Viotia ...More about Viotia

Thebes (Thiva - Photo to the right), 87 kilometers from Athens and built on seven hills (hence named in antiquity “Heptalophos”), lies in a fertile, low-lying region and is very interesting archaeologically.  It is believed to have been founded by the Phoenician King Kadmos, and its history lies behind some of the most important Ancient Greek Theatrical Plays (Tragedies), namely Sophocles' “Oedipus Tyrant” (=King) and “Antigone,” and Aeschylus' "The Seven Against Thebes" still on stage in numerous open-air ancient theaters all over Greece.

Viotia's traditional Easter and spring celebrations : In Thebes, the Clean Monday (beginning of Lent) presentation of the Vlach wedding (a costume farce); the festivities connected with St. George's day in Arachova; in Chaeronia, a drama festival in the honor of Plutarch in June; in Distomo, the "beginning of summer" is celebrated traditionally on Clean Monday.

Excursions:  The Fountain of Dirki at the Frankish aqueduct; the Byzantine church of Agia Fotini; the catacombs of the early Christian church of St. Catherine; the church of St. Luke the Evangelist in the town's first cemetery, which contains a 13th century sarcophagus supposed to have held the saint's body.  Visit also the superb Archaeological Museum, the Mycenaean tombs in the area, the ruins of the temple of Ismenios Apollo, and the spring of Agii Theodori, known in antiquity as the "Fountain of Oedipus."