been utterly destroyed had not Sparta restrained Theban animosity.
About this time the Boeotian League comprised 11 groups of sovereign cities and associated townships, each of which elected one Boeotar'h or minister of war and foreign affairs, contributed 6o delegates to the federal council at Thebes, and supplied a con tingent of about i,000 foot and ioo horse to the federal army. A safeguard against encroachment by the central government was provided in councils of individual cities, to which all impor tant questions of policy had to be submitted for ratification. These local councils, to which the propertied classes alone were eligible, were subdivided into four sections, resembling the pry taneis of the Athenian council, which took it in turns to take previous cognizance of all new measures. Thucydides (v. 38), in speaking of the "four councils of the Boeotians," is referring to the plenary bodies in the various states.
Boeotia was prominent in the Corinthian League against Sparta, especially at Haliartus and Coronea (395-394) because of resentment against foreign interference. Yet disaffection against Thebes was now growing rife, and Sparta fostered this feeling by stipulating for complete independence of all cities in the peace of Antalcidas (387). In 374 Pelopidas restored the Theban dominion. Boeotian contingents fought in all the cam paigns of Epaminondas, and in the later wars against Phocis ; while in the dealings with Philip of Macedon the other cities appear merely as the tools of Thebes. The prevalence of democracy made sovereign the popular assembly, which elected the Boeotarchs (between seven and 12 in number), and sanc tioned all laws. After the battle of Chaeroneia, in which the Boeotian heavy infantry once again distinguished itself, the land never rose again to prosperity. The destruction of Thebes by Alexander (335) seems to have paralysed the political energy of the Boeotians, though it led to an improvement in the federal constitution, by which each city received an equal vote. Hence forth they never pursued an independent policy, but followed the lead of protecting powers. Though enrolled for a short time in the Aetolian League (about 245 B.C.) Boeotia was generally loyal to Macedonia, and supported its later kings against Rome. In return for the excesses of the democracies Rome dissolved the league, which, however, was allowed to revive under Augustus, and merged with the other central Greek federations in the Achaean synod. The death-blow to the country's prosperity was given by the devastations during the first Mithradatic War.
Save for a short period of prosperity under the Frankish rulers of Athens (A.D. 1205-1310), who repaired the katavothra and fos tered agriculture, Boeotia long continued in a state of decay, aggravated by occasional barbarian incursions. Even in the 19th century a large part of the population was still Albanian. The first step towards the country's recovery was in 1895, when the outlets of Copais were again put into working order, reclaim ing a large area for agriculture. Railway communication with Athens, Volo, and Salonica continues to develop the natural riches of the whole land. Boeotia is at present a province with Livadia (the old Turkish capital) for its centre; the other surviv ing townships are quite unimportant.