Tanagra
（
Τάναγρα). Now Grimadha or Grimala; a celebrated town of
Boeotia, situated on a steep ascent on the left bank of the Asopus, thirteen stadia from
Oropus, and 200 stadia from Plataeae, in the district Tanagraea, which was also called
Poemandris. Tanagra was supposed to be the same town as the Homeric Graea. Being near the
frontiers of Attica, it was frequently exposed to the attacks of the Athenians; and near it
the Athenians sustained a celebrated defeat, B.C. 457. Here was a temple to Dionysus, and
minor temples erected to Themis, Aphrodité, Hermes Criophorus, and Hermes
Promachus. Recent excavations at Tanagra have discovered the line of the walls, the site of
many of the towers, and of the theatre. In 1873 the Necropolis was explored and yielded many
terra-cotta statuettes and “figurines.” See Kekulé,
Griechische Thonfiguren aus Tanagra (Stuttgart, 1877); Murray's
Greek Archaeol. (London, 1890); and the article
Terra-cottas.
