In Greece there are 80 thermal springs with healing properties that spring up scattered throughout the country! One of them is the thermal baths of Edipsos, which have been known since ancient Greek times.
The thermal springs of Edipsos have a history of more than 20,000 years! They are mentioned by Aristotle and Strabo and today they are perhaps the most famous spa town in Greece. In North Evia, the Edipsos Baths are known for the healing properties of the waters that spring up at a high temperature. In Loutra, hydrotherapy centers operate in hotels. Among them is the EOT hydrotherapy center which is considered to have the most modern and complete hydrotherapy and physiotherapy facilities in Greece.
Specialist scientists and hydrologists recommend the thermal baths of Edipsos for the following ailments: Degenerative arthropathies (chronic and deforming conditions), Rheumatism (chronic forms of rheumatism), Spondyloarthritis (chronic and ankylosing forms), Ricitis, Back pain, Sciatica, Post-traumatic deformities and ankylosis, Peripheral neuritis (neuralgia-myalgia), Migraines, Tendonitis, Vasopathies (carbon dioxide affects peripheral circulatory failure), Diseases of the endocrinological cycle (Radon's rejuvenating effect affects). In addition to the thermal baths, you can also enjoy the city's mud baths and combine therapeutic treatment with positivity from the drinking water sources.
The area of Edipsos has a special place in mythology. The goddess Athena asked the god of fire, Hephaestus, to bring warm waters to the surface of the earth, waters to rest, waters to heal, so that her protégé, the mythical hero Heracles, would come to rest after every labor. The god Hephaestus did not spoil the favor of his beloved sister. He struck the bowels of the earth with his divine hammer and immediately the warm thermal waters gushed forth.
According to mythology, the first to settle in Evia and ancient Edipsos were the Kouretes who brought the worship of Zeus. In his honor they built a temple, in which they raised Zeus and became his guardians. After the Kouretes came the Avantes who dominated Evia. Aedipsos participated under Istiaea or Zeus in the fall of Troy. The geographer Strabo (63 BC – 24 AD) characterizes the springs of Loutra as Hellenic, from Hellopas, the son of Iona, who occupied the whole area together with the rest of Istiaea. He makes reference to the earthquakes of Edipsos, stating that most of the Licha Islands and the Kenian cape were submerged, as well as the thermal baths of Edipsos.
The philosopher Aristotle (384 – 322 BC), in his Meteorology, in reference to the sources of the Baths, mentions that the sea forms underground rivers and from this cause the hot baths of Edipsos were created. The area from in earlier times it was known for its coppersmiths and perhaps this justifies the fact that it was one of the few cities that had its own currency. This coin, mentioned by Rigas Ferraios in his Charta, had a crab engraved on one side and a fish on the other, symbolizing the marine wealth of the region.
St. Byzantium refers to the copper mines near Edipsos and the famous "Aedipsian sword". The historian Plutarch (50 – 125 AD) describes the social life that had developed in the area, the pleasant stay in the city and the entertainments, and the brilliant sustenance with its abundant fish and fowl. The historian also mentions that Edipsos enjoyed great prosperity for more than four centuries, from the Macedonian king Antigonus to the Roman emperors Geta and Gordianus.
According to a local folk tradition, Lipso (ancient name of Edipsos) was nothing more than the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah, the city of sin, because of the sinful life the visitors spent there, even their destruction is handed down, after the overturning and sinking of the earth, and the subsequent appearance of warm waters. The same tradition says that only one woman was saved from the biblical disaster, Zakharaina or Agathosyne, together with her pig and her piglets, her only property, but she disobeyed the divine command not to return to see the events and was punished by being stoned to death in the position, which remained as a toponym above the cemetery of Edipsos. Another tradition, finally, identifies Edipsos with Babel.
