Editing Boeotia (section)

===Emigration of the Boeotians===
According to myth, the Boeotians ({{langx|grc|Βοιώτιοι|Boiotioi}}) lived in [[Thessaly]], especially in the area around [[Arne (Thessaly)|Arne]], though some may have gone to the [[Pagasetic Gulf|Pagasitic Gulf]] before migrating to the land later termed Boeotia. The location of [[Arne (Thessaly)|Arne]] is unknown, though sometimes it is equated with [[Cierium]] in Central [[Thessaly]]. The presence in Classical times in Boeotia of cults and place-names of Thessalian origin, such as [[Itonia]] and Itonian Athena, [[Homolium|Homole]] and Homoloian Zeus, [[Alalcomenae (Boeotia)|Alalcomenae]], [[Corseia]] and [[Pharae]], confirm for most scholars the merits of these traditions. It is, therefore, generally believed that the Boeotians originated in Thessaly and lived there as a distinct [[Ethnic group|ethnos]], in Phthiotis or in Thessaliotis, before they migrated to Boeotia, taking elements with them from other parts of [[Thessaly]].{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

Boeotians were expelled from [[Thessaly]] after the [[Trojan War|Trojan war]] although there are three traditions which disagree on how expulsion played out.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} One tradition says that the Boiotoi were expelled by the [[Thessaly|Thessalians]] who were led by [[Thessalus]], son of Aiatus, son of [[Phidippus (mythology)|Pheidippus]], son of another Thessalus. [[Phidippus (mythology)|Pheidippus]] appears in the [[Catalogue of Ships|Catalogue of ships]] as one of the commanders of the force from Cos and Carpathus. He was thought to have been driven to [[Epirus]] after the war and to have settled at [[Cichyrus|Ephyra]] in the [[Thesprotians|Thesprotid]]. Hence the Boiotoi were expelled two generations after the Trojan War. [[Hellanicus of Lesbos|Hellanicus]] is probably the source of this tradition, and the source of [[Thucydides]]' "sixtieth year", that is, two generations of thirty years. A second tradition puts the expulsion of the Boiotoi in the reign of Aiatus, one generation after the [[Trojan War|War]]. To this should also belong the story in [[Plutarch]], which tells how [[Opheltes (mythology)|Opheltas]] king of the Boiotoi took [[Chaeronea]] "by force from the barbarians." Opheltas is the son of [[Peneleos|Peneleus]], one of the leaders of the Boeotian contingent in the [[Catalogue of Ships|Catalogue]], and living one generation after the war. It is not until the reign of [[Damasichthon (King of Thebes)|Damasichthon]], son of [[Opheltes (mythology)|Opheltas]], that control of Thebes was gained by the Boiotoi. Hence in this tradition one generation after the war, the Boiotoi were expelled and western Boeotia was invaded; two generations after the war, Thebes was won. A third tradition combines the other two: the two generations until the expulsion from [[Thessaly]] after the War and the two generations until Thebes  is gained give the four generations cited by [[Hieronymus of Cardia|Hieronymus]] in his tale of the [[Cadmus|Cadmean]] return to Thebes after the war.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

The entry-point to Boeotia by Boeotians seems to be put in the same general area by all traditions. The second tradition gives [[Chaeronea]] as the first place attacked, while the first says that [[Coroneia (Boeotia)|Coronea]] and [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] were captured virtually simultaneously and then the sanctuary of Itonian Athena was founded. It is clear that both traditions envisaged the Boiotoi as following a well-known invasion route from [[Thessaly]], the one via [[Thermopylae]] and [[Hyampolis]] to [[Chaeronea]], where the invaders would be poised to attack both [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] and [[Coroneia (Boeotia)|Coronea]]. Having gained control of [[Chaeronea]], [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] and [[Coroneia (Boeotia)|Coronea]], and their territories, the Boiotoi seem to have paused to digest western Boeotia; the generation or two before [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] was captured marks this pause in all traditions. The siting close to Coronea of the sanctuary of Itonian Athena, and the celebration of the [[Pamboeotia]] there, together with the renaming of rivers and other toponyms, and the sanctity attached to the neighbouring settlement of [[Alalcomenae (Boeotia)|Alalcomenae]], all strengthen the belief that this western section was the area where the first Boeotian settlement took place, and where Boeotian institutions were first established in the new homeland. The advance eastward eventually proceeded both to the north and to the south of [[Lake Copais|Copais lake]]. On the north side it ultimately reached [[Anthedon (Boeotia)|Anthedon]], a town credited with once having been occupied by the [[Thracian settlement|Thracians]]. On the south side it came as far as [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and [[Thespiae]]. In Thebes, according to one version, [[Damasichthon (King of Thebes)|Damasichthon]] took the rule from [[Autesion]], son of [[Tisamenus (King of Thebes)|Tisamenus]], son of [[Thersander (Epigoni)|Thersander]], another stemma that puts the Boeotians in [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] two generations after the [[Trojan War]]. The tradition intimates that there was a peaceful take-over, with [[Autesion]] joining the [[Dorians]]. There must have been another pause for some time. The next advance, into the [[Asopos (Boeotia)|Asopus]] valley, was led by [[Xanthus (mythology)|Xanthus]], son of [[Ptolemy of Thebes|Ptolemy]], son of [[Damasichthon (King of Thebes)|Damasichthon]], that is, two generations after the gaining of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]]. The Thebans remembered, according to Thucydides, that the [[Asopos (Boeotia)|Asopus]] valley and [[Plataea]] were reduced later than the rest of Boeotia and were occupied in accordance with an agreed plan. The Boeotian advance was apparently stalled on what became the Athenian-Boeotian frontier, by the efforts of local forces, if the legend of [[Xanthus (mythology)|Xanthus]] and [[Melanthus]] has any historical significance. In any event the death of [[Xanthus (mythology)|Xanthus]] symbolized traditionally the completion of the conquest of Boeotia under the kings and the consequent immediate extinction of the kingship.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buck |first=Robert |title=A history of Boeotia |publisher=The University of Alberta Press |year=1979 |isbn=0-88864-051-X |location=Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |pages=90–94}}</ref>