at the end of the 8th century bc, however, eretria and chalcis fought a prolonged war (known mainly from the account in thucydides as the lelantine war) for control of the fertile lelantine plain. little is known of the details of this war, but it is clear that eretria was defeated. the city was destroyed and eretria lost her lands in boeotia and her aegean dependencies. neither eretria nor chalcis ever again counted for much in greek politics. as a result of this defeat, eretria turned to colonisation. she planted colonies in the northern aegean, on the coast of macedon, in italy and sicily.