BOEBE
BOEBE (
Βοίβη: Eth.
Βοιβεύς, fem.
Βοιβηΐς), a town of Magnesia in Thessaly, mentioned by Homer, and situated on the eastern side of the lake, called after it
BOEBEIS LACUS (
Βοιβηΐς λίμνη, Hom.
Il. 2.712;
Hdt. 7.129, et alii; also
Βοιβία λίμνη, Eur. Alc. 590; and
Βοιβιάς, Pind. P. 3.34.)
The lake is frequently mentioned by the ancient writers, but the name of the town rarely occurs.
The lake receives the rivers Onchestus, Amyrus, and several smaller streams, but has no outlet for its waters. From its proximity to Mt. Ossa, it is called “Ossaea Boebeis” by Lucan (
7.176). Athena is said to have bathed her feet in its waters (Hes. ap.
Strab. ix. p.442), which is perhaps the reason why Propertius (
2.2. 11) speaks of “sanctae Boebeidos undae.” The lake is a long narrow piece of water, and is now called
Karla from a village which has disappeared.
It produces at present a large quantity of fish, of which no mention is made in the ancient writers, unless, as Leake suggests,
Βοίβη should be substituted for Bolbe in a fragment of Archestratus quoted by Athenaeus (vii. p. 311a.).
The same writer remarks that the numerous flocks on the heights around the villages of
Káprena and
Kanália on the lake illustrate the epithet
πολυμηλοτάτη bestowed upon Boebe by Euripides (
l.c.); while the precipitous rocks of Petra are probably the
Βοιβιάδος κρημνοί alluded to by Pindar (
l.c.).
The town of Boebe was at a later time dependent upon Demetrias. Its site and remains are described by Leake. “It occupied a height advanced in front of the mountain [of
Kanúlia], sloping gradually towards the plain, and defended by a steep fall at the back of the hill.
It appears to have been constructed of Hellenic masonry, properly so called.
The acropolis may be traced on the summit, where several large quadrangular blocks of stones are still in their places, among more considerable ruins formed of small stones and mortar. Of the town walls there are some remains at a small church dedicated to St. Athanasius at the foot of the hill, where are several large masses of stone showing, by their distance from the acropolis, that the city was not less than two miles in circumference.” (Besides the references already given, see Strab. ix. pp. 430, 436, 441, seq. 11.503, 530;
Liv. 31.41;
Plin. Nat. 4.8. s. 15;
Ov. Met. 7.231;
Steph. B. sub voce Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iv. pp. 421--431.)
