Ελικωνας

The village Thisbe is located approximately 70 kilometers Northwest of Athens and sits on the foot of three mountains: Peukia, a mountain full of pine trees (therefore, its name) and a real beauty of the region (In 1999 a fire destroyed the pines and the mountain remains bare); Hellicon, the most famous of the mountains of which the nine Muses called home (The Muses were considered the goddesses of song, music, poetry, dancing, drama, and all fine arts- the names of the nine were: Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsi-chore, Erato, Polymnia or Polyhymnia, Urania and Calliope);  Roitsi, on the other hand, is a bare mountain, except the very tip on which fir grows.  It is said, that a flat spot on this mountain - existing even today - was the spot where the Muses were singing and performing.  This mountain for many years was used for vacation by the locals - especially those who suffered from tuberculosis.  A general view of the mountains is shown below.  Peukia is to the left, Helicon is in the middle, and Roitsi is to the right.

Much has been written about Thisbe.  However, no one for sure has been able to substantiate its origin or whether or not it was originally a region or a specific location.  What is known and substantiated from ancient writers such as Homer, Pausanias and others, is that Thisbe was a thriving kingdom with much to offer.  For example: Homer in his Iliad tells us that the kingdom of Thisbe, along with other Beotian kingdoms, sent forty ships to the Trojan War, and Pausanias in his Biotika tells us that Thisbe was a major player in the commerce domain.  So much so, that its port (Agios Ioannis) was a major traffic cross-road for most of the Attica, Peloponisos, Thebes, Orhomenos, and perhaps Macedonia.

Thisbe was so advanced even in agricultural issues, that even today a visitor will see the gigantic walls that the ancients had constructed to control the water floods.  The irrigation scheme was to control the water in such a way that the fields (Likeri) would not be destroyed.  Rather, through controlling the volume with the walls, the ancient Thisbeans were able to save half of their fields in case of cataclysmic water flows.

A general view of the village in four separate photos is shown.  This picture shows the central part of the town.

This picture shows the north west part of the town.  In the background one can see the hand made caves (shown as black dots in the photo).  In the far background the Roitsi is shown.

In this photo one can see the west and south west portion of the town.  In the background the famous Likeri is shown with the modern factory being constructed.

Part of what made Thisbe famous was indeed the fields that grew grains.  In the following photo a panoramic view of the Likeri and the modern factory is shown.

The west part of the Lickeri.

Reference: Diomidis H. Stamatis, Ph.D., CQE, CMfgE, THISVI- Mia Poli… Mia Istoria, Copyright 2000 PanThisvian Society

Trackback URI | Comments RSS