Oechalia or Oichalia ( grc, Οἰχαλία) was a town in

ancient Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poi ...

, in the district of

Eretria Eretria (; el, Ερέτρια, , grc, Ἐρέτρια, , literally 'city of the rowers') is a town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important Greek polis in the 6th and 5th centur ...

. At the time of Strabo it was only a village and the geographer points out that it was a vestige of the city that was destroyed by

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

. According to

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

King Eurytus of Oechalia In Greek mythology King Eurytus (; Ancient Greek: Εὔρυτος) of Oechalia (, ''Oikhalíā''), Thessaly, was a skillful archer who even said to have instructed Heracles in his art of using the bow. Scholaist ''on Sophocles, Trachiniae'' 268 ...

had promised the hand of his beautiful daughter

Iole In Greek mythology, Iole (; grc, Ἰόλη ) was the daughter of King Eurytus of Oechalia. According to the brief epitome in the '' Bibliotheca'', Eurytus had a beautiful young daughter named Iole who was eligible for marriage. Iole was claimed ...

to whoever defeated him in an archery competition. Heracles beat him but Eurytus refused to keep his promise, so Heracles sacked the city, killed Eurytus and kidnapped Iole. However, there was great discussion in antiquity about whether this Oechalia referred to this city, or that of

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

, or another also located in

Trachis Trachis ( grc-gre, , ''Trakhís'') was a region in ancient Greece. Situated south of the river Spercheios, it was populated by the Malians. It was also a polis (city-state). Its main town was also called ''Trachis'' until 426 BC, when it was re ...

, also in

, or even to others that were located in

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a ...

. The author of the epic poem '' Capture of Oechalia'' (usually attributed to Creophylus of Samos),

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

(in ''

The Trachiniae ''Women of Trachis'' or ''The Trachiniae'' ( grc, Τραχίνιαι, ) c. 450–425 BC, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. ''Women of Trachis'' is generally considered to be less developed than Sophocles' other works, and its dating has been ...

'') and Hecataeus of Miletus (who locates Oechalia near

) were aligned with those who identified this Oechalia with the Euboean location. Homer, equivocally, and

Apollodorus of Athens Apollodorus of Athens ( el, Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, ''Apollodoros ho Athenaios''; c. 180 BC – after 120 BC) son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, P ...

and

Aristarchus of Samothrace Aristarchus of Samothrace ( grc-gre, Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σαμόθραξ ''Aristarchos o Samothrax''; c. 220 – c. 143 BC) was an ancient Greek grammarian, noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was the h ...

placed it in Thessaly. Also,

Demetrius of Scepsis Demetrius of Scepsis ( grc, Δημήτριος ὁ Σκήψιος) was a Greek Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian of the time of Aristarchus of Samothrace, Aristarchus and Crates of Mallus, Crates (Strabo, Strab. xiii. p. 609), the first half ...

placed it in Arcadia, and Homer also calls the Oechalia in Messenia the city of Eurytus in both the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'' and the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'', and this identification was followed by Pherecydes of Athens and

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

. Strabo makes mention of all these possibilities but does not offer any additional data on the concrete location of the Oechalia of Thessaly. The site of Oechalia is tentatively placed at the ''kastro'' of Ano Potamia (Άνω Ποταμιά) in the municipal unit of Kyme.

References

Former populated places in Greece Populated places in ancient Euboea {{ancientEuboea-geo-stub