Oropus: Difference between revisions

'''Oropus''' or '''Oropos''' ({{lang-grc|ὁ Ὠρωπός}}, or rarely ἡ Ὠρωπός<ref>{{Cite Pausanias|7|11|4}}</ref>) was a town on the borders of [[ancient Attica]] and [[ancient Boeotia|Boeotia]], and the capital of a district, called after it '''Oropia''' (ἡ Ὠρωπία.) This district is a maritime plain, through which the [[Asopos (Boeotia)|Asopus]] flows into the sea, and extends for {{convert|5|mi|km}} along the shore. It is separated from the inland plain of [[Tanagra]] by some hills, which are a continuation of the principal chain of the [[Diacrian mountains]]. Oropus was originally a town of Boeotia; and, from its position in the maritime plain of the Asopus, it naturally belonged to that country.<ref name=Pausanias134>{{Cite Pausanias|1|34|1}}</ref> It was, however, a frequent subject of dispute between the [[ancient Athens|Athenians]] and Boeotians; and the former people obtained possession of it long before the [[Peloponnesian War]]. It continued in their hands till 412&nbsp;BCE, when the Boeotians recovered possession of it.<ref>{{Cite Thucydides|8.60}}</ref> A few years afterwards (402&nbsp;BCE) the Boeotians, in consequence of a sedition of the Oropians, removed the town 7 [[stadion (unit)|stadia]] from the sea.<ref>{{Cite Diodorus|14.17}}</ref> During the next 60 years the town was alternately in the hands of the Athenians and Boeotians,<ref>{{Cite Hellenica|7.4.1}} ''et seq.''</ref> till at length [[Philip II of Macedon]] after the [[Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)|Battle of Chaeronea]] (338&nbsp;BCE) gave it to the Athenians.<ref name=Pausanias134/> In 318&nbsp;BCE the Oropians recovered their liberty.<ref>{{Cite Diodorus|18.56}}</ref> In 312&nbsp;BCE [[Cassander]] obtained possession of the city; but [[Polemon (general)|Polemon]], the general of [[Antigonus I Monophthalmus|Antigonus]], soon afterwards expelled the Macedonian garrison, and handed over the city to the Boeotians.<ref>{{Cite Diodorus|19.77}}</ref> It has been concluded from a passage of [[Dicaearchus]] that Oropus continued to belong to [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] in the next century; but the expression οἰκία Θηβῶν is corrupt, and no safe conclusion can therefore be drawn from the passage.<ref name=Dicaearchus>p. 11, ed. Hudson</ref> Dicaearchus calls the inhabitants Athenian Boeotians, an epithet which he also applies to the inhabitants of [[Plataeae]]. [[Strabo]] also describes Oropus as a Boeotian town;<ref>{{Cite Strabo|ix. p. 404}}</ref> but [[Livy]],<ref name=Livy>{{Cite Livy|45.27}}</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]],<ref name=Pausanias134/> and [[Pliny the Elder]]<ref>{{Cite Pliny|4.7.11}}</ref> place it in Attica. How long the Oropians inhabited the inland city is uncertain. Pausanias expressly says that Oropus was upon the sea;<ref>ἐπὶ θαλάσσης, Pausanias, 1.34.1.</ref> and the inhabitants had probably returned to their old town long before his time.▼

According to Dicaearchus, the Oropians were notorious for their grasping exactions, levied upon all imports into their country,<ref name=Dicaearchus/> and were for this reason satirised by [[Xenon (poet)|Xenon]], a comic poet: "Πάντες τελῶναι, πάντες εἰσὶν ἅρπαγες.▼

Κακὸν τέλος γένοιτο τοῖς ᾿Ωρωπίοις."▼