The city of Eretria lies northwest of Chalkis, across from Attic
Oropos, in the fertile plain surrounded by the hills of Voudochi to the
west and Zervouni to the east. Eretria, the  'rowing
city' of the ancient Greeks, named after the verb eretto (=to row), was
a great naval force, which had a number of colonies on the coasts of
the Aegean, on various islands, and in Italy, since the eighth century
BC.
Pottery sherds of the end of the Neolithic period,
although not related to specific architectural remains, indicate that
the site was inhabited during that period and that it had contacts with
the Aegean and the North. In the Early and Middle Helladic periods, the
settlement developed in the area between the temple of Apollo
Daphnephoros and the agora of the later city, and on the acropolis. The
few architectural remains of this early town include a pottery kiln,
which demonstrates that industrial activities took place within the
settlement. Although limited in number, the finds from the Mycenaean
levels suggest a high living standard, confirming references on the
Eretrians by Homer in his Catalogue of Ships (Iliad). Even so, Eretria
was probably not a major urban centre during this period.
Eretria
began to develop a more urban character from the eighth century BC.
Temples were established inside the Mycenaean fortified acropolis, and
the town's main nucleus was moved to the agora, further south. Eretria
participated actively in the first Greek colonization, founding
colonies in the North (Pantikapaion and Phanagoreia in the Crimea) and
West (Pithikouses in Italy, colonization of Corfu). It also became a
major commercial centre with contacts throughout the eastern
Mediterranean, as demonstrated by the discovery of Eretrian pottery on
the shores of Asia Minor, Syria, and Lebanon, and in Cyprus. Eretria's
rapid expansion worried the city of Chalkis, leading the two cities to
the so-called Lilantine war (Herodotus 5.99, Thucydides 1.15.3).
Despite
the war's negative outcome for Eretria, the city continued to thrive in
the Archaic period and participated actively in the second colonization
period. Eretria minted its own coins in the last quarter of the sixth
century BC and became a democratic state at the end of the sixth
century BC. It helped Miletus's revolt against the Persians in 494 BC
(Herodotus 6.99, 7.101; Stabo 3.448.5; Pausanias 7.10.2); as a result
Miletus was destroyed by Datis and Artaphenes four years later, in 490
BC. The Eretrians fought alongside the Greeks in the naval battle off
Artemision and participated in the battles of Salamis and Plataiai.
Although initially  involved
in the First Athenian League, Eretria fought against Athenian hegemony
in 411 BC and subsequently thrived economically. It is during this
period that the city's fortification wall was strengthened and that new
houses and grand public buildings, such as the west gate and theatre,
were built. During the fourth century BC, the city was governed by
tyrants who invariably sided with either Athens or Thebes.
After
the battle of Cheroneia, in 338 BC, Eretria found itself under
Macedonian dominion and a new period of economical and cultural
prosperity began. The city walls were repaired and extended, new
private and public buildings were erected, terracotta workshops were
established, and the theatre acquired its final form. The stadium and
upper gymnasium were built during this period, together with a second
gymnasium or palaestra, which probably included a temple of goddess
Eileithea (protector of childbirth), near the port. Stoas were erected
along the four sides of the agora, and several monuments (the Tholos
being the most noteworthy of these), temples and fountain houses,
adorned it. Philoxenos, painter of the panel depicting the battle of
Issos, the dramatist Achaios, and the philosopher Menedemos, founder of
the Eretrian School, all lived in Eretria. The Macedonian kings
Kassandros, Demetrios Poliorketis, and Antigonos Gonatas also spent
time in the city. The Romans conquered and destroyed Eretria in 198 BC,
which marked the beginning of the city's decline. In 87 BC, Eretria
sided with Mithridates, King of Pontus, against the Romans, who
destroyed the city for the second time a year later. The city was  subsequently abandoned.
Cyriac
of Ancona provided the earliest modern account and sketches of ancient
Eretria in 1436. Several other early travellers, including Vincenzo
Coronelli, William Martin Leake, Charles Robert Cockerell, and Ludwig
Ross, visited the area and provided information on the ancient city.
The site was first excavated by Christos Tsountas in 1885, followed by
the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1891-1895.
Konstantinos Kourouniotis and, later, I. Papadakis continued the
excavations, before the Archaeological Service and the Archaeological
Society of Athens took over in the early twentieth century. The Swiss
Archaeological School at Athens have excavated the city's west sector,
where the temple of Apollo Daphnephoros lies, since 1962
|
