Crossword clues for boeotian
boeotian
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Boeotian \B[oe]*o"tian\, a. [L. Boeotia, Gr. ?, noted for its moist, thick atmosphere, and the dullness and stupidity of its inhabitants.] Of or pertaining to B[oe]otia; hence, stupid; dull; obtuse. -- n. A native of B[oe]otia; also, one who is dull and ignorant. [1913 Webster] ||
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1590s, "ignorant, dull," from Boeotia, district around Thebes in ancient Greece (said to have been so called for its cattle pastures; Greek bous = "ox"), whose inhabitants were characterized as proverbially dull and countrified by their neighbors, the Athenians. The Boeotians presumably held reciprocal opinions, but their great writers, Plutarch and Pindar, though patriots, are full of praise for Athenian deeds and institutions.\n\nThough his aim was to vindicate Boeotia, [Pindar] has probably done her a disservice, in that he has helped to immortalise the scurrilous proverb Βοιωτία ύς, which he wished to confute. ... If left to itself, the slander might have passed into oblivion long ago.
[W. Rhys Roberts, "The Ancient Boeotians," 1895]
Wiktionary
a. 1 Pertaining to Boeotia. 2 stupid, foolish, dull-witted. n. 1 An inhabitant or a resident of Boeotia. 2 A dull or ignorant person. n. A dialect of Ancient Greek spoken in Boeotia.
Usage examples of "boeotian".
He was being solicited for an opinion as to who would live and who would die that morning: Stimon the Locrian or Opilmenos the Boeotian, due to fight a duel later on as champions of their respective tribes.
Both were acclaimed in equal measure for the promise of entertainment they offered, and the Boeotian smiled to hear the shouts but the Locrian remained as serious now as he had been among his own people.
Stimon the Locrian and Opilmenos the Boeotian, their bronze helmets and breastplates glittering in the sun, their speeches of defiance one to the other, the marvels of valour and dexterity both had displayed.
He thought of the half-eaten face and the slashed throat, the Boeotian, squirming on the shingle as the dancer stepped round him, of his terrible failure to understand who must win that fight.
By her black arts she maddened the Boeotian women so that they secretly parched the corn seed intended for the spring sowing.
Our hopes of threading our way past just before sunset were dashed when an enormous rebel wearing flame-painted Boeotian armor leaped out at our lead man from behind a boulder.
He admired Pindar, though he had to hide those scrolls from his father, who did not approve of Boeotian authors.
He had served Boeotia energetically during the war, and was especially well known for his expertise in the construction and use of the Boeotian engine.
Proxenus had consented, and assigned to us an interpreter named Cleon, and two Boeotian scouts.
Proxenus had already set about sorrowfully making funeral preparations for us, having been told in great detail by the two terrified Boeotian scouts of our gruesome deaths.
They had hastily arranged their meager defenses in a circle, surrounding their scant supplies and improvising the use of the Boeotian engines as they had seen the troops practicing.
To my surprise, I suddenly found no resistance, as the enemy troops simply parted to let me pass through, a single maddened Greek being of little consequence to the Persians intent upon rushing the Boeotian fire and screaming camp followers.
I had just felled, landing full in the face of its still struggling rider with my hobnailed leather sandals, and tore after her, laboring to slash with my now-deadened right arm, as she burst out of the Persian lines and scampered nimbly through a gap in the flames of the Boeotian engines like a spooked rabbit.
Persian soldiers, many of them already half charred from the effects of the Boeotian engines, were stripped of any usable possessions and left naked where they fell, their flesh bled or burnt dry of blood and the skin on their faces a hideous, bluish white mask.
But also there are letters I need carried to friends in other Boeotian cities.