1. Introduction

Since ancient times, the site of Thebes was criss-crossed by routes from north Attica and Tanagra, from Chalcis, from northern Greece through Locris, from western Greece through Delphi and from the Peloponnese and the Isthmus through Megaris. The city’s domain included the Aonion and the Tenerian plains to the west; nowadays these form the fertile plateau of Thebes, while the city also controlled part of Parasopea to the south. In general it has been observed that Boeotia was always divided, due to its terrain and historical circumstances, into two ‘zones’ defined by the antagonism between its two most powerful cities. Thebes was always one of these two cities, while in northern Boeotia its rivals were the city of Orchomenus and later Lebadea.

2. Prehistoric finds and mythological

Although fragmentary, the existing evidence suggest habitation as early as the Neolithic period (at the site Pyri, close to the Kabeirion) and between the late Early Helladic and the end of the Bronze Age (c. 2100 - 1200 BC) the settlement grew and became more powerful, reaching its heyday in the Mycenaean period (1600-1200 BC). The Mycenaean palace of this period (14th-13th cent. BC) was one of the most important Mycenaean administrative centres in mainland Greece. Parts of this palace have been excavated; it is situated in the middle of the city’s acropolis, Cadmea (named after Cadmus, the legendary founder of the city). Few meters to the south of this palace, sections of a second, slightly later, Mycenaean palace have come to light. On the basis of the fragmentary evidence, according to the prevalent view the earlier palace should be dated to the 14th cent. BC. It was destroyed in a fire in the early 13th century, and was subsequently rebuilt with a different orientation and destroyed again late in the same century. Among the most important finds are murals and pottery, as well as hundreds of Linear B clay tablets. Part of the acropolis’ fortifications has been excavated, while a number of chamber tombs has been discovered at the feet of the hill around the walled acropolis, at the site called Kolonaki (S), the hill Megalo Kastelli (NE – where the monumental tomb of ‘Oedipus Children’ is found, that in a later architectural phase it was decorated with impressive murals) and southeast of the Temple of Apollo Ismenios.

Clues for the history of that period can be gleaned, to an extent, from the myths concerning Thebes. According to the myth, Cadmus, the son of the Phoenician king, reached the area of Thebes during his wanderings as he was searching for his sister Europa, who had been abducted by Zeus; he founded the city obeying an oracle from Delphi. This has been dated to various periods: the Mycenaean period; the 8th cent. BC; and to the transitional period between Early Helladic III and Early Helladic III, when significant growth is attested at Thebes. In terms of the origins of the influences that triggered this growth, two places have been suggested: Cyclades and Crete. Cadmus was also an ancestor of Dionysus, whose mother, Semele, was Cadmus’ daughter. The clash of Dionysus with Pentheus, the mortal grandson of Cadmus and king of Thebes, is the subject of Euripides tragedy Bacchae. Cadmus’ Phoenician ancestry is probably to be correlated with the view that Thebes introduced the alphabet to Greece, as mentioned in Herodotus. Other important mythical figures connected with Thebes were also the twin sons of Antiope, Zethus and Amphion, who were credited with the construction of the city’s fortifications; the city was named after Thebe, the daughter of the mythical king Asopus and spouse of Zethus. Amphion was married to Niobe. Pausanias mentions among else the tombs of Amphion and Zethus, as well as those of Niobe’s descendants. Another important legendary figure apparently connected with Thebes, and possibly echoing an antagonism with Argos (this is also evident in the Seven Against Thebes) is Hercules. The cult of Hercules at Thebes, and in Boeotia in general, appeared quite early and was in certain respects connected with the cult of Hercules Idaeus from Crete; it was quite popular and constituted a tradition parallel to the more widespread cycle of myths pertaining to the Argive Hercules. The Theban Hercules is described as the leader of a series of victorious Theban campaigns against Orchomenus – this suggests ae hostility between these two powerful Boeotian cities. The Pan-Hellenic games in honour of Hercules continued to attract people to Thebes as late as the Roman era, when the city had dwindled and had lost its leading role. Finally, the dynasty of the Labdacids (Labdacus, Laius, Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices, Creon and Laodamas), has been correlated with the heyday of Mycenaean Thebes, during which the second palace was constructed and later destroyed.

3. Antiquity

3.1. Thebes’ hegemonic ambitions

In the late 6th cent. BC, Thebes, which on the basis of burials seems to have been continuously inhabited, emerged as the head of the Boeotian League, which did not include its rival, Orchomenus. Thebes also clashed with Athens; the Athenians managed to wrest the strategically important city of Plataea from the League in 519 (or 509) BC. In the Persian Wars, Thebes yielded to the Persians, although 400 Thebans participated in the Battle of Thermopylae along the Spartan troops. Following the defeat of the Persians at Plataea in 479, the Greeks besieged Thebes and demanded the leaders of the pro-Persian group be handed to them. Sparta and Thebes became allies in 457 BC, in the context of Sparta’s anti-Athenian strategy in Central Greece; this deepened the enmity between Thebes and Athens, with the latter invading Boeotia. Only after 10 years did the Thebans manage to turn the tables in the Battle of Coronea (447 BC). Thebes regained its pre-eminence in the Boeotian League, while with the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, in which Thebes sided with the Spartans, it found the opportunity to capture Plataea, an ally of Athens, thus consolidating even further its position in the League and Boeotia. After the end of the war, however, alliances changed, and in the Corinthian War (395 BC), Thebes and the Boeotian League were allied with Athens, Argos and Corinth against Sparta. With the Peace of Antalcidas (387 BC), however, Sparta gained the upper hand and demanded the dissolution of the League. Five years later, Sparta launched a surprise attack on Thebes and installed a garrison in the acropolis of Cadmea.

In 379 BC the Thebans managed to oust the Spartan garrison and established a democratic regime; they proceeded to re-establish the Boeotian League, and managed to gain its control. In later years they begun asserting their supremacy over the whole of Greece. Epaminondas defeated the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra in 371, yet the hegemony of Thebes under Epaminondas and Pelopidas was to be short-lived: the death of Epaminondas in the Battle of Mantinea in 362 BC marked its end. The 10-year Sacred War against Phocis (356-346 BC) further weakened Thebes, while Philip II of Macedon took advantage of this clash to increase his own influence: the Thebans opposed him in 338 BC, but they were vanquished in the Battle of Chaeronea. In 335 BC, Thebes revolted against Alexander the Great; in this it was encouraged among else by Demosthenes, who sought to forge a Theban-Athenian alliance against Macedonian rule. Alexander ordered the city be levelled, while its inhabitants were sold off into slavery; according to a tradition, only Pindar’s house remained intact, as a token of the respect the great general felt for the celebrated Theban poet.

3.2. Monuments of Classical Thebes

Among the Classical era monuments that have been excavated at Thebes is the Temple of Apollo Ismenios; its remains are located on the hill between the cemetery of Thebes (Ayios Loukas) and the Electran Gates. The cult of Apollo, together with that of Demeter Thesmophoros, was among the most important at Thebes. The temple was probably erected in the 4th century over the earlier Archaic and Geometric period temple. Fourth cent. BC burials have been found at the site Tachi, which is identified as Potnies, a centre for the cult of Demeter and Kore at Thebes in historic and possibly in Mycenaean times; this is also attested by Pausanias.

In 316 BC, Cassander rebuilt Thebes; the towers of the Electran Gates date to this period – of the seven gates of Thebes (known through the mythological tradition) these are the only ones whose remains have been preserved. In the 2nd and 1st cent. BC the Kabeirion Temple was renovated and expanded; it survives 6 km west of Thebes, and the sanctuary’s earliest remains date to the 6th cent. BC.

The mystery cult of the Kabeiroi -deities which in Thebes were connected with Demeter and Prometheus- is attested in the city at least since the Archaic period and persisted until the 4th cent. AD. Their sanctuary, pottery shards unearthed under which suggest habitation since the Neolithic period, came to light in 1887, and the excavations were resumed in the 1950s and 1960s. The sanctuary was surrounded by a stone enclosure, which in the 2nd cent. BC was expanded to the east so as to embrace the Theatre, built in the Hellenistic period (3rd-1st cent. BC). To the SE of the theatre the sanctuary also included the stoa, measuring 40 m in length. This dates to the mid-1st cent. BC. There are also several circular or ellipsoid spaces; these were used for blood sacrifices and purification rituals. The larger of these spaces, which was probably not roofed, is located between the temple and the stoa and dates to the late 5th cent. BC.

4. From Late Antiquity to the Dark Ages

During the Hellenistic and Roman periods Thebes did not regain its former splendour and power. It was destroyed by the Romans in 146 and again in 86 BC, and the settlement was confined to the area of the Cadmea. The city’s decline in the Roman period was gradually reversed in the Early Byzantine period, when Thebes entered a phase of renewed growth. Barbarian raids, especially those of Alaric’s Goths in 396 BC following the death of Theodosius I, contributed to the relocation of the population behind the city's walls, which provided protection. When the empire’s economy life became stable, economic growth prospects for Boeotia multiplied.

Civic life was organized around the dominance of Christianity, yet the religion probably had already spread here since the time of the Apostles (in Paul’s Epistle of to the Romans a certain Rufus is mentioned as bishop of Thebes, while in the Byzantine tradition Luke the Evangelist died and was buried at Thebes. In the 4th century his remains were relocated to the church of Ayioi Apostoloi (in Constantinople). Another important factor was agricultural production; it was reorganized and the lands of Thebes were farmed systematically between the 4th and the 5th cent. AD. Fragments from mosaic floors in the Archaeological Museum of Thebes, catacombs and part of the apse of an Early Christian church housing the sarcophagus of Luke the Evangelist (incorporated nowadays in the later church of Evangelistis Loukas at Thebes) represent all that remains of the city's Early Christian period.

The city experienced significant growth in the 6th century. The settlement of Slavic tribes in the mountainous area of the countryside was rather peaceful and did not cause significant reactions, as it served the general interest of the area. The lack of information on civic life at Thebes during the 6th and 7th centuries is not unrelated to the subsumption of the churches of the Eastern Illyrian theme to the papal throne at Rome, following an edict by Justinian I (535).

The decline of economic activities observed in many other cities of the empire in the 7th century can also be seen at Thebes. The settlement dwindled and was confined to the hill of Cadmea, while there is evidence that part of the city remained desolate for a long period. In the late 8th cent., however, Thebes, now undoubtedly the foremost city in Byzantine Boeotia and one of the most important in Greece, exited the ‘Dark Ages’ as an independent archdiocese, whereas in the Early Byzantine period it was subsumed to that of Corinth. This change should arguably be correlated with the creation of the province of Hellas in the 7th century, with Thebes as its administrative capital.

5. Middle Ages: from Byzantium to Frankish rule

The recovery of urban centres in the 9th cent., following a long period of decline, is also attested in Boeotia where, among else, Thebes becomes the seat of the theme of Hellas, while significant building projects are attested in the area; the church of Ayios Gregorios (built in 871/2) dates to this period, as does the church of Panayia Skripou at Orchomenus. The revitalization of the cities was accompanied by signs of recovery in the agrarian economy. Numismatic evidence on Thebes confirms this picture of recovery. It has been argued (but this view has met limited approval) that in the 9th century a mint operated at Thebes. Under the Macedonian dynasty the population of the area of Thebes increased; the area became the home of powerful landowners, and through the introduction of intensive farming new lands begun being cultivated. For the 11th century, the famous land register of Thebes, constitutes one of the most important surviving sources on Byzantine Thebes and Boeotia in general, and indicates a significant rise in the demand for land. Agriculture and animal husbandry were the main pylons on which the city’s growth rested.

Apart from this, Thebes’ significant economic and social resurgence in the Byzantine period can be attributed to the continuous growth of silk production, which turned the city into a centre for textiles and an important commercial centre for the empire’s European provinces. As such, it attracted Jewish, Armenian, Venetian and other merchants who further contributed to its economic boom. Especially for the Jews, the sources reveal the existence of an important Jewish community in the city, whose members were considered fine craftsmen in silk textile decoration. According to Byzantine sources, the silk garments produced at Thebes were of exquisite quality and were frequently mentioned as imperial gifts. The plain of Thebes was lush with mulberry trees for growing silkworms, and this is the origin of its place name ‘Morokampos’ which survives to date.

A turning point for Thebes came in 1147, when the Normans of Roger II sacked the city. Thebes was pillaged, many of its inhabitants, specialists in silk production, were captured and relocated to Sicily, where, together with other captives from Corinth, they helped strengthen local silk production. Notwithstanding this disaster and its unavoidable consequences, Thebes in the 12th century continued to experience economic growth, with the presence of the Venetian and Jewish element remaining strong (Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the city late in the 1160s, described a community of 2000 Jews). Furthermore, thanks to the privileges Genoa secured from Manuel I, a significant Genovese community developed at Thebes. In the second half of the 12th cent. the metropolitan Ioannes Kaloktenis became an emblematic figure and later patron saint of Thebes. During this century the religious ‘Confraternity of Panayia Nafpaktiotissa’ flourished in the city; it was connected with the 12th century church of Ayia Fotini (its remains are preserved beneath a later church of 1958), and with the famous Monastery of Hosios Loukas.

In the late 12th century Thebes belonged to the domain of Leo Sgouros, lord of Argos and Nauplion. After the sack of Constantinople by the troops of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and the onset of the crusaders in southern Greece, Thebes was given to Boniface of Montferrat and then, together with the rest of Boeotia, part of Locris, Attica and the Megaris, to Otto de la Roche. It soon became one of the foremost cities in the Burgundian Duchy of Athens and Thebes and a revitalized economic and commercial hub, also the seat of a Latin archbishop. During this period, Nicholas de Saint Omer constructed in Cadmea the castle of Thebes; it was renown, among else, for its murals depicting the battles of the Franks in Palestine. Of this castle, which was demolished after the sack of the city by the Catalan Company (1311), two towers survive, one of which is nowadays found in the courtyard of the Archaeological Museum of Thebes (Tower of Saint Omer) together with few fragmentary remains. Notwithstanding the disaster visited by the sack of the Catalans, Thebes remained important in the Catalan duchy. In the second half of the 14th century Thebes, together with Lebadea and Athens, are mentioned as having sent emissaries (probably notable merchants) to represent them in the Catalan assembly. In 1379 the -unfortified- city of Thebes fell to the hands of the Navarrese mercenaries of the Florentine Nerio I Acciauoli, who gradually expanded and secured his domain which included the lands of Attica, Boeotia and Phocis. By 1394 already, however, Acciaioli had become a vassal of the Ottoman sultan Bajazet I.

6. Ottoman Thebes

In 1435 Thebes fell to the hands of the Ottomans. During this tumultuous period of constant clashes between the Catalans, the Acciaioli, the Venetians and the Ottomans, the settlement of Arvanites in the area represented an attempt to increase the population and the military strength of the dukes and then the Ottomans. Large numbers of Arvanites settled in the villages around Thebes, whereas in the tax records Thebes itself is recorded as a Greek city. In the late 15th century, Thebes was a city with a significant number of inhabitants for the standards of the Balkan Peninsula and was the administrative and military centre of its kaza. Its economy was largely agrarian, the important crops being cereal (wheat, barley), legumes (broad beans, lentils), cotton, linen and wine. Commercial activities and the output of workshops also constituted important sources of income. The local kanunames recorded the procedure for entering and making transactions, the rules for the operation of the slaughter houses, the variety of agricultural produce and textiles on offer, the annual animal fair etc., thus providing us with a vivid picture of a bustling, always open market. The harbour of Livadostra was its port for exporting agricultural produce. Thebes’ growing economy was probably one of the most important attractions for incomers, and according to the censuses, the population of Thebes almost tripled between 1466 and 1570: from 487 it reached 1497 households. On the contrary, in the 17th century Boeotia became depopulated; this could be attributed to political pressures and the economic crisis in the Ottoman Empire and negative repercussions on the agrarian economy which also affected Thebes. Despite these facts, for foreign travellers Thebes in the 17th century remained a densely populated city, where living conditions were described rather favourably, as compared with the Boeotian countryside and Athens of that period.

Very little remains from that period. A depiction of the city has been preserved on a movable icon of St Luke the Evangelist (late 17th or 18th century), which is nowadays kept in the city’s metropolitan church. In this depiction, in reality a detail on the icon, an imposing mosque stands out – this could be the mosque of Egribozlu Ahmed Pasha which so impressed the Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi. In general, through the accounts of Evliya Çelebi and those of other western travellers of the same century, Thebes emerges as a city with well-built houses, mosques and churches, un-walled during this period.

7. Thebes in recent times: Greek War of Independence and the newly formed Greek state

In the first days of the Greek War of Independence, early in April of 1821, Vasilis Mpousgos acting on the orders of Athanasios Diakos captured Thebes without meeting resistance, as the Turks had taken refuge at Chalcis with their families. The revolutionaries captured a height called Anephorites, and following the return of the Ottoman garrison at the city, they launched attacks until June 1821, when Omer Vrioni recaptured Thebes for the Ottomans and scattered the remaining rebels. In the following years the Boeotian chieftains refrained from attacking Thebes for tactical reasons; taking control of the nearby villages, they gradually rendered the garrison of Thebes ineffective and, on the other hand, they deemed the capture of Thebes would lead the Ottoman authorities to mobilize a significant force against them. Groups of Theban fighters participated in various campaigns, mainly under the orders of chieftains like Athanasios and Georgios Skourtaniotis (from Skourta of the Dervenochoria). Georgios Skourtaniotis cooperated closely with Demetrios Ipsilantis in 1829 in the assault to capture Thebes, when holding the city had become of vital importance for laying claims to the lands of Mainland Greece that would later become part of the Greek State.

When Greece finally gained its independence, the city which had been set to fire also by Dramalis in 1822, was completely ruined. Many of its inhabitants had taken to the mountains or had sought refuge in the islands of Salamis, Chios and Tinos. When they returned, at first they settled in the suburb of Ayioi Theodoroi, and then begun setting up homes around the Tower of Saint Omer. In 1835 the Municipality of Thebes was formed; it included Thebes and the settlements Piri, Ayioi Theodoroi, Tachi, Ampelosalesi and Sirtsi; these were agrarian settlements mostly inhabited by Arvanites. In the late 19th century the city’s population increased and urbanization tendencies intensified with the settlement of Vlachs in the western part of the city; they were mainly stock farmers, merchants and artisans. The presence of Vlachs at Thebes is responsible for one of its carnival customs still practiced to date, the Vlach Wedding. This custom was revived after the 1950s. By the mid-19th century, the city’s growth had also started attracting Sarakatsans. They settled in the eastern part of the city, in the quarter of Ayioi Theodoroi; they also settled in Platanaki of Thebes, a site identified by scholars with ancient Peteon, a city mentioned in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships (according to another view Peteon should be identified with modern Mouriki).

In 1833 Thebes became the seat of one of the first three courthouses established in the domain of Hellas, and had jurisdiction over the entire eastern Greece. The diocese of Boeotia was established in the same year; it included the provinces of Thebes and Lebadea and Thebes was its seat. Following the relocation of the Greek capital to Athens, the capital’s connections with Boeotia became an issue, leading to the construction of a roadway connecting Athens with Thebes. In the same year Bavarian civil engineers created a town plan for Thebes. When in 1905 the traveller John Pentland Mahaffy visited Greece for the second time in 30 years, he thought the landscape of eastern Boeotia had changed so radically because of the railway line connecting Athens with Thebes, that he suggested an alternate route in order to avoid this “vulgar” (!) means of transportation.

The settlement of refugees at Thebes following the disaster at Asia Minor provided new stimulus to the growth of commerce, local handicrafts and new cultivations, like tobacco, in the region. In the post-war period Thebes became industrialized during the 1960s and 1970s, and in general became an industrial, commercial and administrative centre with an important agricultural economy.

The fact that the city has been inhabited continuously, the successive architectural interventions and its current dense residential grid did not allow for any exhaustive excavations. Thus, archaeological evidence on the city is inescapably fragmentary, resulting from a number of rescue and few systematic excavations. This fact severely impacted the potential of Thebes as an archaeological tourist attraction. Nowadays Thebes, together with the municipal units Vagia, Thisvi and Plataea, comprise the Municipality of Thebes. Its long history is illuminated by fragmentary archaeological remains scattered all over the city, but also by its Archaeological Museum, which is one of the most important in Greece. Among the most beautiful later churches of Thebes in the western part of its historical centre are Megali Panayia and Ayios Demetrios (1867), built over an earlier church destroyed in the 1853 earthquake. This church, a work of Ioannes and Demetrios Filippotis, incorporates in its masonry spolia from the area, relief slabs and parapets, inscriptions and columns, and the final aesthetic result is rather impressive.