Introduction: Finding Eleon

This volume of reports written by members of the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project presents results and analysis of the first phase of Greek–Canadian excavations at Eleon, from 2011 to 2015. This work developed from the synergasia between the Canadian Institute in Greece and the Ninth Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities (now the Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia), previously established to conduct a regional surface survey (Aravantinos et al. 2016).¹

The low acropolis, immediately west of the village of Arma, is approximately 265 m above sea level and looks out in all directions, including north to the Ipatos mountain range and over the routes linking Thebes to the Euboean Gulf and Attica (Figure 1). The advantageous position of ancient Eleon was likely of key importance to the site's success in the past. The inhabitants of ancient Eleon were in easy contact, not just with Thebes, but also with the communities to the east, including Tanagra, Mykalessos, and the many coastal sites such as Aulis, Chalkis, Delion, and Lefkandi. Local resources and agricultural productivity were also essential to the success and resilience of the people in this valley. Today the well-watered fertile fields in this part of eastern Boeotia benefit from modern drainage and engineering, but in antiquity, small communities, including Eleon, likely depended upon the tributaries of the Asopos River (Figure 2).

The Identification of Ancient Eleon

Archaeological work in Thebes by V. Aravantinos in the 1990s sparked our interest in the site of ancient Eleon and its place in the political organization of Boeotia.² The site's antiquity has long been known, largely because of a large polygonal wall, visible in some form since the fifth century bc, along the eastern ascent (Figure 3). Despite interest in surface remains and the excavation of nearby burials in the 1930s, no comprehensive study of the site took place before our project.

Figure 1.

Map of identified ancient sites in Eastern Boeotia.

Drawing by B. Burns, adaptation of base map provided by American School of Classical Studies at Athens; CC BY-SA 4.0 Intl.

Figure 2.

The acropolis of ancient Eleon from the northwest.

Photo by B. Burke.

The German traveller H.N. Ulrichs (1863) conclusively equated the site at Arma—known as Andrítza in the nineteenth century—with the toponym Eleon through detailed analysis of the topography and the ancient sources. Key to this initial identification was the Roman geographer Strabo's description of Tanagra (9.2.14) and the region it controlled, encompassing four smaller settlements labelled a tetrakomia: Heleon, Harma, Mykalessos, and Pharai.³ Two sites, Harma and Mykalessos, have fairly certain identifications with the sites found at Lykovouni-Kastri and Rhitsona, respectively. Since Eleon is mentioned first in Strabo's list, locating it at our site, near modern Arma, would give geographical logic to the list, with the sites running from the southwest to the northeast, in a clockwise direction.⁴ Subsequent travelers and topographers of Boeotia have adopted the site's identification as ancient Eleon, and a general history of occupation has been offered by Van Effenterre (1989), Fossey (1988), and Hope Simpson and Dickinson (1979), based on the visible architecture and ceramic finds observed on the surface of the acropolis.

Figure 3.

The polygonal wall at Eleon: aerial photo of southern bastion from the south-east.

Photo by J. Tynes.

Mycenaean Eleon

Information about Mycenaean Eleon is provided by the Linear B archives of Thebes, in particular two tablets discovered at the Kadmeion in 1994, preserving the name e-re-o-ni (Eleon). Tablet X 155 is highly fragmentary, preserving only the toponym. However, Ft 140 is more informative and offers a hierarchical perspective on the regional economy operating during the LH III B2 period from Thebes. Ft 140 is a page-shaped tablet recording five different toponyms and varying amounts of wheat (GRA) and olives (OLIV) at each location. Identification of three of the...