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The name Halkida, is taken by the town, because it is built over the site occupied by a very ancient city. It is said to originate either from the copper which its inhabitants processed in olden times (Halkos means copper in Greek) or from the word "Halki" which means a form of a shell, used in ancient times for dying red fabrics.

The ancient city was a renowned trading center, which established several colonies and contained famous temples dedicated to Zeus, Apollo and the goddess Hera.

In the 3rd century B.C., Menedimos, one of Plate's pupils, founded the Eretrian School of Philosophy.

Edipsos is not a new phenomenon. Even though few travelers from other countries have never heard of it, the cosmopolitan atmosphere combined with the healing spas have attracted renown politicians, artists, writers and other notable people like Winston Churchill, Aristotle Onnasis, Maria Callas, Greta Garbo and Omar Sharif.

However, it is also mentioned in the works of Aristotle in his Meteorological, and by Ploutarch and Strabon. The town even minted its own coins. In Roman times the area flourished and its healing waters were visited by the emperors Hadrian, Septimus Severus and Marcus Aurilius.

The baths from the Roman period are the best preserved and are known as Syllas Baths. During the Byzantine era it was destroyed for being an area of paganism though it was visited by the Emperors Theodosius and Constantine the Great.

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