Location information

Gephyraeans

TANAGRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
These stated themselves that they came from Eretria originally, but Herodotus thinks that they were Phoenicians. They lived at Tanagra in Boeotia, which had been formerly called Gephura (Etym. M.). When the rest of the Cadmeans were driven out by the Argives and went to the Encheleis, the Gephyraeans remained in Boeotia at first; but later, being expelled by the other inhabitants of that country, they turned to Athens. The Athenians made them citizens on special terms, epi rhetois: which were probably to maintain in repair the bridges over the river Cephisus (Lyd. de Mens. viii. p. 45; Etym. M. s. v. Gephureis), for that art was considered recondite in early times (cf. Fr. Lenormant, Voie Sacree Eleusinienne, p. 247); and with injunctions to keep aloof from the other citizens in many respects. They had temples and rites special to themselves (though these cannot have long remained secret: cf. Schol. on Aristoph. Ach. 708), and among these the temple and rites of Demeter Achaea (Herod. l. c.).

This extract is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin)
• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...