774 BOEHM BCEOTIA nificent work of the kind. The Bodonian foun- dery and printing office came to be the finest in Europe, furnishing type to prominent printers in all countries. Bodoni gained a considerable fortune and bought a fine estate, and his name was inscribed in the "golden book" of the nobility ; but he continued to exercise his pro- fession to the last. In 1806 he commenced the printing of a superb edition of the Iliad, which appeared in 1808, in 3 vols. folio. The Bo- donian editions of Greek, Latin, Italian, and French classics are notable rather for beauty than accuracy. Lama published his biography and a catalogue of his editions (2 vols. fol., Parma, 1816). BOEHM, Bohm, or Boehme, Jakob (often called by English writers Jacob Behmen), a German my.stic, born at Altseidenberg, near Gorlitz, in Silesia, in 1575, died at Gorlitz, Nov. 27, 1624. The son of a peasant, his education was very deficient. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker, travelled for many years as a journeyman, and by unceasing eiforts made himself familiar with the current theological literature. Having re- turned from his travels, he set up a shoemaker's shop at Gorlitz in 1594, and married the daugh- ter of a butcher. He was subject to hallucina- tions, during which he imagined that he convers- ed with God, and obtained knowledge of nature and grace, which he considered it necessary he should make known to his fellow men. Accord- ingly, in 1612 he published his first book, Au- rora, oder die Morgenrothe im Aiifgang, in which he proposed " to light a torch for all who are longing for truth." This book, which con- tains very deep and obscure philosophical sen- timents on God, nature, and mankind, couched in crude figurative language, was violently de- nounced. In 1619 he published other writings, among which were esehreibung der drei Prin- cipien gottlichen Wes&M and Von wahrer Busse und wahrer Gelassenheit. The consequence was his banishment from the city. He went to Dresden, where he defended his opinions in a public discussion with eminent theologians. He next went to Silesia, and obtained the abro- gation of the decree of banishment just in time to return home and die. His theological ad- versaries refused to allow his remains a Chris- tian burial, but were compelled to do so by the civil authorities. Boehm's writings, notwith- standing their obscurity, found many admirers, not only in Germany, but in England, where a religious sect was built upon them. In 1697 Jane Leade, an enthusiastic admirer of Boehm, founded a society for the true interpretation of his works (Philadelphists). John Pordage was the profoundest expounder of Boehm. A new edition of Boehm's works was published by Schiebler (Leipsic, 1831-'46). The best Eng- lish translation of them is that of William Law (2 vols. 4to, London, 1764). BflJOTIA (Gr. BOJTI), a division of ancient Greece, bounded N. by Phocis and Opuntian Locris, E. by the Euboean sea, S. by Attica and Megaris, and W. by the Corinthian gulf and Phocis. The mountain ranges of Cithreron and Parnes in the south, Helicon in the west, Parnassus on the northwest, and the Opuntian range on the north and east, make one large basin, which includes the whole of Bceotia with the exception of a small coast district on the Crissffian sea. This large basin is divi- ded by the mountains Ptoum and Pheenicium, which reach from the Eubcean sea to Mt. Heli- con, into the northern basin of Lake Copals (now Topolias), into which flows the river Ce- phissus (Mavronero), and a basin which com- prises the plain of Thebes and the valley of the Asopus (Oropo). Lake Copais, 47 miles in circumference, is formed by the overflowing waters of the Cephissus, which coming from Phocis enters Bceotia from the north at Chaaronea, and is prevented by the moun- tains on the coast from flowing directly in- to the Euboean sea. It with difficulty finds its outlets through underground channels, called in modern Greek KarafiWpa, in the limestone formation of those mountains. In summer the lake is nearly dry and is little more than a marsh, but the whole district is subject to inundations. The Minyaa of Oreho- menus, the ancient inhabitants of this region, constructed two tunnels or underground chan- nels to the sea for the surplus waters of the lake. One of these, leading from the N. E. part of the lake toward upper Larymna, was nearly four miles in length, and penetrated at intervals by vertical shafts from 100 to 150 feet in depth. The other was shorter, and con- nected Lake Copais with Lake Hylica toward the east. Nearly all Bceotia .has a fertile soil, but the lake district in the north is especially productive, and celebrated both in ancient and modern times for its abundant crops of corn. The climate of the country, however, is more severe than that of the rest of Greece. The leading city of Bceotia was Thebes; the other principal towns were Platsea, Orchomenus, Chseronea, Coronea, Lebadea, Thespia?, Haliar- tus, Tanagra, and Aulis. Bceotia was the scene of many of the legends upon which were founded the plays of the Greek tragedians. It was originally inhabited by various barbarous tribes, of which the two most powerful were the Hinya3 of Orchomenus and the Cadmeans of Thebes. About 60 years after the Trojan war, according to Thucydides, the supremacy of these two tribes was overthrown, and the latter expelled from their city by the Boao- tians, an yEolian people who immigrated from Thessaly. Early in the historic age the country was governed by a confederacy of the fourteen most important cities under the presidency of Thebes, and in all these cities the Boeotian was the prevailing race. The chief magistrates of the confederacy were called Boeotarchs, and were elected annually. Most of the cities were ruled by oligarchies, which were naturally hos- tile to the democratic state of Attica. In 507 B. C. the Boeotians, with the Peloponnesians and Chalcidians, made war on Athens, and in the
