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Greek city of
Chalkis
in
Euboea
Bronze 12mm (1.32 grams) Struck circa 290-271 B.C.
Reference: Picard Em. 16; BCD Euboia 156; SNG Copenhagen –
Diademed head of Hera facing slightly right.
XAΛ, Eagle flying right, holding
serpent; no symbol.
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Hera was
the wife and one of three sisters of
Zeus in the
Olympian pantheon
of
Greek mythology
and
religion
. Her chief function was as the goddess
of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the
religion of ancient Rome
was
Juno
. The
cow
and the
peacock
were sacred to her. Hera’s mother was
Rhea
and her father
Cronus
.
Portrayed
as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the
polos
(a high cylindrical crown worn by
several of the Great Goddesses
), Hera may bear a
pomegranate
in her hand, emblem of fertile
blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the
opium
poppy. A scholar of Greek mythology
Walter Burkert
writes in Greek Religion,
“Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier aniconic representation, as a
pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos.”
Hera was known for her jealous and vengeful nature, most notably against
Zeus’s lovers and offspring, but also against mortals who crossed her, such as
Pelias
.
Paris
offended her by choosing
Aphrodite
as the most beautiful goddess,
earning Hera’s hatred.
Chalcis or Chalkida, Halkida, Halkis
or Chalkis (Greek,
Modern: Χαλκίδα,
Ancient
/Katharevousa:
Χαλκίς, -ίδος), the chief town of the island of
Euboea
in
Greece
, is
situated on the strait of the
Evripos
at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is
derived from the Greek
χαλκός
(copper,
bronze
), though
there is no trace of any mines in the area.
//
History
Ancient
Greece
Exchibits in the archaeological museum of Chalcis
The earliest recorded mention of Chalcis is in the
Iliad
(2.537), where it is mentioned in the same line as its rival
Eretria
.
Chamber tombs at Trypa and Vromousa dated to the
Mycenaean period
were excavated by Papvasileion in 1910. In the
8th
and 7th
centuries BC, colonists from Chalcis founded thirty townships on the
peninsula of
Chalcidice
, and several important cities in
Sicily
. Its
mineral produce, metal-work,
purple
and
pottery not only found markets among these settlements, but were distributed
over the
Mediterranean
in the ships of
Corinth
and
Samos
.
With the help of these allies, Chalcis engaged the rival league of its
neighbour Eretria in the so-called
Lelantine War
, by which it acquired the best agricultural district of Euboea
and became the chief city of the island. Early in the
6th
century BC
, its prosperity was broken by a disastrous war with the
Athenians
, who
expelled the ruling aristocracy and settled a
cleruchy
on
the site. Chalcis subsequently became a member of both the
Delian Leagues
.
In the Hellenistic period, it gained importance as a fortress by which the
Macedonian
rulers controlled central Greece. It was used by kings
Antiochus III of Syria
(192
BC) and
Mithradates VI of Pontus
(88
BC) as a base for invading Greece.
Roman
Rule and Later
Under Roman rule, Chalcis retained a measure of commercial prosperity; since
the
6th century AD
it again served as a fortress for the protection of central
Greece against northern invaders. From 1209, it stood under
Venetian
control; in 1470 it passed to the
Ottomans
, who made it the seat of a
pasha
. In 1688,
it was successfully held against a strong Venetian attack.
Modern
Town
The modern town received an impetus in its export trade from the
establishment of railway connection with Athens and Peiraeus in 1904. In the
early 20th century it was composed of two parts—the old walled town towards the
Euripus, called the Castro (ie. the
Castle
), where
the Jewish
and
Turkish
families dwelt; and the more modern suburb that lies outside it, which is
chiefly occupied by the Greeks. A part of the walls of the Castro and many of
the houses within it were shaken down by the earthquake of 1894; part has been
demolished in the widening of the Euripus. The most interesting object is the
church of
Saint Paraskevi
, which was once the chief church of the Venetians; it dates
from the
Byzantine
period, though many of its architectural features are Western. In
1899, Chalcis became the prefectural capital of Euboea.
At the start of the 21st century, Chalcis had about 100,000 inhabitants. The
old walls, near the Castro of Kara-Baba (Turkish,
“Black Father”) near the sea no longer stand. The sizable Jewish community was
reduced after the
World
War II
deportation.
The
Bridges
The town is now connected to the mainland Greece by two bridges, the “Sliding
Bridge” in the west at the narrowest point of the
Euripus Strait
and a suspension bridge.
The Euripus Strait which separates the city and the island from the mainland
was bridged in 411 BC with a wooden bridge. In the time of
Justinian
the fixed bridge was replaced with a movable structure. The Turks
(sometime after 1453) replaced this once again with a fixed bridge. In 1856, a
wooden swing bridge was built; in 1896, an iron swing bridge, and in 1962, the
existing “sliding bridge”. The cable stay suspension bridge which joins Chalcis
to the mainland to the south was opened in 1993.
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