CHALKIS
Euboia, Greece.
The chief city of
the region, situated at the narrowest part of the Euripos,
where the island lies closest to Boiotia. It was a flourishing trade center throughout antiquity, known especially
for pottery and metalwork. Its citizens founded colonies
in Sicily in the 8th c. B.C. and along the N Aegean coasts
in the 7th. Eretria to the E was a long-standing rival
for control of the rich Lelantine Plain which lay between them. Chalkis supported the Greek cities against
Xerxes, but turned against Athens in 446, only to be
defeated and remain a tributary until 411 B.C. It was then
that the Euboians and Boiotians combined to block the
Euripos with moles, leaving only a narrow channel
spanned by a wooden bridge, the first of many built at
various times in later history. Philip II of Macedon
garrisoned the city in 338 B.C. as one of his chief control points; it remained an important center until it was
partly destroyed for siding with the Achaian League
against Rome in 146 B.C. Few remains of the ancient
city have been uncovered, but quarrying activities N of
the acropolis have revealed the walls of some Late Classical structures. Dikaiarchos (26f) described Chalkis as
enclosed by a wall 70 stades in length; the trace is still
clear on air photographs. Among many brackish springs,
that of Arethusa alone provided sufficient healthful
water for all the people. There were gymnasia, theaters,
sanctuaries, including that of Apollo Delphinios, squares,
and stoas; an inscription mentions the Temple of Zeus
Olympios. The port on the Euripos was connected by
a gate to the commercial agora, which had stoas on
three sides. A mile S of the town, Leake saw the ruined
arches of a Roman aqueduct.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Livy 28.6; Plut.
Tit. 16; W. M. Leake,
Nor. Gr. (1835) II 254-66
M; J. Boardman in
BSA 52
(1957) 1f.
M. H. MCALLISTER
