Book 10
1.3
The island was called, not only Macris, but also Abantis; at any rate, the poet, although he names Euboea, never names its inhabitants “Euboeans,” but always “Abantes”: And those who held Euboea, the courage-breathing Abantes . . .Hom. Il. 2.536And with himElephenor. followed the Abantes.Hom. Il. 2.542 AristotleAristotle of Chalcis wrote a work on Euboea, but it is no longer extant. He seems to have flourished in the fourth century B.C. says that Thracians, setting out from the Phocian Aba, recolonized the island and renamed those who held it “Abantes.” Others derive the name from a hero,Abas, founder of Aba, who later conquered Euboea and reigned over it (Stephanus Byzantinus, s.v. Ἄβαι and Ἀβαντίς). just as they derive “Euboea” from a heroine.On the heroine “Euboea,” see Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. “Euboea”(4). But it may be, just as a certain cave on the coast which fronts the Aegaean, where Io is said to have given birth to Epaphus, is called Böos Aule,Cow’s Stall. that the island got the name Euboeai.e., from the Greek words “eu” (well) and “bous” (cow). from the same cause. The island was also called Oche; and the largest of its mountains bears the same name. And it was also named Ellopia, after Ellops the son of Ion. Some say that he was the brother of Aïclus and Cothus; and he is also said to have founded Ellopia, a place in Oria, as it is called, in HistiaeotisOr Hestiaeotis (see 9. 5. 3 and footnote 2). near the mountain Telethrius, and to have added to his dominions Histiaea, Perias, Cerinthus, Aedepsus, and Orobia; in this last place was an oracle most averse to falsehood (it was an oracle of Apollo Selinuntius). The Ellopians migrated to Histiaea and enlarged the city, being forced to do so by Philistides the tyrant, after the battle of Leuctra. Demosthenes says that Philistides was set up by Philip as tyrant of the Oreitae too;Dem. 9.32 (119 Reiske). for thus in later times the Histiaeans were named, and the city was named Oreus instead of Histiaea. But according to some writers, Histiaea was colonized by Athenians from the deme of the Histiaeans, as Eretria was colonized from that of the Eretrians. Theopompus says that when Pericles overpowered Euboea the Histiaeans by agreement migrated to Macedonia, and that two thousand Athenians who formerly composed the deme of the Histiaeans came and took up their abode in Oreus.
