Lake Kopais

Lake Kopais lies in a broad basin of Boeotia, west of Thebes. Its shallow waters and marshes rise and fall with the seasons, fed by rivers from the surrounding hills and drained through natural openings in the rock. In the Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans built embankments and channels to reclaim land from the lake; the massive fortified site of Gla stood within the basin. Ancient writers also prized the lake for its fish, especially its eels.