Eutresis

EUTRE´SIS (Εὔτρησις: Eth. Εὐτρησίτης), an ancient town of Boeotia, mentioned by Homer, and said to have been the residence of Zethus and Amphion before they ruled over Thebes. (Hom. II. 2.502; Eustath. ad loc.; Strab. 9. p. 411.) In the time of Strabo it was a village in the territory of Thespiae. Stephanus B. (s. v.) places it on the road from Thespiae to Plataea; but Leake conjectures that there is an error in the text, and that for Θεσπιῶν we ought to read Θισβῶν, since there is only one spot in the ten miles between Plataea and Thespiae where any town is likely to have stood, and that was occupied by Leuctra. We learn from Stephanus that Eutresis possessed a celebrated temple and oracle of Apollo, who was hence surnamed Eutresites.

Scylax, in his description of the coast of Boeotia, speaks of ὁ λιμὴν Εὔτρητος καὶ τεῖχος τῶν Βοιωτῶν, and Leake is disposed to identify these places with Eutresia, which would thus be represented by the ruins at Alikí; but we should rather conclude, from the words of both Strabo and Stephanus, that Eutresia was not so far from Thespiae. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 2. p. 521.)

(Εὔτρησις). A small town in Boeotia between Thespiae and Plataea with a temple and oracle of Apollo, who had therein the name Eutresites. It was said to have once been the home of Zethus and Amphion (Hom. Il. ii. 502).