In antiquity, Lebadeia was a town near the western frontier of
ancient Boeotia, described by
Strabo as lying between
Mount Helicon and
Chaeroneia. The ancient town was situated at the foot of a precipitous height, which is an abrupt northerly termination of Mt. Helicon.
Pausanias relates that this height was originally occupied by the Homeric city of
Mideia, from where the inhabitants, under the conduct of
Lebadus, an
Athenian, migrated into the plain, and founded there the city named after him. On the other hand, Strabo maintains that the Homeric cities
Arne and Mideia were both swallowed up by
Lake Copais. of Trophonius Lebadeia was originally an insignificant place, but it rose into importance in consequence of its possessing the celebrated
oracle of
Trophonius. The oracle was consulted both by
Croesus and by
Mardonius, and it continued to be consulted even in the time of
Plutarch, when all the other oracles in Boeotia had become dumb. Pausanias himself consulted the oracle, and he speaks of the town in terms which show that it was in his time the most flourishing place in Boeotia. Notwithstanding the sanctity of the oracle, Lebadeia did not always escape the ravages of war. It was taken and plundered both by
Lysander and by
Archelaus, the general of
Mithridates VI of Pontus. In the war against
Perseus of Macedon, it espoused the side of the
Romans, while
Thebes,
Haliartus, and
Coroneia declared in favour of the Macedonian king. When Pausanias visited Lebadeia in the 2nd century, he recorded numerous temples. The most remarkable object in the grove of Trophonius was the temple of the hero, containing his statue by
Praxiteles, resembling a statue of
Asclepius; a temple of
Demeter, surnamed Europe; a statue of
Zeus Hyetius (Pluvius) in the open air; and higher up, upon the mountain, the oracle (τὸ μαντεῖον). Still higher up was the hunting place of
Persephone; a large unfinished temple of Zeus Basileus, a temple of
Apollo, and another temple, containing statues of
Cronus, Zeus, and
Hera. Pausanias likewise mentions a chapel of the Good Daemon and of Good Fortune, where those who were going to consult the oracle first passed a certain number of days. During the
Byzantine period, Livadeia entered a period of decline, except for the 9th century, when some economic growth occurred. During the
Frankish period Livadeia came back on track, then in the 14th century it came under the control of the
Catalan Company. The
Ottoman domination began in 1458, when economic and administrative privileges granted to residents contribute to industry and trade. The city broke free of the Ottomans as a result of the
Greek War of Independence in the 1820s. ==Antiquities==