Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece

by Paul Cartledge

Continuously inhabited for five millennia, and at one point the most powerful city in Ancient Greece, Thebes has been overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Athens and Sparta.
According to myth, the city was founded when Kadmos sowed dragon’s teeth into the ground and warriors sprang forth, ready not only to build the fledgling city but to defend it from all-comers. It was Hercules’ birthplace and the home of the Sphinx, whose riddle Oedipus solved, winning the Theban crown and the king’s widow in marriage, little knowing that the widow was his mother, Jocasta.
The city’s history is every bit as rich as its mythic origins, from siding with the Persian invaders when their emperor, Xerxes, set out to conquer Aegean Greece, to siding with Sparta – like Thebes an oligarchy – to defeat Pericles'
democratic Athens, to being utterly destroyed on the orders of Alexander the Great.
In Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, the acclaimed classical historian Paul Cartledge brings the city vividly to life, and argues that it is central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks’ achievements – whether politically or culturally – and thus to our own culture and civilization.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Greece, Mythology, Classics, Audiobook

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Paul Anthony Cartledge is the 1st A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge. He was educated at St Paul's School & New College, Oxford where he took his 1st degree & completed his doctoral thesis in Spartan archaeology in 1975 under Prof. Sir John Boardman. After a period at the University of Warwick he moved in 10/79 to Cambridge University where he's a fellow of Clare College.
He's a world expert on Athens & Sparta in the Classical Age & has been described as a Laconophile. He was chief historical consultant for the BBC TV series The Greeks & the Channel 4 series The Spartans, presented by Bettany Hughes. He's also a holder of the Gold Cross of the Order of Honour & an Honorary Citizen of modern Sparta. Besides the Leventis Professorship, he holds a visiting Global Distinguished Professorship at New York University, funded by the Greek Parliament.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride... until now.

Thebes is the much neglected third in the Athens, Sparta, Thebes trio, critical to Ancient Greek politics and culture, but rarely taking centre stage, save perhaps in its role in Greek Tragedy. That's certainly where I first came to Thebes, with Oedipus and Antigone as my guides. Here Cartledge builds those foundations to offer a thorough exploration of the Thebes' history, despite the limitations of the Theban historical record. I don't know nearly enough about the sources to offer any kind of critical engagement with the arguments, but for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the period, there's no better place to start than here.

Comprehensive and entertaining, though made challenging by Cartledge’s style. As always.

ARC via Netgalley

[Ozymandias · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a long-needed volume about a city that too often takes a backseat to attention-hogging poleis like Athens and Sparta. Thebes was one of the big three cities of the Classical Greek era, and the last, as well as probably the most significant city for Greek myth and legend. Thebes was old. So I was very excited to see this book appear. I’m a bit less enthused now as its not quite the book I was hoping for.

The book is conversational in tone, something a scholar can get away with once safely retired. Cartledge has a deep familiarity with his subject and can pull off rather casual references to scholastic questions of great importance. It’s also very breezy tonally. We see phrases such as “spoiler alert” and “the Thebans and Boeotians took up arms against a sea of Phocian troubles.” Cartledge loves comparing Greek events to modern references. Also ones that may be more obscure, such as describing Alexander’s eastern expedition as a Drang nach Osten (for you WW2 fans).

So long as this casual tone feels like a pleasant chat over a pint at the pub all is well. But the downside is that this casual approach leads to constant digressions of an often irrelevant and distracting nature. Does it really matter that heracleum mantegazzianum is the scientific name for giant hogweed? Or that this would have offended the Thebans? Do we really need a whole paragraph establishing that Alexander spared Pindar’s descendants during his sack of Thebes rather than Simonides’ because Pindar was the one who had family in Thebes? Or the story of Hadrian and how he deified his lover Antinous 400 years after this? This constant chasing after random facts at the expense of the topic of hand shows a real lack of narrative discipline and can be very frustrating.

There’s also a lot of repetition. Sometimes he makes exactly the same point multiple times throughout the book. There’s also a lot of repetition. Sometimes he makes exactly the same point multiple times throughout the book. Example: he introduces the “fact” that the Greeks called the Persians Medes as a form of mockery twice. And he introduces the other “fact” that the Romans did likewise with the word Greek (Graecus) on two separate occasions. Not sure why this specific point (really the same one) gets mentioned on five separate occasions, but it also seems oddly polemic. Are we deliberately mocking the Hellenes by calling them Greek? If not, then why must the Romans have been? Graeci comes from the tribes in Epirus who were the first Greeks that the Romans encountered, just like the Turks and Arabs call Greeks some variation of Ionian, which was the closest tribe to them. This seems a very odd hill to die on (no fewer than five times).

On a more substantive note, the book seems to be built not so much around a description of Thebes as a recounting of Greek history with the emphasis placed on Thebes’ role in it. The focus is very tight on the most popular sources. These sources are introduced and discussed in detail, with the Theban role emphasized. Which leads us to a long chapter on Athenian plays set in Thebes and others recounting Thucydides and Xenophon with the emphasis on how important Thebes was often taking second fiddle to details about the authors themselves. It feels unimaginative. The chapter division can be curious. The (relatively minor) Theban role in the Peloponnesian War gets a full 51 pages while the period of Theban dominance gets only 30 and the final sack of Thebes a mere seven (why even make that an independent chapter?).

There were elements I liked. I found the idea that the Boeotians, like the Arcadians, saw themselves more as an ethnos than most Greeks. Greek poleis in general had very narrow ideas on citizenship which prevented them from growing into empires the way Rome or Macedon would. The cities of Boeotia having a sense of shared identity (one by no means exclusively dominated by Thebes) explains a lot about why Thebes feels different from Athens or Sparta. And the summary approach may well be good for someone unfamiliar with Greek history.

I was disappointed with the way this book chose to approach its topic, but if this can encourage casual readers to consider Thebes’ role in Greek history then it’s a good book to have. Maybe the scattershot, kitten with a laser beam approach will strike people more like chatting with a bloke in a pub than someone who just can’t discipline their enthusiasms. I personally did not think it worked and I feel, sadly, that this book offers relatively little for those already familiar with Greek history. There’s a lot that can be said about Thebes as a polis and a culture, but that looks like it will have to wait for another day.

[Stephanie (Bookfever) · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, wow… I read this book in only three days which is pretty damn for me with a 320 page nonfiction about ancient Greece. Sure, it isn’t the longest book I’ve ever read but the topic is a rather heavy and complex one so finishing it this fast actually surprised me.

Paul Cartledge covers a lot of ground with this latest new book of his. From pre-history to classical Thebes (don’t confuse it with the Egyptian city of the same name) to the downfall and a lot more in between and after. I didn’t know a whole lot about ancient Thebes so it was all highly fascinating and I was very eager so soak up all the knowledge. It made me want to read more titles from the author as well.

I do feel like readers will enjoy reading this more if they already have an interest in this sort of book like I did since the topic in general is a lot and because of the compexity about the ancient world in general. Of course if you just want to learn more about ancient Greece then this is a great book too. It was definitely a surprising one, that’s for sure.

I also really want to buy a physical copy of this book once it releases since I read this as an e-ARC from Edelweiss and because of this I couldn’t see the illustrations and I’m sure they would make this an ever better read.

Overall, I was completely hooked by the fascinating history of the ancient city of Thebes. I could hardly put the book down, it was interesting and a fast read. I couldn’t have wanted more from a nonfiction like this one.

[Susan Paxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this a great deal more than I did. There's one chapter that just sings - chapter 9, which covers that brief instant when Thebes really comes into focus historically, the time of Epimanondas. But the book suffers badly from too much of it being based on conjecture, what other people thought about Thebes, and sheer guesswork, and Cartledge needed serious editing. If you're interested in the subject it's well worth reading, but be prepared for flaws.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why waste your time with euphoric fedora wearing Athens (virgin) or edgy spiked collar Sparta (also virgin) when you can ride the homo rainbow to Chad Thebes?

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed history of the city of Thebes including a study of its many myths and legends, its many ups and downs, and its many swings of fortune, where Thebes didn't always think in the most politically astute way.

As a result, Thebes was largely overshadowed by Athens and Sparta throughout most of its history.

And then...Gorgidas founds the 'Sacred Band' of 300 warriors in 378 BC. Together with the outstanding general Epaminondas these warriors are instrumental in seeing off the Spartans at the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC and Thebes gains the ascendancy in mainland which lasts....nine years.

Philip of Macedon is held hostage in the earlier years of the 360s BC. Epaminondas is killed at the second battle of Mantinea in 362 BC. Events begin to go downhill, culminating in the near complete annihilation of the city by Alexander III ('The Great') of Macedon in 335 BC, presumably because they'd held Alexander's father hostage thirty years earlier.

This is a wonderfully literate book about a city that would come a distant third to Athens and Sparta in terms of historical significance in most people's minds. This book sets the record straight.

[Aryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are anything like me, your last lectures on Ancient Greece occurred many years ago, focused on Athens and Sparta, and have dissolved into a bit of a fog. My knowledge of the city of Thebes was limited to references in Disney’s Hercules. But I’m always on the lookout for new information, so this book covering the rise and fall of historical Thebes, as well as Thebes of myth, sounded promising. I was expecting a work along the lines of Mary Beard’s SPQR: decidedly grounded in academic fact, but approachable by the armchair historian who knows very little. Thebes is not that book. Cartledge is obviously an expert on his subject, but he assumes a relatively high level of familiarity with Ancient Greece and Grecians. The ARC I received as an ebook did not have the maps, illustrations, or pictures, and therefore I can’t comment on how those might help readers who don’t already know quite a bit about the geography and history of the region. The overall tone and style are highly academic, including a stereotypical lack of clarity and confusing cross-references within the text.

I can’t recommend this to general readers, but I can see it as a candidate for individuals who have read deeply and broadly about Ancient Greece, or for use in an academic setting.

I received a copy of this work from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

[Veronica Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thebes By Paul Cartledge gets three stars because it will go on to a deep detailed explanation great right? Then it will say we will put this on pause and come back to this another time. It jumps around a lot back and forth alot which can get quite confusing to the reader at least me. I'm a huge fan of greek and roman history and myths and comparatives so that's why it gets still a good rating. ( actually it would be 3.5) Since I don't mind the academic feeling of books. This arc was given to me by net galley in exchange for an honest review.

[Monty Milne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure it’s quite fair to call Thebes “forgotten” – everyone has heard of Oedipus, its most famous native. But certainly Thebes has been overshadowed by Athens and Sparta. And the fact that the Egyptians had a big and important city also called Thebes doesn’t help.

This is an excellent and in depth study which gives a good account not only of the history of the ancient Greek city state but also its importance in mythology and its cultural after life. This is surprisingly long and includes Chaucer, Walter Raleigh, Ingres, and the Nazis. (Walter Raleigh thought Epaminondas “worthiest of all Greeks”, and gay Nazis excused their practices with reference to the famed Theban Sacred Band formed of pairs of warrior lovers).

Thebes was situated on the Boeotian plains which were much better for horse breeding than most other parts of Greece. Theban cavalry were consequently of better quality and quantity than their rivals. But the classical Greek shield-and-spear armed hoplite was still the basis of Theban military might, and certainly under the all too brief rule of Epaminondas they were the most effective in all Greece. Epaminondas – noble, brave, incorruptible and ascetic – died unmarried (most unusually for a Greek – but not so unusually perhaps when one considers he was a former captain of the Sacred Band). When others bewailed his lack of heirs he contradicted them, saying he left two daughters – Leuctra and Mantinea. These were his most famous victories. Nine years after his death, Alexander the Great ended Theban power for good. Theban hegemony was very short lived, but not so the fame of Epaminondas: two thousand years later, Montaigne would call him one of the three “worthiest and most excellent men” who ever lived.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

When one things of ancient Thebes, it usually the Egyptian city that usually comes to mind but there was a city in the Boeotia region which was the strip of land north of Athens and the Attica region as well as blocking the Laconia/Sparta as well as Corinth and others from travelling to the north into Thessaly, Macedonia and even the Oracle of Delphi.

Long overshadowed by the two major cities of Athens and Sparta as well as being an ally that many times chose the wrong polis to back - which in many cases led to the city itself being devastated - there were also times when Thebes was the head of an hegemony of Boeotian towns and cities. Cartledge reveals this city's history as well as the interactions with it's neighbors over various centuries up through and including Alexander of Macedonia.

The author does try to show the differences between the Thebes of history and the Thebes of myth - made harder as many sources are bare scraps or long lost with the only knowledge of their existence being referred to in other resources. The only real negative I can see is that sometimes, in his attempt to clarify or compare customs, traditions or alliances, Cartledge focuses perhaps a bit too long on other locales.

But it is a good resource and enlightening but might be beyond what the most general reader may want.

2021-269

[Ron Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-written book on ancient Greece (i.e., this is not a book about the Thebes in ancient Egypt). The fact that it was well-reviewed by Bettany Hughes, for whom I’ve had a mad crush for more than two decades, of course had nothing to do with my liking it! 😀

Among his many other writings, Cartledge penned a 2004 book on The Spartans, which I prefer, but, like that book, this one on Thebes is nicely illustrated.

A great deal of the history of ancient Greece centres on the alliances, intrigues, and mutual treachery among Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and their sometime allies. Probably because Thebes produced no great historians, Thebes is treated in most histories like an object. So Cartledge’s subtitle, “The Forgotten City,” is apt, and it was good to read about the city as an independent historical actor. There is still, of course, much inevitable overlap with general histories of ancient Greece.

Thebes was at the centre of a great deal of Greek mythology, including the stories of Herakles, Oedipus, Dionysus, and Cadmus. It was home to the poet Pindar. At various times it was the political leader of the Boeotian Federation, more of an oligarchy rather than a democracy, a much-feared military rival with its famed Sacred Band of Thebes, and widely reviled for siding with Xerxes I in his 480 BCE invasion of Greece. It was eventually razed by Alexander the Great in 335 BCE, though it continues as a city of 30,000 people to this day. Cartledge does a nice job of reviewing the modern academic literature on Thebes and gives a good overview of modern art productions related to the history of Thebes and its mythology.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC in a goodreads giveaway. This was a well researched book on a location in Greece of both historical and mythological significance: Thebes. For a small book it’s packed full of details. I don’t have much knowledge of this location or time period and couldn’t help but think I might have gotten more out of the book if I had. It didn’t read like a book for a general audience, but instead an academic one already at least somewhat versed in history. Though in general an interesting topic with some fascinating sections there were also long sections I found very slow and sometimes uninteresting, and so it took far longer than it normally would to read a book of this length. But for those interested in ancient Greek history who enjoy academic works and who thrive in historic details, this is a book you might enjoy.

[ExtraGravy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book did what it set out to do. No complaints. Enjoyed learning about Thebes. I wish there were deep dive books like this for many more "forgotten" cities of the time period.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was in one ear and out the other for me. I retained so little, that I ended up skimming it more than reading it. One thing I got out of skimming: Back in grad school we learned that most academic works of history have a short cut that let's you break down a book easier. Just read the intro & conclusion of each chapter, and the first sentence of every paragraph for the rest of the chapter to get the general gist. Well, Cartledge is clearly an academic, but this book doesn't follow that easy-to-skim written style. Mind you, if you read every word, it's still a chore to sit through. So it isn't well-written enough to be pop history and isn't easy to skim as academic works often are - the worst of both worlds. No wonder I had trouble retaining anything.

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Athony Cartledge’s Thebes: The Forgtten City of Ancient Greece is a comprehensive look at the ancient Boeotian city from the Bronze Age to the beginning of the Hellenistic Age. As a Classics MA I am family with Cartledge’s work, especially his work on Alexander the Great. I was excited to see this book had come out as I have been researching Thebes for the last three years. While much of what I have read in this book I had come across in my earlier research, Cartledge has the unique talent of making this information not only accessible but enjoyable.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read on a under studied subject. It's the Crasus to Athens and Sparta's Ceasar and Pompey, but at the end of the day it was very dry. It also jumps around the timeline quite a bit which makes it that much harder to enjoy.

Good information, dry academic presentation

[Samrat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting because I came to the book interested in its topic. Otherwise, not a very engaging read. Topics are united only by chronology, without much other analysis besides pointing out when there's a Boiotian connection or, ideally, a Theban connection to an event. Still, not unenjoyable.

[Ted Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

A breezy, fun tour through Ancient Greek history with a focus on the overshadowed city-state of Thebes.

Paul Cartledge is a world expert on Athens and Sparta in the Classical Age. It was nice then that this book never felt like a chore or a lecture, but instead as other reviews have mentioned, a chat with an enthusiastic professor at the pub. Cartledge focus is more on Ancient Greek history in general than Thebes, but the city acts as a good narrative anchor so that the reader is always aware of what words and locations we should be looking out for.

To begin, Cartledge gives a pleasant overview of the ancient region of Boeotia. It's a great way to start and folds into Cartledge's argument of a Boeotian identity being prevalent in classical Greece the same way we think of Laconian Sparta. I'll admit to being a little thin on classical knowledge, but Cartledge provides enough exposition on Ancient Greece to make it easy to keep up. HIs analysis of Thucydides, Sophocles and Aeschylus are all fun and engaging, with an emphasis on 'outsiders looking in' when it comes to Thebes' foreign reputation. The most confusing aspect of this book, structural, is the dramatic difference between Cartledge's attention on the Peloponnesian War and Thebes' supposed domination. The former, with only a small part on Thebes' loyalty, is double the length of the latter, which comes far too close to the end of the history to feel as significant as perhaps it should.

However, this is not to say the book isn't worthwhile. Cartledge very effectively brings to life some fantastic stories, my particular favorites being his analysis of ancient Grecian politics and the Battle of Chaeronea. It's clear Cartledge takes favorites, which adds to the conversational quality of this text. Epaminondas gets a lot of love from the author and Cartledge pays particular attention to shining a light on the different attitudes to sexuality amongst the Theban and Sparta soldiers. He also makes a good attempt at including women, both by examining their exclusion from the political management of the polis, to their role in foreign affairs.

The most appealing part of this book may also be its biggest flaw. It's breezy and strikes quite a light tone. I loved this, and I thought Cartledge knew exactly what he was doing. But I can imagine others will have wanted a more rigorous, solemn and focused unearthing of Thebes' significance in the ancient world. Instead, this book is a good, engaging general history of Ancient Greek with a focus on Thebes. Cartledge does exactly what he sets out to do from the start and with enough wit and sensitivity to make it interesting for someone who skipped their fair share of Classics lectures.

If you can stomach long chapters and excited tangents, this is a good book for anyone with an interest in Ancient Greece. It has strong source analysis, easy to follow exposition and a fascinating city at its heart.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent history of Thebes, a powerful Greek city state and for a decade in the third century BC, the most powerful state in Greece. Generally put in the shade by its better known rivals Athens and Sparta, Thebes was an important center both in its own right and in the myths and art of the rest of Greece. I learned quite a lot about it, it actually helps to have an in depth portrait of a city other than Athens and Sparta to see what set them apart. Thebes is interesting in that during the course of its political life it had both oligarchic and democratic governments and, at one point, it fought wars with Sparta to free the Helots. It's destruction by Alexander was the end of the Greek city state era. It was also interesting to learn that Thebes served as a kind of foil for Athens within the culture of Athens itself. Oedipus and Antigone are both set in Thebes and it was possible because Thebes had sided with the Persians in the Persian wars (though some volunteers did also fight for the Greeks, including at Thermopyle. So Sophocles could set his plays there and the audience would not be too insulted that he was talking about them as well. The cultural life of Thebes has lived on though these plays and others in ways that might surprise even a knowledgable reader. Truly enjoyable.

[Linniegayl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because most of my knowledge of ancient Greece is focused on Athens, and to a lesser extent Sparta. What little I know about Thebes is its mention as the home for many myths. This book provides a nice overview of Greek history, with as some others have mentioned, an "emphasis" on Thebes. However, it does not read like the history of Thebes.

Overall, this just wasn't quite what I was looking for. I will say it's easy to read, and doesn't require a lot of prior knowledge of Greek history.

[Matt McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cartledge tells the story of historical Thebes well and the reader gains, at the same time, a better appreciation for Greek history. Aristotle's maxims concerns the changing fortunes of states was brought home in this book. His writing is clear, factually supported and often humorous. Nothing wrong with a smile while reading.

I also appreciate that Cartledge provided me an opportunity to expand my vocabulary without it being a page after page pause to grab Websters.

[Thomas Jones]

Thebes (Greece): You took... everything from me.
Thebes (Egypt): I don't even know who you are.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thebes, as the birthplace of the great hero Herakles and the home of the terrifying Sphinx whose riddle Oedipus solved, can claim a mythic past as rich as any ancient Greek polis. Yet Thebes stands overshadowed by its rivals Athens and Sparta.

In Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece eminent Classics Professor Paul Cartledge seeks to bring Thebes out from the shadows and bring Thebes to the forefront of the ancient Greek world.

It is a fascinating angle to take. Placing Thebes at the heart of a chronological history illuminates the ancient polis and its links to the Greek mythic age, its importance to the formation of the Greek city states and the experiments in government that resulted in competition and warfare of the classical age, and finally to its Greek heyday and eventual destruction by Alexander the Great heralding the Hellenistic era.

Placing Thebes at the forefront of Ancient Greek history is a canny bit of scholarly promotion. Being the star of its own grand narrative Thebes can be viewed as a living breathing polis, brimming with its own motivations and agency that showcases Theban importance within ancient Greek mythology, religion, military and politics. All this is achieved through impeccable research that utilizes a vast array of sources, from archaeological, literary, histographic and numismatic. The Theban focus and erudite scholarship brings forth an exciting argument and a new perspective to a well-trodden path but simply because of the available historical sources the focus inevitably shifts, despite Herculean efforts, towards the more established historical focus on Athens and Sparta.

Discussing The Peloponnesian War Cartledge gives over a large amount of text to establishing the background to Sparta and Athens’ political and military conflict. It is a digression of focus that can only really portray Thebes as a bit part player to those two classical heavyweights. Likewise, where Cartledge discusses Athenian Drama, often set in mythic Thebes, the Athenian focus works to downplay Thebes more than possibly intended as, 1) it celebrates Athenian culture and 2), a clear answer as to why Athenian dramatists’ focused on Thebes is not easily deciphered.

Cartledge does, however, illustrate the important role Thebes brought to the cultural, mythic and religious Greek world, linking archaeology evidence from Thebes to the Linear B tablets and the introduction of writing, as well as discussing the importance of Thebes to the great bedrocks of Greek culture Homer and Hesiod. It is an argument that suggests Thebes, in some capacity, laid important groundwork for the future literary achievements of classical Athens. However, Thebes’ contribution is also slightly downplayed where Cartledge briefly points out that writing was restored by Euboean Islanders (so much for ‘Cadmean letters’) after the Mycenaean collapse and the Greek dark ages. That Cartledge's structure and style allows for questions to be asked, is no bad thing, for history and scholarship is at its best when the reader is provided with an argument and text that can be engaged with critically.

Either way the digressions in focus do heighten the reclamation of Thebes’ historical prominence suggesting the city’s strength (and indeed in Cartledge's mission to reposition Thebes) lies in the simple fact that Thebes managed to outlast both Sparta and Athens military and politically (if not culturally), and take advantage of an opportunity to rise in prominence, at least until Alexander The Great.

It is no wonder Cartledge begins the discussion of Thebes downfall with the Herodotean concept of peripeteia (the cyclic vagaries of power), Thebes fall from grace certainly fits that Herodotean bill, but it ever so slightly suggests Thebes was never all that. It is another wrinkle in the recovery of Theban prominence. Despite the 'Theban Hegemony' the city had to align with arch rival Athens to ward off Macedon and still failed to stave of destruction. It is another discussion where focus again falls upon Thebes’ rivals, first Phillip of Macedon and then his son Alexander. Yet, in the end Alexander never destroyed Athens or Sparta quite like he did Thebes. It’s a final subtle narrative point that suggests Cartledge's shrewdest analysis is in keeping Thebes a part of the discussion.

Thebes is the tale of a polis coming into its own, the wealth of evidence, from its place in epic poetry to depictions on pottery, from its coins to its monuments, and its rivals literary obsessions, Thebes tells of a city with a stake in its own time and through the march of history to a stake in ours.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good academic book about the forgotten city of ancient Greece, Thebes. It was a bit of a slog for me but well-written and good for those obsessed with all things ancient greek.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Cartledge, and he can generally be counted on to produce a book that is understandable to people without much grounding in the subject and still useful to people who do. This is not that book. It’s a scattered mess of bits and pieces that often have little to do with Thebes at all (a lengthy tangent on Athenian tragedy under the guise of a Theban myth actually tells the reader almost nothing about Thebes, either historic or mythic, or even how Athens saw Thebes as it is that Cartledge lacks substantive written evidence about Thebes at all). The entire last chapter has to do with reimagingings of dramas which are probably more Athenian than authentically Theban at all, and the less said about Freud the better, but Cartledge says quite a bit.

Cartledge’s scholarship is not in question, and the work he does with direct sources (either textual or archaeological) is great. It’s when he tries to stretch what remains to support a hypothesis I was never sure of that it seems remarkably strained.

[dill · Rating 4 out of 5]

You're usually in safe hands with Paul Cartledge - and this isn't an expection at all. It's a well-structured introduction to the city, it keeps a clear timeline throughout and builds on as much of a variety of evidence as we really have for the city. His takes are pretty articulate and well-argued, and I really like the tone he takes in his approach. It's overall a pretty good introduction and does raise a good few questions to explore in further research - I definitely recommend it if you're looking for somewhere to start !

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've heard Cartledge on BBC's In Our Time on several topics in the ancient Greek world, so when I saw this in Barnes and Noble I had to pick it up. I'm not a huge non-fiction reader, but I do dabble. I think the worst thing about nonfiction is that its often written for as accessible an audience as possible. Some authors pull it off really well, but others make a shitty story where there isn't one and end up with a shallow view of the topic. On the other end of the spectrum, specialized books don't get sold and even describing them to other people is a bit of a challenge. This book skirts the line well, and ends up with something I imagine is about as accessible as you can get when talking about a polis that-let alone the average person might only vaguely recall as the setting of Oedipus' story-seems to have unluckily lost its proponents and their works to the sands of time.

But first, let me share a story. As I was finishing the book, I took to sharing the details to various people in conversation. It's hard to know what to tell people about Thebes-obviously the first thing is that it's not the Egyptian Thebes. Maybe the second most common historical event people know about (excepting Oedipus) is the Peloponnesian War (PW or the Atheno-Peloponnesian war, if you prefer). However, I've begun to suspect people aren't as familiar with PW as I'd hoped and, on top of that, it's not that easy to describe Thebes' involvement in the war. After that, the more documented historical stuff is Thebes medizing in the Persian War (I'm sure people remember that!) or that it was razed by Alexander. So I sort of set myself up to mention those things and explain context if people seemed intrigued (they weren't). Then I was like well fine, if they don't want a historical angle, they aren't gonna like the associated social/religious/cultural angles of the period, at least we can go for mythology and related charter myth type deals. Everybody knows the Oedipus story, so you can mention that, but unfortunately placing it in Thebes doesnt really do a lot qua Thebes. It should! I mean, it means something to me. But I felt that it didn't really register with the average person. Then we move to the other big mythological event-no not the 7 against Thebes, you cheeky cur-Cadmus! Yes the first founding, or rather the second? well one of the two at any rate. Here, I think, there's an interesting connection in that the Phoenician syllabary was at one point (probably anachronistically) called Cadmeian letters, and that Cadmus was (allegedly) Phoenician and had (potentially) brought letters for the Greeks to adapt into the Greek alphabet (you know, after he forgot about rescuing his sister, Europa). The point being that Cadmus is at least worth remembering as a figure who represents (or suggests at a representation for) the interplay between the Greek and Phoenician civilizations in a pre-literate era. Cool! Now what about that story?

Right, well I was doing my short version in a group conversation of these things. The historical highlights seemed appealing enough to my listeners, but weren't provoking further discussions so I went with my big dogs, the mythology. Of course I could say lots about Oedipus' story, but Oedipus' story isn't about Thebes per se. So I went big with Cadmus and the alphabet. Well as it turns out, that did spawn additional conversation. Apparently one of my unwitting interlocutors had read (recently?) a book called The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image by a surgeon. It is described by wikipedia as a work of historical anthropology published in 1998. I was 8 at the time. So anyway, this person goes on to relate the central thesis of that book which is really not worth putting out into the world again, but alas for the purposes of this story I must. Loosely it is, once the alphabet was invented it reoriented the human brain away from being intuitive and this led to the loss of the previous gendered structure of society in the hunter-gatherer way of life where women had greater importance and goddess cults were more prominent. They went on, citing the various examples the book posits that support this misguided theory such as the distribution of rods and cones in the eyes of males vs females, the description of hunter-gatherer society (how topical), and how the loss of our connection with the intuitive aspect of our brains can be felt in the modern era (another right brain/left brain thing, oof). Well, I bet that sort of sentiment appeals to a lot of people. But let me tell you, as someone a little more interested in dealing with what small truths we can glean from the reliable facts we do have at our disposal, the least appealing thing for me to hear when I start a conversation about a real historical place is some cockamamie lizard-brain theory about how shapes in our eyes prove that the Minoans had a matriarchal society and some dude inventing the alphabet ruined it for future societies everywhere. Nevertheless, the one thing I thought to venture, to steer us away from this roiling thundercloud of pseudoscientific anthropology was to comment on the transition of pre-literate oral poetry to post-literate poetry in ancient Greece. And I would have brought up Simonides more thoroughly, but I felt that enough was enough. It did make me wonder though, about nonfiction books and the nonfiction genre.

At any rate, let's return to the book at hand, which I'm happy to say, suffers none of the worst accusations I've made about poor quality nonfiction books. If anything, what this book does suffer from is being a bit dry at times. There were some sections of the PW chapter that got even me a bit unfocused. Most everything else was spot on. It doesn't have the most groundbreaking of conclusions, but it is stalwartly working against a markedly Athenocentric view of Greece throughout history. In the process, it does a great job cultivating a sense of identity for Thebes and vetting the primary sources we do have to give a fuller picture of how Thebes operated and changed over the centuries. In that respect, there lots of interesting social, religious, and political nuances that Cartledge elucidates. The only other thing I might be critical of the book for is that while it is as accessible as a book can be on Thebes, taking pains to define and contextualize many Greek words that would be familiar to those with more experience, is that some of the plays mentioned are given extended summaries that I found a bit redundant. In any case, an easy problem to fix by just skimming through those sections.

Yes, I think the strength of the book was leaning on its pro-Theban perspective and shedding light on rather familiar events but from the Theban angle. To that end, I enjoyed the book and had a great time with it. It's a shame we don't know more about Thebes as it seems to have had a unique federalization of its region of Beoetia. Reading the historical sections inspired me to bring home my Herodotus and Thucydides for rereading, if I ever find time for that!

The book is definitely worth a read for those interested in Thebes (and the ancient to Classical periods of Greece) and its got a great cover to boot. I was inspired enough to subsequently pick up Romm's book The Sacred Band when I glimpsed it at another bookstore. So it seems that this year might be my year of Thebes--if I can get through War and Peace in time :D

I also wanted to add a few memorable things that I got outta this book.
1. There's a discussion in the early part about rival oral epic traditions. I had thought that it was all one big amalgam that individual rhapsodes tailored regionally to appeal to their audience. But Cartledge suggests that there were in fact rival traditions, that Thebes may have had such a separate epic that was about the 7 against Thebes and other things of which now we only have mentions. At any rate, interesting point to refine my perspective on this period of epic traditions.

2. There's an interesting bit about a mystery cult popular at Thebes I hadn't heard of, the Kabeiroi. Love a good mystery cult and promises of afterlife.

3. Epaminondas and Pelopidas (the Pericles' of Thebes, basically) were very cool to learn about. I don't think I'd ever given them much thought.

4. Lots about Plataea, we love Plataea.

5. Cool stuff about Pindar, another author I need to revisit.

[Harry Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cartledge's Thebes is a decent book--offering a look at the myth and history surrounding the oft-forgotten home of Oedipus and Pelopidas. In the text, Cartledge primarily highlights the brief period of Theban hegemony (371-362), in which as the leading member of a democratic federal state (Boeotia) they decimated the Spartans, liberated the helots, and held as hostage the father of Alexander the Great.
The more interesting elements have to do with how both the myths and narratives surrounding Thebes play in how the city is perceived by other Greeks. The most common myths are that of Oedipus (the murderous and incestuous King of Thebes) and Cadmus (a figure who come from Asia to retrieve his sister Europa but ended up establishing the city and in some traditions bringing the alphabet to Greece) alongside stories like Euripedes' Bacchae where the Thebans succumb to an utter breakdown of society, with the end result being that the King's mother eats the King, mistaking him for a deer. Similarly, the city of Thebes is attributed with the origination of pederasty in Greece. The overall gist of what comes across is that the Boeotians are 'uncultivated swine' who seem 'medized' (Thebes, notably sided with the Persians in the Greco-Persian War of 480-479 BCE). Cartledge, though, pushes back against this notion and provides a fascinating history of the city up until the city was razed by Alexander the Great in 335 BCE, its history of oligarchy and its brief, ephemeral experience with democracy.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not the information, it's the presentation. I suspect a lecture or conversation by this author could be a delight. I also suspect they have adhd. And need a good editor.
Here are a few examples of the problem:
- "Spartans triumphantly won". They won. That means they were triumphant. This constant wordiness added to an already bloated narrative.
-,"together with perhaps its impresario (choregos) called Charinus (depicted holding a lyre)." This is a very typical sentence in this book. I selected it at random. And in it, you can see a few of the issues. We don't need the Greek word in parenthesis in every sentence, we don't need extra details. The author includes every single detail he knows and most of it isn't necessary. Does it add to this particular segment that I know now Charinus is holding a lyre? No. And the parentheses are why I suspect the ADHD (or at least part of why). It's a common way for people who are ND to write (see what I did there).
- "one notable exception, to be noted soon below" he's always telling the reader they'll talk about something later. But I'm interested in it now, maybe lump the things that go together, together.
-"menarche (puberty)". Umm. Close? But not quite.

[Stephen Morrissey · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the history of Classical Greece, the city of Thebes has a "Philadelphia" problem. Philadelphia, stuck between the commercial capital of New York City and the political capital of Washington, DC is often relegated to second-class status, a footnote with a Benjamin Franklin flourish. Thebes is very much in the same boat: stuck geographically and historically between Athens and Sparta, the city has not been devoted the attention, adoration and adulation of war-like Sparta and intellectual Athens.

Paul Cartledge does a fine job of running through the history of Thebes. However, the narrative lacks the broad pull, easy accessibility, and crisp writing that would have made Thebes come alive from the page. Instead, the book reads more like an ongoing seminar on Thebes, interesting though not as engaging as it may be.

For resurrecting Thebes from the dustbin of history, Cartledge deserves much credit. One wishes he was able to elevate it a bit higher.