Thisbe (Boeotia)

Thisbe (Ancient Greek: Θίσβη),[1][2][3] or Thisbae or Thisbai (Θίσβαι),[4][5] was a town of Boeotia, described by Strabo as situated at a short distance from the sea, under the southern side of Mount Helicon, bordering upon the confines of Thespiae and Coroneia.

William Martin Leake visited the site in the 19th century and wrote: "The position is between two great summits of the mountain, now called Karamúnghi and Paleovuná, which rise majestically above the vale, clothed with trees, in the upper part, and covered with snow at the top.

The walls of Thisbe were about a mile [1.6 km] in circuit, following the crest of the cliffs which surround the village; they are chiefly preserved on the side towards Dobrená and the south-east.

The masonry is for the most part of the fourth order, or faced with equal layers of large, oblong, quadrangular stones on the outside, the interior as usual being filled with loose rubble.

"The river crosses the causeway into the marsh by two openings, the closing of which in the winter or spring would at any time cause the upper part of the plain to be inundated, and leave the lower fit for cultivation in the summer; but as the river is now allowed to flow constantly through them, the western side is always in a state of marsh, and the ground has become much higher on the eastern side."