Greece: Travel Guide: Central Greece: Fthiotida: Loutra Ipatis

The town of Amfiklia is part of the region of Fthiotida, and belongs to the municipality of Lokkda. Amfiklia is located at the foot of Mount Parnassos, and more specifically is at the place known as "Plai". The town is built on the northeast slopes of the mountain and is 160km from Athens, 50km from Livadia, 50km from Lamia and 17km from the ski centre of Parnassos.

The history of the town starts from the pre-historical days and continues up to the present day. According to historians, the location of the ancient town was previously where the cemetery is today. This is located up on the hill where you can still see traces of the acropolis wall, and the acropolis tower, which is now called "Palaiocastro".The original name of the town was Ofitia, which means "the place where the snake lives".The ancient traveller and historian "Pafsanias", who also wrote about the history of the towns name in his book, which tells us about the leader and ruler of the first inhabitants who were Pelasgoi. When the ruler had his child, who was his successor, he hid the baby in a large earthen jar, to keep it safe from a probable conspiracy that was going against him.

However, a wolf came down from Mount Parnassos and attempted to attack the child. However, a snake (which is the symbol of Dionyssos) was lying around the jar when the wolf tried to attack, and the wolf withdrew.The childs father however, saw the snake around the jar and thought that the snake was attacking his child. He threw his spear at the snake, but tragically, as well as the snake, his child in the jar was also speared and was killed.This lead to the town being named Ofitia, and lead to the god of Dionysos becoming very sacred, and the festivities taking place under his name. Even today, we can see similarities with the Dionysos festivals and the Greek Halloween. People still carry burning torches, which is a tradition that has continued from the ancient years of Dionysos