Chalcis
A major city on the island of Euboea renowned for its metalworking and its role in Greek colonisation
The Story of Chalcis
Chalcis occupied a strategic position on the narrowest point of the Euripus Strait, where the island of Euboea comes within forty metres of the Greek mainland. Its name derives from chalkos (bronze or copper), reflecting its early importance as a metalworking centre. In mythology, Chalcis is associated with the Curetes, the armed dancers who protected the infant Zeus by clashing their bronze shields to drown his cries from Kronos. The city's most celebrated mythological connection is to the funeral games of Amphidamas, a local king, where Hesiod reportedly won a poetry contest — an event he mentions in Works and Days as his one experience of sea travel. Historically, Chalcis was one of the earliest and most prolific Greek colonisers, founding settlements across the Mediterranean from Sicily to the Chalcidice peninsula in northern Greece, which bears its name. The Lelantine War between Chalcis and neighbouring Eretria in the eighth century BCE was one of the earliest documented conflicts between Greek city-states, drawing allies from across the Aegean world.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Euripus Strait at Chalcis changes current direction multiple times daily, a phenomenon that puzzled Aristotle so deeply that legend says he drowned trying to study it
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
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