Lilaea

Lilaea (Greek: Λίλαια) is a name that refers to two related but distinct aspects of ancient Greek culture: an ancient town in Boeotia and a nymph in Boeotian mythology. As a place, Lilaea was a small settlement situated on the northern shore of Lake Copais in central Greece. It is described in antiquarian sources as a minor Boeotian town, and its exact status and boundaries vary among authors. The site is not associated with major monuments in the surviving literary record, but the name appears in lists of Boeotian towns, and its inhabitants were sometimes called Lilaeans.

As a mythological figure, Lilaea is depicted as a water nymph (naiad) of Boeotian springs or rivers. In some genealogies she is named as a daughter of the river-god Cephisus or another local river deity, and she is linked to the places bearing her name. Naiads such as Lilaea commonly function as eponymous figures for local locales, and this reflects a broader pattern in Boeotian lore where landscape and divine personification are interconnected.

In sum, Lilaea denotes both a small Boeotian town near Lake Copais and a Boeotian water-nymph, illustrating how place and myth often intersect in ancient Greece.