Chalcis
- Chief town of the island Euboea, opposite to Aulis, connected by a bridge with the main land, now Egribo or Negroponte; also called Chalcis Euboica, or Chalcis Euboeae, Col. 1, 4, 9; Luc. 5, 227; Mel. 2, 7, 9; Plin. 4, 12, 21, § 64; 11, 37, 74, § 191; Nep. Timoth. 3, 5; Vell. 1, 4, 1; gen. Gr. Chalcidos, Luc. 5, 227; acc. Gr. Chalcida, id. 2, 710.—
- B Hence, the adjj.,
- 1 Chalcĭ-dĭcus, a, um, of Chalcis, in Euboea, Chalcidian: Euripus, Cic. N. D. 3, 10, 24: creta, Varr. R. R. 1, 57, 1: galli, id. ib. 3, 9, 6: gallinae, Col. 8, 2, 4 and 13: ficus, Varr. R. R. 1, 41, 6; Col. 5, 10, 11; 5, 10, 414: harenae, Val. Fl. 1, 454: versus, of the poet Euphorion, a native of Chalcis, Verg. E. 10, 50; cf. Quint. 10, 1, 56: Nola, founded by the Chalcidians, Sil. 12, 161.—
- β Since Cumae was a colony of Chalcis, Cumaean: arx, Cumae, Verg. A. 6, 17: turres, Stat. S. 2, 2, 94- litora, id. ib. 4, 4, 78: carmen, of the Cumaean Sibyl, id. ib. 5, 3, 182.—
- b Subst.: Chalcĭdĭcum, i, n., a chamber at the corner of a basilica, on each side of the tribunal, Aug. Mon. Ancyr. 4, 1; Vitr. 5, 1; Hyg. Fab. 184; Inscr. Orell. 1303; 3287; 3290 sq.; cf. Paul. ex Fest. p. 52 Müll.— Also a spacious chamber in Grecian houses, Aus. Per. Odyss. 1; 23; Arn. 4, p. 149; 3, p. 105.—
- 2 Chalcĭdensis, e, adj., Chalcidian: Timagoras, of Chalcis, Χαλκιδεύς, Plin. 35, 9, 35, § 58; Liv. 35, 49, 6.—In plur. subst., the inhabitants of Chalcis, Liv. 35, 38, 10 al.—
- 3 Chalcĭdĭcensis, e, adj., of Chalcis: colonia, i. e. Cumae (cf. supra), Gell. 10, 16, 8.—
- II A town in Arabia, Plin. 6, 28, 32, § 159.—
- III A town in Syria, Plin. 5, 23, 19, § 81.
(Χαλκίς), one of the daughters of Asopus and Metope, from whom the town of Chalcis in Euboea was said to have derived its name. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 279.) According to others, Chalcis was the mother of the Curetes and Corybantes, the former of whom were among the earliest inhabitants of Chalcis. (Schol. Vict. ad Hom. Il. 14.291; Strab. x. p.447.) [L.S]
CHALCIS in Syria.
1.The chief city of Chalcidice, one of the ten political divisions of N. Syria. (Ptol. 5.15.) It was situated 53 M. P. from Antioch (Peut.Tab. ) and 18 M.P. from Beroea (Anton.Itin. ). The Peutinger Tables make it out to be 29 M.P. from the latter place, while Procopius (B. P. 2.12) gives the distance as 84 stadia. Both these statements are incorrect, as Kinnisrín is about 12 English miles from Aleppo (Pococke, Trav. vol. 2. p. 217; Abú--l-féda, Tab. Syr. p. 119.) The Hamath Zobah which was taken by Solomon (2 Chron. 8.3) has been identified with Chalcis (Rosenmüller, Handbuch der Bibl. Alt. vol. i. pt. 2. p. 250), and the salt valew here David conquered Hadadezer king of Zobah, when he went to recover his border on the Euphrates, is in all probability the lake and marsh of Jabúl or Sabakhah, which in winter occupies a space to the E. of Kinnisrín, extending for about 12 miles, with a breadth varying from 3 to 5 miles. The powerful evaporation of the summer heat causes it to crystallize, and a white coarse-grained salt is formed in large quantities over the whole surface. (Chesney, Exped. Euphrat. vol. 1. p. 415; Thomson, Biblioth. Sacr. vol. 5. p. 470; comp. Winer, Real Wort. Buch, s. v. Aram. ) In A.D. 542 the town of Chalcis was taken and plundered by Chosroes (Procop. l. c.; Gibbon, Decl. and Fall, vol. 8. p. 315; Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. 9. p. 24; comp. vol. 3. p. 54).
2.AD BELUM. Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.23.19) speaks of a city of this name in the district Chalcidene, which he describes as the most fertile of all Syria. The Chalcis, Χαλκίς of Strabo (16. p. 753), was a city and district subject to Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus, who held besides the city of HELIOPOLIS (Báalbec), the plain of Marsyas, and the mountain region of Ituraea. Josephus expressly describes it as under Mount Lebanon (Antiq. 14.7.4, B. J. 1.9.2). It has been confounded with the Chalcis S. of Aleppo, but the statement of, Josephus (comp. Antiq. 14.3.2; Reland, Palaest. p. 315) shows that its position must be sought for elsewhere. Ptolemy was succeeded by his son the first Lysanias; whose possessions after his murder by Antony were farmed by Zenodorus. (J. AJ, B. J. 1.20.4.) In A.D. 41 Claudius bestowed Chalcis on Herod, a brother of the elder Herod Agrippa. On his death in A.D. 48 his kingdom went to his nephew, the younger Herod Agrippa (B. J. 2.12.1). He held it four years, and was then transferred with the title of king to the provinces of Batanaea, Trachonitis, Abilene, and others (Antiq. 20.7.1). Afterwards Aristobulus, son of Herod, king of Chaletis, obtained his father's kingdom which had been taken from his cousin Agrippa II., and in A.D. 73 was still dynast of the district (B. J. 7.7.1). During the reign of Domitian it appears to have become incorporated in the Roman province, and the city to have received the additional name of Flavia. (Eckhel, vol. 3. p. 263; Marquardt, Handbuch der Röm. Alter. p. 181; Noris. de Epoch. Syro.-Mac. (c. 9.3.)
The town of Chaletis was therefore situated somewhere in the Bŭkâa, probably S. of Báalbec. The valley has not yet been examined with reference to the site of this city. It has been suggested that. its position may be at or near Zahle, in the neighbourhood of which at the village of Heusn Nieha, are some remarkable remains (comp. Chesney, Exped. Euphrat. vol. 1. p. 472). Or perhaps at Majdel Anjar, where Abú--l-féda (Tab. Syr. p. 20) speaks of great ruins of hewn stones. (Robinson, Biblioth. Sacr. vol. 5. p. 90). [E.B.J]
CHALCIS (Χαλκίς: Eth. Χαλκιδεύς, Chalcidensis).
1.(Egripo, Negropont), the chief town of Euboea, separated from the opposite coast of Boeotia by the narrow strait of the Euripus, which is at this spot only 40 yards across. The Euripus is here divided into two channels by a rock in the middle of the strait. This rock is at present occupied by a square castle; a stone bridge, 60 or 70 feet in length, connects the Boeotian shore with this castle; and another wooden bridge, about 35 feet long, reaches from the castle to the Euboean coast. In antiquity also, as we shall presently see, a bridge also connected Chalcis with the Boeotian coast. The channel between the Boeotian coast and the rock is very shallow, being not more than three feet in depth; but the channel between the rock and Chalcis is about seven or eight feet in depth. It is in the latter channel that the extraordinary tides take place, which are frequently mentioned by the ancient writers. According to the common account the tide changed seven times in the day, and seven times in the night; but Livy states that there was no regularity in the change, and that the flux and reflux constantly varied,--a phaenomenon which he ascribes to the sudden squalls of wind from the mountains. (Strab. 10. p. 403; Mela, 2.7; Plin. Nat. 2.97; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 3.1. 0; Liv. 28.6.)
An intelligent modern traveller observes that at times the water runs as much as eight miles an hour, with a fall under the bridge of about 1 1/2 feet; but what is most singular is the fact, that vessels lying 150 yards from the bridge are not in the least affected by this rapid. It remains but a short time in a quiescent state, changing its direction in a few minutes, and almost immediately resuming its velocity, which is generally from four to five miles an hour either way, its greatest rapidity being however always to the southward. The results of three months' observation, in which the above phaenomena were noted, afforded no sufficient data for reducing them to any regularity.( Penny Cyclopaedia, vol. 10. p. 59.)
Chalcis was a city of great antiquity, and continued to be an important place from the earliest to the latest times. It is said to have been founded before the Trojan war by an Ionic colony from Athens, under the conduct of Pandorus, the son of Erechtheus. (Strab. 10. p. 447; Scymn. Ch. 573.) It is mentioned by Homer. (Il. 2.537.) After the Trojan war Cothus settled in the city another Ionic colony from Athens. (Strab. l. c.) Chalcis soon became one of the greatest of the Ionic cities, and at an early period carried on an extensive commerce with almost all parts of the Hellenic world. Its greatness at this early period is attested by the numerous colonies which it planted upon the coasts of Macedonia, Italy, Sicily, and in the islands of the Aegaean. It gave its name to the peninsula of Chalcidice between the Thermaic and Singitic gulfs, in consequence of the large number of cities which it founded in this district. Its first colony, and the earliest of the Greek settlements in the west, was Cumae in Campania, which it is said to have founded as early as B.C. 1050, in conjunction with the Aeolians of Cume and the Eretrians. Rhegium in Italy, and Naxos, Zancle, Tauromenium and other cities in Sicily, are also mentioned as Chalcidian colonies.
During the early period of its history, the government of Chalcis was in the hands of an aristocracy, called Hippobotae (Ἱπποβόται, i. e. the feeders of horses), who corresponded to the Ἱππείς in other Grecian states. (Hdt. 5.77, 6.100; Strab. 10. p. 447 ; Plut. Per. 23; Aelian, Ael. VH 6.1.) These Hippobotae were probably proprietors of the fertile plain of Lelantum, which lay between Chalcis and Eretria. The possession of this plain was a frequent subject of dispute between these two cities (Strab. 10. p. 448), and probably occasioned the war between them at an early period, in which some of the most powerful states of Greece, such as Samos and Miletus, took part. (Thuc. 1.15; Hdt. 5.99; Spanheim, ad Callim. Del. 289; Hermann, in Rheinisches Museum, vol. 1. p. 85.)
Soon after the expulsion of the Peisistratidae from Athens, the Chalcidians joined the Boeotians in making war upon the Athenians; but the latter crossed over into Euboea with a great force, defeated the Chalcidians in a decisive battle, and divided the lands of the wealthy Hippobotae among 4000 Athenian citizens as clernchs B.C. 506. (Her. 5.77.) These settlers, however, abandoned their possessions when the Persians, under Datis and Artaphernes, landed at Eretria. (Hdt. 6.100.) After the Persian wars, Chalcis, with the rest of Euboea, became a tributary of Athens, and continued under her rule, with the exception of a few months, till the downfal of the Athenian empire at the close of the Peloponnesian war. In B.C. 445, Chalcis joined the other Euboeans in their revolt from Athens; but the whole island was speedily reconquered by Pericles, who altered the government of Chalcis by the expulsion of the Hippobotae from the city. (Plut. Per. 23.)
In the 21st year of the Peloponnesian war, B.C. 411, Euboea revolted from Athens (Thuc. 8.95), and on this occasion we first read of the construction of a bridge across the Euripus. Anxious to secure an uninterrupted communication with the Boeotians, the Chalcidians built a mole from either shore, leaving a passage in the centre for only a single ship: and fortifying by towers each side of the opening in the mole. (Diod. 13.47.) Chalcis was now independent for a short time; but when the Athenians had recovered a portion of their former power, it again came under their supremacy, together with the other cities in the island. (Diod. 15.30.) In later times it was successively occupied by the Macedonians, Antiochus, Mithridates, and the Romans. It was a place of great military importance, commanding, as it did, the navigation between the north and south of Greece, and hence was often taken and retaken by the different parties contending. for the supremacy of Greece. Chalcis, Corinth, and Demetrias in Thessaly, were called by the last Philip of Macedon the fetters of Greece, which could not possibly be free, as long as these fortresses were in the possession of a foreign power. (Plb. 17.11; Liv. 32.37.)
Dicaearchus, a contemporary of Alexander the Great, describes Chalcis as 70 stadia (nearly 9 miles) in circumference, situated upon the slope of a hill, and abounding in gymnasia, temples, theatres, and other public buildings. It was well supplied with water from the fountain Arethusa. [See above, p. 197, b.] The surrounding country was planted with olives. (Dicaearch. Βίος τῆς Ἑλλάδος, p. 146, ed. Fuhr.) When Alexander crossed over into Asia, the Chalcidians strengthened the fortifications of their city by inclosing within their walls a hill on the Boeotian side, called Canethus, which thus formed a fortified bridge-head. At the same time they fortified the bridge with towers, a wall, and gates. (Strab. 10. p. 447.) Canethus, which is also mentioned by Apollonius Rhodius (1.77), is probably the hill of Karababá, which rises to the height of 130 feet immediately above the modern bridge, and is the citadel of the present town.
In the second Punic war, B.C. 207, the Romans, under Sulpicius and Attains, made an unsuccessful attack upon Chalcis, which was then subject to Philip. (Liv. 28.6.) A few years afterwards, B.C. 192, when the war was resumed with Philip, the Romans surprised Chalcis and slew the inhabitants, but they had not a sufficient force with them to occupy it permanently. (Liv. 31.23.) In the war between the Romans and Aetolians, Chalcis was in alliance with the former (Liv. 35.37--39); but when Antiochus passed over into Greece, at the invitation of the Aetolians, the Chalcidians deserted the Romans, and received this king into their city. During his residence at Chalcis, Antiochus became enamoured of the daughter of one of the principal citizens of the place, and made her his queen. (Liv. 35.50, 51, 36.11; Plb. 20.3, 8; Dio Cass. Fragm. ex libr. 34. p. 29, ed. Reimar.) Chalcis joined the Achaeans in their last war against the Romans; and their town was in consequence destroyed by Mummius. (Liv. Epit. lii.; comp. Plb. 40.11.)
In the time of Strabo Chalcis was still the principal town of Euboea, and must therefore have been rebuilt after its destruction by Mummius. (Strab. 10. p. 448.) Strabo describes the bridge across the Euripus as two plethra, or 200 Greek feet in length, with a tower at either end; and a canal (σύριγξ) constructed through the Euripus. (Strab. 10. p. 403.) Strabo appears never to have visited the Euripus himself; and it is not improbable that his description refers to the same bridge, or rather mole, of which an account has been preserved by Diodorus (Diod. 13.47; see above). In this case the σύρλγξ would be the narrow channel between the mole. (See Groskurd's Germ. Transl. of Strabo, vol. 2. p. 149.) Chalcis was one of the towns restored by Justinian. (Procop. de Aedif. 4.3.)
The orator Isaeus and the poet Lycophron were natives of Chalcis, and Aristotle died here.
In the middle ages Chalcis was called Euripus, whence its modern name Egripo. It was for some time in the hands of the Venetians, who called it Negropont, probably a corruption of Egripo and ponte, a bridge. It was taken by the Turks in 1470. It is now the principal, and indeed the only place of importance in the island. There are no remains of the ancient city, with the exception of some fragments of white marble in the walls of COIN OF CHALCIS IN EUBOEA.
houses. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 2. p. 254, seq.; Stephani, Reise, &c., p. 13.)
2.Also called CHALCEIA, and HYPOCHALCIS (Χάλκεια, Plb. 5.94; Ὑποχαλκίς, Strab. p. 451; Steph. B. s. v.), a town of Aetolia, situated upon the coast, at a short distance E. of the mouth of the Evenus, and at the foot of a mountain of the same name, whence it was called Hypochalcis. Chalcis is one of the 5 Aetolian towns spoken of by Homer,who gives it the epithet of ἀγχίαλος, and it continued to be mentioned in the historical period. (Hom. Il. 2.640; Thuc. 2.83; Plb. 5.94; Strab. pp. 451, 459, 460.) There are two great mountains situated between the river Fidhari (the Evenus) and the castle of Rumili (Antirrhium), of which the western mountain, called Varassova, corresponds to Chalcis, and the eastern, called Kaki-skala, to Taphiassus. The town of Chalcis appears to have stood in the valley between the two mountains, probably at Ovrio-castro, where there are some remains of an Hellenic fortress. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 1. p. 110.) There was some confusion in the ancient writers respecting the position of mount Chalcis, and Artemidorus, who called it Chalcia, placed it between the Achelous and Pleuron (Strab. p. 460); but this is clearly an error.
3.(Khaliki), a town of Epeirus in Mount Pindus, near which the Achelous rises. It is erroneously called by Stephanus a town of Aetolia. (Dionys. Perieg.496; Steph.B. s.v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 4. p. 214.)
(Χαλκίς). (1) The modern Egripo or Negroponte; the principal town of Euboea, situated on the narrowest part of the Euripus, and united with the mainland by a bridge. It was a very ancient town, originally inhabited by Abantes or Curetes, and colonized by Attic Ionians. Its flourishing condition at an early period is attested by the numerous colonies which it planted in various parts of the Mediterranean. It founded so many cities in the peninsula in Macedonia, between the Strymonic and Thermaic gulfs, that the whole peninsula was called Chalcidicé. In Italy it founded Cumae, and in Sicily, Naxos. Chalcis was usually subject to Athens during the greatness of the latter city. The orator Isaeus and the poet Lycophron were born at Chalcis, and Aristotle died there.
(2) A town in Aetolia, at the mouth of the Evenus, situated at the foot of the mountain Chalcis, and hence also called Hypochalcis.
(3) A city of Syria, in a fruitful plain, near the termination of the river Chalus; the chief city of the district of Chalcidicé, which lay to the east of the Orontes.
- Paus. 7.5.12
- Paus. 9.12.6, Paus. 9.18.1, Paus. 9.19.3
- in Euboea, at war with Athens: Hdt. 5.74, Hdt. 5.77, Hdt. 5.91
- station of the Greek fleet: Hdt. 7.182, Hdt. 7.189
- Chalcidians in the fleet: Hdt. 8.1, Hdt. 8.46
- at Plataea: Hdt. 9.28, Hdt. 9.31
- called one of three keys of Greece: Paus. 7.7.6
- hymn composed for people of Ch. Paus. 9.12.6
- poetical victory of Hesiod at Ch. Paus. 9.31.3
- Chalcidians