Evia has been inhabited since early times. It is one of the few places where Paleolithic stone houses (Drako Spiti) can be explored. There are several sites, in particular on Mount Ochi (to visit these contact Roger (0030 222 4025961) who does guided tours up the mountain) and in the hills above old Styra and just south of Kapsala. These houses constructed in the hillsides from stone have huge graduated stones for roofs.

More historical images

In the eighth century BC Euboea or Euboia (the ancient name of Evia meaning “rich in cattle�) had a very important tribal population who travelled throughout the area we now call Greece and also the Middle East and all over the Eastern Mediterranean. The pottery from this area has been found in Italy, Cyprus, Israel, Syria, North Africa and many other places. These travellers were the importers/exporters of the age, taking pottery and wine from Evia and trading them for goods such as metals. In this way Euboeans were known throughout the Eastern Mediterranean as Greek traders.

 

Although allied to the Athenians in the uprising against the Persian colonisation of Greek settlements in 499BC (Greek communities in Eretria on Euboea) which provoked the five crucial battles which led to Greek victory over the Persians (Marathon 490BC / Thermopylae 480 BC / Salamis 480 BC / Plataea 479 BC and Mycale 479 BC), hostilities later occurred between the Athenians and Euboea and hugely rich land on Euboea was given to poorer Athenians. The Marathon battle took place near the village on the mainland of that name (Marathonos) and the speedy messenger running into Athens (26 miles) is what led to the popular ‘marathon’ races today. The route taken during the 2004 Olympics held in Greece followed the original route (more or less) and is marked with blue and red lines on the main road between Pallini and Marathon along which you will probably travel from the airport.

 

The history of the island is for the most part that of its two principal cities, Chalcis (Halkida) and Eretria. Both cities were Ionian settlements from Attica, and their importance in early times is shown by their numerous colonies in Magna Graecia and Sicily, such as Cumae and Rhegium, and on the coast of Macedonia. In this way they opened new trade routes to the Greeks, and extended the field of western civilization. How great their influence in commerce was is shown by the fact that the Euboic scale of weights and measures was in use in Athens throughout this period. In the 4th century BC it was an important cultural centre, and the Eretrian School of Philosophy was founded here.

 

Evia is technically Greece's second largest island, however it is, at some points a mere 20 feet from the main land of Greece. By 411BC Evia was already joined to the mainland by a timber bridge.  Its proximity to the mainland does lead to an interesting phenomenon.  Because of the location of the island, tides stagnant water and the prevailing winds, the current in the Evripos Strait between the island and the mainland change directions at least four times a day and sometimes up to 20.  It is said that Aristotle, upon observing this phenomena and not being able to explain it hurled himself into the current to his death.  (In reality Aristotle simply died in Halkida.) The Latin alphabet is based on the script of ancient Halkida.

 

In 490 BC, Eretria was utterly ruined and its inhabitants were transported to Persia. Though it was restored after the Battle of Marathon, on a site at a little distance from its original position, it never regained its former eminence, but it was still the second city on the island. From this time its neighbour Chalcis held an undisputed supremacy. Already, however, this city had suffered from the growing power of Athens. In the year 506 BC the Chalcidians were totally defeated by the Athenians, who established 4,000 Attic settlers on their lands, and seem to have reduced the whole island to a condition of dependence.

 

Again, in 446 BC, when Euboea endeavoured to throw off the yoke, it was once more reduced by Pericles, and a new body of settlers was planted at Histiaea in the north of the island, after the inhabitants of that town had been expelled. The Athenians fully recognized its importance to them, for supplying them with corn (ie, grain) and cattle, securing their commerce, and guaranteeing them against piracy, because its proximity to the coast of Attica rendered it extremely dangerous to them when in other hands. But in 410 BC the island succeeded in regaining its independence. After this it took sides with one or other of the leading states, until, after the Battle of Chaeronea, it passed into the hands of Philip II of Macedon.

 

The Romans invaded in the 3rd and 2nd century BC, and Evia became a vassal to the mighty empire, just like the rest of Greece.

 

During the Byzantine period many churches and monasteries were built on the island, and it kept its trading status, even though parts of the island was raided by pirates from time to time.

 

In 1157 all the coastal towns of Euboea were destroyed by a Sicilian force.

 

The Venetians came in the 13th century, and Evia was to become a battle ground between them and the Turks, because of its strategic position. In the partition of the Eastern Roman empire by the Latins, the island was divided into three fiefs which placed themselves under the protection of the Venetian Republic, henceforth the sovereign power. On 12 July 1470, after a heated defence, the well-fortified city of Chalkis (Negroponte) was wrested from Venice by Mehmed II, and the whole island fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks

 

The war of Independence began in 1821, and the people of Evia were to fight hard against their oppressors.  At the conclusion of the Greek War of Independence, in 1830, the island constituted a part of the newly-established Greek state.