Public life

In the area of Agios Vlassis, two bronze plates with inscriptions were found in 1848, which ended up in the British Μuseum. They are dated in the first half of the 5th c. B.C. and are extremely important not only for the region but for the whole of Greek history. The first refers to the participation of the Chaleians in the colonization of Southern Italy by the Lokrians, and the second records an agreement between Chaleion and Oiantheia concerning the protection of navigational rights or, according to another interpretation, the sharing of spoils from piracy. These inscriptions reveal a well developed constitution, with laws, judicial authorities and specific magistrates.

Much information about the area during the Hellenistic and Roman periods has been drawn from stone inscriptions found in Delphi and elsewhere, which state that Chaleion was the most important city in Western Lokris after Amphissa and that it had organized public life with a calendar, religious festivals, magistrates, and a high cultural level. In one of the inscriptions from the end of the 3rd c. B.C., a poetress from Smyrna is honoured by the city. Another important document, a 1st c. B.C. decree of the Chaleians in honour of the Roman general, Cnaeus Pompeius or Pompey, is lost today.