Euboea

Island, Greece, in the Aegean Sea. The second largest of the Greek islands, it is about 110 mi (180 km) long and 4–30 mi (6–48 km) wide. It is mainly mountainous but includes the fertile plain of the Lílas River, which was in antiquity a famous horse-breeding region. Euboea is connected with Boeotia by a bridge built by the Chalcidians. It was dominated by Athens for much of the 5th century BC, while its main cities of Chalcis and Eretria were involved in the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. From 146 BC it was part of the Roman province of Macedon. Euboea was controlled by Venice from 1366, conquered by the Turks in 1470, and passed to Greece in 1830.