Overshadowed by Athens and lacking an extant contemporary history of its own, the Greek city-state of Chalkis seldom receives adequate individual recognition. A collation of all available evidence — literary, epigraphic, archaeological and numismatic — permits at least a partial reconstruction of Chalkidian history. First settled in the Neolithic period, Chalkis was a leader in the colonization of the West. A land dispute between Chalkis and neighbouring Eretria was escalated into the greatest Greek war of the Archaic period. Defeated by the Athenians in about 506 B.C., Chalkis remained an unwilling dependency of Athens through most of the fifth century. In  411, Chalkis joined the Euboian League and in the 340's became its leading member, organizing Hellenic opposition to Philip of Makedonia. Throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods, Chalkis was a strategically vital garrison and a major commercial centre.