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CHALCIS
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CHALCIS , the See also:chief See also:town of the See also:island of See also:Euboea in See also:Greece, situated on the. strait of the Euripus at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the See also:Greek xaXx6s (See also:copper, See also:bronze), though there is no trace of any mines in the neighbourhood. Chalcis was peopled by an Ionic stock which See also:early See also:developed See also:great See also:industrial and colonizing activity. In the 8th and 7th centuries it founded See also:thirty town-See also:ships on the See also:peninsula of Chalcidice, and several important cities in See also:Sicily (q.v.). Its See also:mineral produce, See also:metal-See also:work, See also:purple and pottery not only found markets among these settlements, but, were distributed over the Mediterranean in the ships of See also:Corinth and See also:Samos. With the help of these See also:allies Chalcis engaged the See also:rival See also:league of its See also:neighbour See also:Eretria (q.v.) in the so-called Lelantine See also:War, by which it acquired the best agricultural See also:district of Euboea and became the chief See also:city of the island. Early in the 6th See also:century its prosperity was broken by a disastrous war with the Athenians, who expelled the ruling See also:aristocracy and settled a See also:cleruchy on the site. Chalcis subsequently became a member of both the Delian Leagues. In the Hellenistic See also:period it gained inportance as a fortress by which the Macedonian rulers controlled central Greece. It was used by See also:kings See also:Antiochus III. of See also:Syria (192) and See also:Mithradates VI. of See also:Pontus (88) as a See also:base for invading Greece. Under See also:Roman See also:rule Chalcis retained a measure of commercial prosperity; since the 6th century A.D. it again served as a fortress for the See also:protection of central Greece against See also:northern invaders. From 1209 it stood under Venetian See also:control; in 1470 it passed to the Ottomans, who made it the seat of a See also:pasha. In 1688 it was successfully held against a strong Venetian attack. The See also:modern town has about 1o,000 inhabitants, and maintains a considerable export See also:trade which received an impetus from the See also:establishment of railway connexion with See also:Athens and See also:Peiraeus (1904). It is composed of two parts—the old walled town towards, the Euripus, called the See also:Castro, where the Jewish and See also:Turkish families who have remained there mostly dwell; and the more modern suburb that lies outside it, which is chiefly occupied by the Greeks. A See also:part of the walls of the Castro and many of the houses within it were shaken down by the See also:earthquake of 1894; part has been demolished in the widening of the Euripus. The most interesting See also:object is the ,See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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