COPAE
COPAE (
Κῶπαι: Eth.
Κωπαιεύς, Thuc.;
Κωπα̈́της,
Steph. B. sub voce:
Topolia), a town of Boeotia, and a member of the Boeotian confederacy, was situated upon the northern extremity of the lake Copais, which derived its name from this town.
It is mentioned by Homer (
Hom. Il. 2.502); but it was a small place, and its name rarely occurs in Grecian history.
It was still in existence in the time of Pausanias, who mentions here the temples of Demeter, Dionysus and Sarapis. (
Thuc. 4.93; Strab. ix. pp. 406, 410;
Paus. 9.24.1, seq.;
Plin. Nat. 4.7.12.)
The modern village of
Topólia occupies the site of Copae.
It stands upon a promontory in the lake which is connected with the mainland by only a narrow causeway. (Dodwell,
Classical Tour, vol. ii. p. 56; Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 306; Ulrichs,
Reisen in Griechenland, p. 216.)
