The history of Orchomenos, which is today considered one of the most important residential centers of central Greece, is reflected through a long tradition of legends and mythical narratives regarding its foundation, its royal ancestries, and the heroes and gods originating from the area or based there. Within a rather limited area due to the existence of Lake Kopaida, monuments, private and public remains of a residential character, harmonically coexist, covering a wide, flourishing period of antiquity. A significant human settlement during the Neolithic period, but also a great residential estate, very soon to become a palatial complex during the Bronze ages (4th to 2nd millennium B.C.), Orchomenos maintained its importance and grandeur from then on, lasting up to the Byzantine period. Probably the most important period of Boeotian Orchomenos, corresponded with the peak development of the Mycenaean Palaces, in the 14th -13th C. B.C., when its rural position progressed to becoming a significant centre of government in the north Boeotian area. This was the era when the largest prehistoric technical project was planned and carried out: the drying of Lake Kopaida, by the construction of drainage canals, which channelled its water to the Evian Gulf.