(Gr. Bowria), a division of ancient Greece, hounded N. by Phoeis and Opuntian Locris, E. by the Eubosan sea, S. by Attica and Megaris, and W. by the Corinthian gulf and Phocis. The mountain ranges of Cithaeron and Parnes in the south, Helicon in the west, Parnassus on the northwest, and the Opuntian range on the north and east, make one large hasin, which includes the whole of Bceotia with the exception of a small coast district on the Crisssean sea. This large basin is divided by the mountains Ptoum and.Phoenicium, which reach from the Euboean sea to Mt. Helicon, into the northern basin of Lake Copais (now Topolias), into which flows the river Ce-phissus (Mavronero), and a basin which comprises the plain of Thebes and the valley of the Asopus (Oropo). Lake Copais, 47 miles in circumference, is formed by the overflowing waters of the Cephissus, which coming from Phocis enters Bceotia from the north at Clueronea, and is prevented by the mountains on the coast from flowing directly into the Eubcean sea. It with difficulty finds its outlets through underground channels, called in modern Greek Kataβoθpa, in the limestone formation of those mountains. In summer the lake is nearly dry and is little more than a marsh, but the whole district is subject to inundations.

The Minyse of Orcho-menus, the ancient inhabitants of this region, constructed two tunnels or underground channels to the sea for the surplus waters of the lake. One of these, leading from the N. E. part of the lake toward upper Larymna, was nearly four miles in length, and penetrated at intervals by vertical shafts from 100 to 150 feet in depth. The other was shorter, and connected Lake Copais with Lake Hylica toward the east. Nearly all Bceotia has a fertile soil, but the lake district in the north is especially productive, and celebrated both in ancient and modern times for its abundant crops of corn. The climate, of the country, however, is more severe than that of the rest of Greece. The leading city of Boeotia was Thebes; the other principal towns were Plataea, Orchomenus, Chffironea, Coronea, Lebadea, Thespise, Haliar-tus, Tanagra, and Aulis. - Bceotia was the scene of many of the legends upon which were founded the plays of the Greek tragedians. It was originally inhabited by various barbarous tribes, of which the two most powerful were the Minyffl of Orchomenus and the Cadmeans of Thebes. About 60 years after the Trojan war, according to Thucydides, the supremacy of- these two tribes was overthrown, and the latter expelled from their city by the Boeotians, an AEolian people who immigrated from Thessaly. Early in the historic age the country was governed by a confederacy of the fourteen most important cities under the presidency of Thebes, and in all these cities the Boeotian was the prevailing race.

The chief magistrates of the confederacy were called Bceotarchs, and were elected annually. Most of the cities were ruled by oligarchies, which were naturally hostile to the democratic state of Attica. In 507 B. C. the Boeotians, with the Peloponnesians and Chalcidians, made war on Athens, and in the Persian wars they sided for the most part with the Persians. Plataea, however, was democratic in its government, and a faithful ally of Athens. (See Plataea.) During'the Pelopon-nesian war the Boeotians were allies of Sparta and assisted in the overthrow of Athens. In 395 B. C, however, they joined the league against Sparta, which was overcome in the following year by Agesilaus at Coronea. In 382 another war between Boeotia and Sparta began, in which the Theban Epaminondas gained the battles of Leuctra and Mantinea, and broke the power of Sparta. At this time Boeotia was the leading state and Thebes the ruling city of Greece. This supremacy was taken away by the Macedonians under Philip at Ghasronea in 338, and three years later Thebes was razed to the ground by Alexander, but was restored by Cassander and the Athenians in 316. (See Thebes.) From this epoch dates the utter decline of Boeotia, which was finally ruined by the rapacity of Sylla, who defeated at Ghasronea the army of Mithridates. Insignificant under the Romans, during the middle ages, and under the Turks, it became the scene of some of the sharpest fighting in the war of Greek liberation. - In the present kingdom of Greece, it forms two eparchies, Thebes and Livadia, in the nomarchy of Attica and Boeotia. (See Attica.) Boeotia is still famous for its heavy atmosphere, to which the Athenians attributed the proverbial dulness of its people.