The area has traditionally been associated with the production and processing of cotton and tobacco, as well as the cultivation of cereal crops and the raising of livestock.

[4] In antiquity, Lebadeia was a town near the western frontier of ancient Boeotia, described by Strabo as lying between Mount Helicon and Chaeroneia.

[5] The ancient town was situated at the foot of a precipitous height, which is an abrupt northerly termination of Mt.

[7] Lebadeia was originally an insignificant place, but it rose into importance in consequence of its possessing the celebrated oracle of Trophonius.

[10] 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.

[11] 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.

The Ottoman domination began in 1458, when economic and administrative privileges granted to residents contribute to industry and trade.

The sacred protector of the city was the hero/god Trophonios, whose oracle, involving a harrowing descent into an underground chamber, was famous beyond the borders of Greece.

[15] Further west, commanding a dramatic view from the hill of Profitis Ilias, are the remains of a large temple of Zeus Basileus, perhaps begun in the 3rd century BC but never completed.