Cithaeron

Cithaeron
Cithaeron
	View of Cithaeron from Aigosthena
Highest point
Elevation	1,409 m (4,623 ft)
Coordinates	38°11′03″N 23°14′57″E / 38.18417°N 23.24917°E
Geography
	Cithaeron Location of Mount Cithaeron in Greece
Location	Attica, Greece; Boeotia, Greece

Cithaeron or Kithairon (Κιθαιρών, -ῶνος) is a mountain and mountain range about sixteen kilometres (ten miles) long in Central Greece. The range is the physical boundary between Boeotia region in the north and Attica region in the south. It is mainly composed of limestone and rises to 1,409 metres (4,623 ft). The north-east side of the range is formed by the mountain Pastra.

The range was the scene of many events in

Alcathous hunted and killed the Lion of Cithaeron

.

In historic times, the mountain acted as a backdrop to the

Thebes

.

The people of Plataea also personified the mountain as their primal king: "But the Plataeans know of no king except Asopus and Cithaeron before him, holding that the latter gave his name to the mountain, the former to the river".^[3] In one tale, Cithairon was said to have engaged in a singing contest against Helikon, which was judged by the Muses. Cithairon won the contest and was adorned with garlands by the Muses, and Helikon became so angry due to his defeat that he smashed one of the large rocks on his slopes.^[4]

In the Middle Ages, the village of Myoupolis on its slopes was the site of a monastery founded by Meletios the Younger.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b Gardner, Ernest Arthur (1911). "Cithaeron" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 395.
^ Euripides, Bacchae, 62-63: 'For my part I will go to the glens of Cithaeron, where the bacchants are, and take part with them in their dances.'
^ Pausanias 9.1.2
^ Corinna, fr. 654 Campbell.
^ P. Armstrong and A. Kirby, "Text and Stone: Evergetis, Christodoulos and Meletios", in M. Mullett and A. Kirby (eds.), The Theotokos Evergetis and Eleventh-Century Monasticism (Belfast: Belfast Byzantine Enterprises, 1994), p. 153.

External links

Theoi Project - Kithairon

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[EB1911-1] Gardner, Ernest Arthur (1911). "Cithaeron" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 395.

[2] Euripides, Bacchae, 62-63: 'For my part I will go to the glens of Cithaeron, where the bacchants are, and take part with them in their dances.'

[3] Pausanias 9.1.2

[4] Corinna, fr. 654 Campbell.

[5] P. Armstrong and A. Kirby, "Text and Stone: Evergetis, Christodoulos and Meletios", in M. Mullett and A. Kirby (eds.), The Theotokos Evergetis and Eleventh-Century Monasticism (Belfast: Belfast Byzantine Enterprises, 1994), p. 153.

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