Copāïs
(
Κωπαΐς λίμνη). Alake in Boeotia, formed chiefly by the
river Cephissus, whose waters were connected with the Euboean Sea by several subterranean
channels, called by the modern Greeks
katavóthra, which were
not, however, sufficient to carry off the waters, especially in the spring when the Copaic
plain was flooded by the rains. In the time of Alexander the Great an enormous tunnel was cut
through the rock for the discharge of the water. (See
Emissarium.) This proved effective until it fell into ruins, when the district again
became unwholesome and marshy. In 1886, however, it was once more properly drained by a French
company. The modern name of the lake is Topolias; its Homeric name, Cephisis (
Λίμνη Κηφισίς,
Il. v. 709). Its eels were much prized in antiquity.