Ocalea

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography

OCA´LEA or OCALEIA(Ὠκαλέα, Ὠκάλεια: Eth. Ὠκαλεύς), an ancient city of Boeotia, mentioned by Homer, situated upon a small stream of the same name, at an equal distance from Haliartus and Alalcomenae. It lay in the middle of a long narrow plain, 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. This town was dependent upon Haliartus. The name is probably only a dialectic form of Oechalia. Its site is indicated by several squared blocks on the right bank of the stream. (Hom. Il. 2.501, Eymn. Apoll. 242; Strab. 9. p. 410; Apollod. 2.4.11; Plin. Nat. 4.7. s. 12; Steph. B. s. v.;Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 2. p. 205, seq.; Forchhammer, Hellenika, p. 184.)