Oropus

Oropus or Oropos (, or rarely ἡ Ὠρωπός) was a town on the borders of ancient Attica and Boeotia, and the capital of a district, called after it Oropia (ἡ Ὠρωπία.) This district is a maritime plain, through which the Asopus flows into the sea, and extends for 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. ==History== Oropus was originally a town of Boeotia; and, from its position in the maritime plain of the Asopus, it naturally belonged to that country. It was, however, a frequent subject of dispute between the Athenians and Boeotians; and the former people obtained possession of it long before the Peloponnesian War. It continued in their hands till 412 BCE, when the Boeotians recovered possession of it. A few years afterwards (402 BCE) the Boeotians, in consequence of a sedition of the Oropians, removed the town 7 stadia from the sea. During the next 60 years the town was alternately in the hands of the Athenians and Boeotians, till at length Philip II of Macedon after the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE) gave it to the Athenians. In 318 BC the Oropians recovered their liberty. In 312 BCE Cassander obtained possession of the city; but Polemon, the general of Antigonus, soon afterwards expelled the Macedonian garrison, and handed over the city to the Boeotians. It has been concluded from a passage of Dicaearchus that Oropus continued to belong to Thebes in the next century; but the expression οἰκία Θηβῶν is corrupt, and no safe conclusion can therefore be drawn from the passage. 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; but Livy, Pausanias, and Pliny the Elder place it in Attica. How long the Oropians inhabited the inland city is uncertain. Pausanias expressly says that Oropus was upon the sea; and the inhabitants had probably returned to their old town long before his time.

Although Oropus was so frequently in the hands of the Athenians, its name is never found among the Athenian demes. Its territory, however, if not the town itself, appears to have been made an Attic deme under the name of Graea (ἡ Γραῖα). In Homer Oropus does not occur, but Graea is mentioned among the Boeotian towns; and this ancient name appears to have been revived by the Athenians as the official title of Oropus. Aristotle said that Oropus was called Graea in his time; and accordingly we find in an inscription, belonging to this period, the people of Graea (Γραῆς or Γραεῖς) mentioned as a deme of the tribe Pandionis.