L’Eubea nella prima metà del IV secolo a.C. tra aspirazione alla libertà e dipendenza da Atene

At the end of the fifth century b.C. the island of Euboea broke the alliance with Athens as a result of the rebellion of 411 and approached Boeotia: the Euboeans physically welded this bond by the construction of a bridge from the island to the mainland. Starting from this moment and for the next 50 years, the relationship between Euboea and Athens seems to be seriously challenged: the island looked with more interest at Boeotia as a model of federal constitution. During the years of the Corinthian war and in the period of Second Athenian League Euboea was close to Athens, but only because it probably was in Boeotia’s train; from 371, after Leuctra, the alliance with Boeotians got stronger and kept at least till to 357 when a civil war broke out and the island came back under Athenian control. This article aims to read all these historical events in the light of the emerging Euboian confederation that would be born in these years according to some modern scholars: Euboia might have seen in the federal constitutional model of Boeotia a valid instrument to get freedom from its reliance on Athens.