Onchestus or Onchestos ( grc, Ὀγχηστός), was a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

of ancient Thessaly, flowing near Scotussa, through the battlefield of

Cynoscephalae Cynoscephalae ( grc, Κυνὸς κεφαλαί, meaning "dog's heads") may refer to: Geography *Cynoscephalae (Boeotia), a town of ancient Boeotia *Cynoscephalae (Thessaly), a town of ancient Thessaly *Cynoscephalae Hills (Boeotia), a range of hil ...

into

Lake Boebeis Boebeis Lake (Βοιβηΐς λίμνη, Βοιβία λίμνη, and Βοιβιάς λίμνη) was a lake of Magnesia in ancient Thessaly, mentioned by Homer, and named for the town ( Boebe) on its southeastern shore. The lake is frequently m ...

. It is perhaps the same river as the Onochonus or Onochonos (Ὀνόχωνος), whose waters were exhausted by the army of Xerxes I during the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

invasion of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It is true that

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

describes this river as flowing into the

Peneius In Greek mythology, Peneus (; Ancient Greek: Πηνειός) was a Thessalian river god, one of the three thousand Rivers (Potamoi), a child of Oceanus and Tethys. Family The nymph Creusa bore him one son, Hypseus, who was King of the Lapith ...

; but in this he was probably mistaken, as its course must have been into Lake Boebeis.

References

Geography of ancient Boeotia Rivers of Greece {{Greece-river-stub