He was also the principal founding father of the cities of Messene and Megalopolis. In 506 BC Thebes successfully repelled Athenian influence from coming into their land. What is the definition of Homer in world history. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Here at The History Ace I strive to publish the best history articles on the internet. While mostly forgotten, this citys legacy still lives on to this day. From the very start Thebes would help small villages surrounding Athens remain independent by supplying resources. Mr. Cartledge, a professor emeritus at Cambridge and author of popular history books such as The Spartans, Thermopylae, Alexander the Great and Democracy: A Life, has picked an opportune time to look afresh at Thebes and Boeotia. This new city of Thebes was the mythical city in which a certain Oedipus was later born. Continuing on his way, Oedipus found Thebes plagued by the Sphinx, who put a riddle to all passersby and destroyed those who could not answer. Credit: Wikipedia/ Public domain. Paul Cartledge, in Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, puts the city back on the cultural map, and makes a case for the Theban general Epaminondas as the Nelson of his day. And yet the rich history of Thebes has been largely forgotten in favour of its rivals Athens and Sparta. Mentuhotep II (20612010 B.C.) This defeat would help cement Theban military superiority in northern Greece. During Ramesses' long 66-year reign, Egypt and Thebes reached an overwhelming state of prosperity that equaled or even surpassed the earlier peak under Amenhotep III. "Luxor". Famous ancient Greek cities and sites : From top left to bottom right - the ruins of the Temple of Hera; the Ruins of the Philippeion; The workshop of Phidias; and the ruins of the Temple of Zeus Olympia was a famous ancient Greek sanctuary site located on the western side of Greek Peloponnese (the "valley of the gods"). [citation needed] Thebes was already, in the Middle Kingdom, a town of considerable size. I have a go at trying to answer that tough question in the book. They were particularly snotty and snooty towards their Theban near-neighbours, whom they derided and derogated as mere 'Boeotian swine', more interested in the belly than in the mind or the soul. It was a cult center and the most venerated city during many periods of ancient Egyptian history. In 667 BC, attacked by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal's army, Taharqa abandoned Lower Egypt and fled to Thebes. A romantic view of Thebes painted by Carl Rottmann (1797-1850) as part of a series of paintings of 'historically charged topography' of Greece commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, 1842. Ancient sources mock Epaminondas for affecting a philosophers dress, owning a single rough and dirty cloak. In the city proper he built the Luxor temple and the Avenue of the Sphinxes leading to Karnak. The city was completely burned to the ground leaving behind only the temples of Thebes and the house of Pindar the famous poet mentioned earlier in this essay. The plundered royal mummies were moved from place to place and at last deposited by the priests of Amun in a tomb-shaft in Deir el-Bahri and in the tomb of Amenhotep II. But, being Greek, he then at once qualifies that with a 'but . After a successful joint effort by the Greeks to push back the Persians in the fifth century B.C., the cities went back to fighting among themselves, descending into something like an all-out (Greek) world war, in which all Greek cities had to ally either with Athens or Sparta; eventually Sparta emerged victorious. by colonists from Corinth. Today there are 3 things that the ancient Greek city of Thebes is known for. Thebes fought bravely but in the end Alexander the Great annihilated the city of Thebes. For instance, Amenhotep III poured much of his vast wealth from foreign tribute into the temples of Amun. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Both were Peloponnesian, both anti-Spartan, the latter the capital of a new Arcadian federal state, the former an enduring symbol of liberation. Along with the smaller islands of Psara and Oinousses, Chios offers almost endless experiences and stunning vistas, and it is hospitable to visitors all year long. If at the end you enjoyed this article then consider subscribing to the free newsletter and sharing around the internet. But Thebes rebelled against Athenian rule and formed her own state, which lasted until 314 B.u.s. Introduction to the Mycenaean Civilization, Rare drone view of the place where Hercules completed his labour: "The Stymphalian Birds" , The perfect Greece-themed wedding invitations for a destination wedding, 10 Insider Tips for Finding Affordable Business Class Flights to Greece, The Life And Work Of A Greek Translator In The Context Of Ancient Greece, What Places Did Odysseus Travel | Troy, Ismaros & More, The Impact of Ancient Greece History on the Modern World, 9 Places In Europe That You Must Visit At Least Once In Your Life. Stallings is a poet and translator. The site of Thebes includes areas on both the eastern bank of the Nile, where the temples of Karnak and Luxor stand and where the city was situated; and the western bank, where a necropolis of large private and royal cemeteries and funerary complexes can be found. It is said that Thebes was founded when the ground was sown with dragons teeth, and the city was razed to the ground by Alexander the Great. One of the main things that ancient Thebes was best known for was being at the head of a large confederacy of Greek city-states called Boeotia. It was used as an overland trade route going to the Red Sea coast. After all, it produced some of the most incredible minds of that time, the likes of Socrates and Plato, men who 2000 years later are still influencing the world! Kadmos, though, didn't content himself with finding and saving his sister: he stayed put in Greece, settled down and founded Thebes. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. After this, colossal enlargements of the temple became the norm throughout the New Kingdom. While most of the ruins are gone there are still some sites to be seen, such as the palace of Cadmus and the temple of Apollo. And yet even in defeat Thebes was inspiring. It is the largest city in Boeotia and a major center for the area. Remains of two palatial buildings were also detected. In the 25th year of his reign, workers in Deir el-Medina began striking for pay and there arose a general unrest of all social classes. The reason given for this brutal treatment was an act of betrayal 145 years earlier as Thebes sided with Persian invaders. Thebes was located along the banks of the Nile River in the middle part of Upper Egypt about 800km south of the Delta. In the east lies the mountainous Eastern Desert with its wadis draining into the valley. Well here is everything! Oil on canvas. Pindar himself, the Theban poet par excellence, refers to the slur Boeotian swine; Hesiod, another Boeotian poet (and a founder of Greek literature), describes his hometown of Ascra as being wretched in winter, horrible in summer, never nice. Yet Thebes was one of Greeces major cities, and for one brief momentmaybe even a shining onethe lead city in Greece. [13] Historian Ian Morris has estimated that by 1500 BC, Thebes may have grown to be the largest city in the world, with a population of about 75,000, a position it held until about 900 BC, when it was surpassed by Nimrud (among others). A shepherd took pity on the infant, who was adopted by King Polybus of Corinth and his wife and was brought up as their son. Thebes was well-known in Greek mythology and literature. Pindar was born in the late 6th century BC and lived until the mid-5th. But the many bells and whistles added to the myth heaped horror upon horror. "Thebes". His reign saw a significant amount of building work undertaken throughout Egypt, especially at the city of Thebes, which he made the capital of his kingdom. Later, when the truth became known, Jocasta committed suicide, and Oedipus (according to another version), after blinding himself, went into exile, accompanied by Antigone and Ismene, leaving his brother-in-law Creon as regent. [20], Starting in the later part of the 12th Dynasty, a group of Canaanite people began settling in the eastern Nile Delta. Pindar was a lyric poet who was born in the late 6th century BC and lived until the mid-5th. According to myth, he carried around with him a jar of sacred soil from the site where his mother, Europa, was said to have been abducted by Zeus while out walking one day. Thebes was the seat of the legendary king Oedipus and the locale of most of the ancient Greek tragediesnotably Aeschylus 's Seven Against Thebes and Sophocles ' Oedipus the King and Antigone and of other compilations about the fate of Oedipus, his wife-mother, and his children. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Sparta attempted to remove Thebes from the Delphic amphictyony. During the 12th Dynasty, Amenemhat I moved the seat of power North to Itjtawy. Its sacred name was P-Amen or Pa-Amen meaning "the abode of Amen". Map of Greece during the height of Theban power in 362 BC, showing Theban, Spartan and Athenian power blocks, via Wikipedia It was one of the few cities in ancient Greece to remain free from colonization by either Athens or Sparta. In 2001, it had a population of 195,000 people. Third, Thebes would successfully defeat Sparta and form the short lived Thebian hegemony. With his mother-wife he sired four children who were also his half-brothers and sisters. Bz/; Ancient Greek: Thebai, Thebai, Greek pronunciation: [the:bai]; Greek: Theba, Thiva ['thiva] is a city in the Greek region of Boeotia. Here Paul Cartledge tells us why we must not forget about this most fascinating of ancient cities. Her successor Thutmose III brought to Thebes a great deal of his war booty that originated from as far away as Mittani. The city was founded about 730 BC by colonists from Corinth. This number has been recently brought into doubt as archeological evidence has demonstrated less numbers in total. In 525 BC, Persian Cambyses II invaded Egypt and became pharaoh, subordinating the kingdom as a satrapy to the greater Achaemenid Empire.[36]. #History #AgesilausII #CratesofThebes #Epaminondas 03 Jun 2023 19:35:03 As such one of the main things that ancient Thebes is best known for in ancient Greece was siding with Xerxes I of Persia during the Greco-Persian wars. Taharqa accomplished many notable projects at Thebes (i.e. Thebes was the birthplace of many great thinkers including Pythagoras, Diogenes, Plato, and Aristotle. Thebes became part of the Roman province of Thebais, which later split into Thebais Superior, centered at the city, and Thebais Inferior, centered at Ptolemais Hermiou. A rival line (the Eleventh Dynasty), based at Thebes, ruled the remaining part of Upper Egypt. (One exhibit is titled, provocatively, The Intellectual Radiance of Boeotia.) There is a book forthcoming, from scholar James Romm, about Thebess Sacred Band, its elite unit of soldiers, made up of pairs of devoted homosexual lovers. Of the two daughters/half-sisters, the more famous is Antigone condemned to death for impious treachery by her dictatorial maternal uncle, she hastened it by committing suicide by hanging. By freeing the Messenians from the Spartan yoke, Epameinondas deserves to be ranked alongside the other great liberators of history Bolivar, Sherman, Garibaldi . In Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, acclaimed classicist and historian Paul Cartledge brings the city vividly to life and argues that it is central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks' achievementswhether politically or culturallyand thus to the wider politico-cultural traditions of western Europe, the Americas, and indeed . In conclusion, Thebes is the greatest city you have never heard of and its contribution to ancient Greek history was huge. From how much money a chariot racer would make to how brutal the sport was here are the 5 most interesting facts about Roman chariot racing! It lies at the foot of Mount Cithaeron, about 15 miles (24 km) from central Athens. [34] The Assyrians pursued him and took Thebes, whose name was added to a long list of cities plundered and destroyed by the Assyrians, as Ashurbanipal wrote: This city, the whole of it, I conquered it with the help of Ashur and Ishtar. Its true. I have long had the ambition to write a book about the ancient Greek city of Thebes, partly because for lengthy periods it was the capital of a federal regional system, partly because for a time (371-362 BC) it was the most powerful and influential city in all Greece, and partly because it produced some quite remarkable individuals who deserve to be better known. The first verse of Pindars first Olympian Ode famously begins: 'Best is water . However, at one point in time this was the most powerful city in ancient Greece. The myth that forms the basis for Thebes's fame begins with the son of Poseidon and the sea goddess Amphitrite, Triptolemos. Watch the exchange between self-blinded Oedipus and Creon in Sophocles' Greek tragedy, This article was most recently revised and updated by, From Athena to Zeus: Basics of Greek Mythology, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oedipus-Greek-mythology, Anciet Origins - The Mother of All Myths: Oedipus, The Story of the King of Thebes, Perseus Digital Library - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology - Oe'dipus, World History Encyclopedia - Oedipus the King, Oedipus - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). This would directly put Thebes on a trajectory to fight with Sparta. For a brief period in the reign of Amenhotep III's son Akhenaten (13511334 BC), Thebes fell on hard times; the city was abandoned by the court, and the worship of Amun was proscribed. In reward, he received the throne of Thebes and the hand of the widowed queen, his mother, Jocasta. They are welcomed by the king of Thebes, Menoeceus, who promises to marry his daughter Creusa to anyone who can beat him in a wrestling match. Thebes was a little north of Athens, in central Greece. Mythology: founded by Cadmus; the citadel is called "Cadmeia" and was inhabited since the third millennium BCE. Towards the end of the third century BC, Hugronaphor (Horwennefer), possibly of Nubian origin, led a revolt against the Ptolemies in Upper Egypt. Indeed, Pronomus from Thebes impacted and helped shape the high culture of ancient Greece. Although no buildings survive in Thebes older than portions of the Karnak temple complex that may date from the Middle Kingdom, the lower part of a statue of Pharaoh Nyuserre of the 5th Dynasty has been found in Karnak. Here the Spartans would attempt to use their right wing to push back the Theban troops. The city's power declined after the Peloponnesian War but recovered under the Roman Empire when it became a major religious center. Thebes Information Homer, the Greek poet, wrote of Thebes' prosperity in The Iliad. Home Poetry What is Thebes, Greece known for? Located in the Boeotia region of central Greece, Thebes is a city steeped in the ancient Greek myths and its gods. Pindar, one of the great Ancient Greek poets, came from Thebes. This is probably not the same place as here. Cadmus is supposed to have brought the Cadmean lettersthe alphabetto Greece. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. In legend Thebes can seem like a dark place: polluted with plague, Oedipal patricide and incest and civil war between brothers (the Seven Against Thebes); or maybe it is a crossroads, with a female monster, the Sphinx, at its center, asking her lethal riddle with a flick of her tail. Second, in 335 the city of Thebes was nearly obliterated, and, although it was resurrected twenty years later, it never regained its previous fame or quality. [27], Control of local affairs tended to come more and more into the hands of the High Priests of Amun, so that during the Third Intermediate Period, the High Priest of Amun exerted absolute power over the South, a counterbalance to the 21st and 22nd Dynasty kings who ruled from the Delta. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Thebes maintained its revenues and prestige through the reigns of Seti I (12901279 BC) and Ramesses II (12791213 BC), who still resided for part of every year in Thebes. In the interpretatio graeca, Amun was rendered as Zeus Ammon. Pronomus came from a family of musicians, but he was the most famous, and, whats more, he achieved his fame on the toughest of stages the theatre of Dionysus at Athens! After his death, his son Tutankhamun returned the capital to Memphis,[29] but renewed building projects at Thebes produced even more glorious temples and shrines. If Thebess period of hegemony was briefbarely a decadeit also changed the course of the ancient world. Indeed, even the mythical Hercules, the half-man half-god and son of Zeus, was born in this ancient city of lore. The major festivals among these, according to the Edfu Geographical Text, were: the Beautiful Feast of Opet, the Khoiak (Festival), Festival of I Shemu, and Festival of II Shemu. As a natural consequence, the city was laid in a northeastsouthwest axis parallel to the contemporary river channel. History tells us that Thebes was originally of Greek origin and was there before the dark ages. For a period of nine years Thebes was the most dominant city state in the region. Fred Edlin is a man of many passions, and he has written about them all. Christianity came to Thebes in A.D. 250 and remained there until Saint Paul sent missionaries to Athens instead. Peta Stamper 14 May 2021 Image Credit: Shutterstock About Thebes Myth and legend surround the once powerful and influential ancient city of Thebes; birthplace of ancient Greek hero Hercules. Athens, Sparta and various other Greek city-states abandoned the rebellion and left Thebes to defend Greek freedom on their own. What makes Thebes so unique? Fred's interests include but are not limited to: teaching, writing, publishing, storytelling, and journalism. 750 BC) Thebes was in fact an important city in the Mycenean Bronze Age though maybe it was smaller than Athens, Sparta, and Corinth. At the watershed Battle of Leuctra in 371 B.C., Epaminondas made a radical shift, placing his strongest fighters (his special force, the Sacred Band) on the left flank, to face the prime Spartan fighters. 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