 It was an important city in classical antiquity due to its strategic location at the entrance of the North Euboean Gulf, in the middle of a large and fertile plain.After the Battle of Artemisium (480 BCE), when the Grecian fleet sailed southwards, Histiaea was occupied by the Persians.Upon the expulsion of the Persians from Greece, Histiaea, with the other Euboean towns, became subject to Attica.