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122:. The lake was (and is) surrounded by fertile land, but the lake increasingly encroached on the surrounding land because of inadequate drainage. In response to this, in 1867–1887 Scots and French engineers reclaimed the land for the British Lake Copais Company, by building channels to drain water from the lake to the Cephissus and from there to
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order to regulate the
Kephissos and Melas river by a complex system of polder dykes, which drained the basin during the flood seasons. The system featured a central, 25 km long, stone lined canal, up to 40 m wide and 2.5 m deep. Multiple smaller canals and a series of natural subterranean holes or "katavothres" were used to drain excess water.
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The Copais lake was probably drained first during the bronze age by the
Mycenaeans, creating one of the most sophisticated agricultural water management systems in the ancient Aegean. Excavated remains indicate that up to 400,000,000 m³ of stone and roughly 200,000,000 m³ of earth were moved in
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The Kopais Lake Agency was created in 1957 to supervise the draining of the lake and building of a new road. The task was completed that same year, but the agency with full-time staff of 30 (including a driver for the president of the agency) still existed until 2010.
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308:"J. Knauss, B. Heinrich, H. KAlcyk: Die Wasserbauten der Minyer in der Kopais – die älteste Flußregulierung Europas. = Institut für Wasserbau und Wassermengenwirtschaft, Technische Universität München; Bericht Nr. 50, 262 S. 1984. ISSN 0172-7494. DM 35,–"
74:. It was first drained in the Bronze Age, and drained again in the late 19th century. It is now flat dry land and is still known as Kopaida. A one-time island in the lake was modified in ancient times into a megalithic citadel, now called
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recorded. Modern excavation has found enormous channels dug in the 14th century BC which drained water into the sea to the northeast; Strabo mentions work being done on these channels by an engineer named
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of
Orchomenus: they were dangerous horseback fighters, and Heracles dug the lake in order to unhorse them. Another story has the lake overflow in the mythical time of
126:(Ylíki Limní, ancient Hylica). In total about 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) were reclaimed. This land was returned to the Greek government in 1952.
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Before this the lake drained into the sea by numerous subterranean channels. Some of these channels were artificial, as the 1st century geographer
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Greece's 'Odious' Debt: The
Looting of the Hellenic Republic by the Euro, the Political Elite and the Investment Community
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400:, Revised and edited by Henry Nettleship and J.E. Sandys, New York: Meridian Books, 1956.
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flooded the area by digging out a river, the
Cephissus, which poured into the basin.
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record that in antiquity Lake Copais was known for its fish, especially the eels.
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230:"The 'Atimorisia' Illness: Greece's Toothless Battle against Corruption"
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Google Earth ground view across the Lake Copais plain from the south
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Google Earth ground view across the Lake Copais plain from the east
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Google Earth ground view in the middle of the Lake Copais plain
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There was a legend that the lake came into being when the hero
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see especially 9.2.16-27 (translated by H.L. Jones, 1924)
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were on its shores. Rivers feeding the lake included the
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explains that he did this because he was fighting the
428:"The Mysteries of Lake Copias and the Island of Gla"
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Mycenaean fortifications, highways, dams and canals
292:, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, accessed 12/2011;
290:"Buildings of the Installations of Copais Company"
215:, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, accessed 12/2011;
213:"Buildings of the Installations of Copais Company"
457:(translated W.H.S. Jones and H.A. Ormerod, 1918)
343:. D. K. Hagel. Sävedalen: Paul Åströms Förlag.
150:Lake Copais in ancient literature and mythology
461:Google Earth air view of the Lake Copais plain
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193:and the 5th century BC comic playwright
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398:A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities
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98:When the lake existed, the towns of
396:Entry "Ogyges" in Oskar Seyffert,
90:British-built Lake Copais Company
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409:Pausanias 9.24.2; Aristophanes
62:), was a lake in the centre of
294:"Technology in Ancient Greece"
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260:. Anthem Press. p. 288.
256:Manolopoulos, Jason (2011).
16:Lake in Greece, now drained
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426:Ghembaza, Therese (2012).
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374:4.18.7; Pausanias 9.38.7.
337:Simpson, R. Hope (2006).
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324:10.1002/iroh.19870720220
533:Ancient Greek geography
453:"Description of Greece"
158:Map of ancient Boeotia.
23:Location of Lake Copais
538:Former lakes of Greece
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528:Landforms of Boeotia
306:Caspers, H. (1987).
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430:. Therese Ghembaza.
296:, accessed 12/2011.
219:, accessed 12/2011.
182:, resulting in the
144:Alexander the Great
455:. Perseus website.
442:. Perseus website.
189:The travel writer
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481:Wikimedia Commons
267:978-0-85728-771-7
140:Crates of Chalcis
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440:"Geography"
36:Lake Copais
31:Lake Kopais
522:Categories
411:Acharnians
383:Polyaenus
318:(2): 266.
201:References
124:Lake Yliki
104:Orchomenus
70:, west of
449:Pausanias
191:Pausanias
172:Polyaenus
116:Termessus
112:Cephissus
108:Chaeronea
100:Haliartus
359:70207931
241:11 April
168:Heracles
82:Drainage
495:23°03′E
492:38°27′N
176:Minyans
94:at work
92:dredger
64:Boeotia
60:Κωπαΐδα
44:Kopaida
436:Strabo
387:1.3.5.
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180:Ogyges
135:Strabo
120:Triton
106:, and
72:Thebes
68:Greece
52:Κωπαΐς
40:Kopais
56:Greek
355:OCLC
345:ISBN
262:ISBN
243:2012
118:and
413:880
320:doi
76:Gla
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