The range was the scene of many events in Greek mythology and was especially sacred to Dionysus. In Euripides's Bacchae, Dionysus carries out his dances and rites with his bacchants, his priestesses, on Cithaeron. Oedipus was exposed on the mountain, while Actaeon and Pentheus were both dismembered on its slopes. It was also the place where Heracles hunted and killed the Lion of Cithaeron.
In historic times, the mountain acted as a backdrop to the Battle of Plataea of 479 and was the scene of much skirmishing before the battle itself. In later times fortifications were built both at Plataea and Erythrai as the mountain formed the disputed natural border between Athens and Thebes.
The people of Plataea also personified the mountain as their primal king: "But the Plataeans know of no king except Asopus and Cithaeron before him, holding that the latter gave his name to the mountain, the former to the river.
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Mythology
The king of Plataea, Cithaeron, who ruled the country before King Asopos, from which he named his neighboring mountain, was considered so wise that Zeus asked him for his advice when he was trying to bring Olympus to the angry Hera, who had fled to Evia.
Cithaeron is the central hero of two more myths. According to the first tradition, Erinus Tysiphon fell in love with the beautiful Kithairon, where he feeds his flock on Mount Asterion. But because Kethairas did not respond to her love, she sent a snake out of her hair, biting him and killing him with his poison.
In the second myth Cithaeron has an avid and bold character. After killing his father, he tried to break down his mild brother Helicon from the rocks. In front of this situation, the gods decided to transform the two brothers into the two known mountains. Helicon, due to the gentleness shown, became the residence of the monsters, while Cithaeron, due to the deserted shelter of "Herinous Fly".
Another myth about the mountain is the myth of Cithaeron Lion. The lion lived on the mountain and caused terror to the locals. Hercules eventually managed to kill him
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