Ocalea (town)

Ocalea or Okalea (Ancient Greek: Ὠκαλέα, romanized: Ōkalea, rarely Ὠκαλέαι), later Ocaleia or Okaleia (Ὠκάλεια), was a town in ancient Boeotia, Greece. It lay in the middle of a long narrow plain, situated upon a small stream of the same name, bounded on the east by the heights of Haliartus, on the west by the mountain Tilphossium, on the south by a range of low hills, and on the north by the Lake Copais.

Ocalea lay roughly halfway between Alalcomenae and Haliartus, about 30 stadia (5.5 km) from each.^[1] Ancient sources often mention it alongside Mantinea and Medeon, which suggests that they were close by.^[2] The short distance between Mantinea and Ocalea seems to be the reason why the mythical figure Aglaïa, daughter of Mantineus, was sometimes also known as Ocalea. This town was dependent upon Haliartus.

Its site is tentatively located near modern Evangelistria.^[3]^[4]

^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. 9.2.26-27. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
^ E.g. Homer Iliad 2.501; Dionysius of Byzantium, Description of Greece 99.
^ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 55, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.

[1] Strabo. Geographica. Vol. 9.2.26-27. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.

[2] E.g. Homer Iliad 2.501; Dionysius of Byzantium, Description of Greece 99.

[3] Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 55, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.

[4] Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.

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Ocalea (town)

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