(Θῆβαι, in early writers Ἐδεσσα), a celebrated city of ancient Greece, on a hill between the streams of Derce and Ismenus, in Boeotia, of which it was the capital. It is remarkable, alone among the Greek cities, as being equally illustrious in the mythical times of the ancient heroes, and in the subsequent historical ages. The traditional legends of Thebes, which formed so favourite a theme of the Grecian muse, both in epic and dramatic poetry, need not be here related, as an outline of them will be found in the articles AMPHION, CADMUS, EPIGONI, ETEOCLES, and EDIPUS.

With regard to the origin of the city and people, no certainty can be attained, and a variety of opinions still prevail among historians. The tradition that Thebes was founded by a Phoenician colony under Cadmus, from whom the citadel was called Cadmea, and the people Cadmeans, B.C. about 1500 or 1400, is undoubtedly more trustworthy than most of the stories of foreign settlements in Greece, and has been adopted by some modern writers, while others have maintained that the Cadmeans came from Crete; and yet a third party suppose them to have been Tyrrhenian Pelasgians. However that may be, they did not retain permanent possession of the country, but were expelled by the Boeotians, art. n.e. about Æolian tribe from Thessaly, who gave their own name to 1124. the land. This took place, according to Thucydides, about sixty years after the Trojan war. The next event of which we have any knowledge in the history of Thebes is the legislation of Philolaus, a Corinthian, who settled here about the thirteenth Olympiad. The government of Thebes seems to have been from a very early period aristocratic; and the immediate occasion of the laws of Philolaus probably was the occurrence of some dissensions among the privileged class themselves, for he did nothing to alter the general character of the constitution. As at Athens, the sacerdotal functions of the ancient kings were discharged by an officer with the name of Archon. The other towns of Boeotia, twelve or fourteen in number, seem to have had institutions similar to those of Thebes; and the whole formed one confederacy, represented by a council of deputies, which met annually at the temple of Minerva, near Coronea, and governed by officers called Boeotarchs, elected for the space of one year. These probably at first corresponded with the number of the cities; but afterwards became fewer, while the influence of Thebes was kept in the ascendant by the privilege of that city to appoint two, one of whom was superior to all the rest. The Boeotarchs had the right of presiding in the councils, and commanding the forces of the confederacy.

About the year 519 B.C., or as some compute 510, Plataea, one of these subordinate Boeotian cities, impatient of the Theban supremacy, revolted from Thebes, and applied for protection to Athens. A war which ensued between the Thebans and Athenians, terminated in favour of the latter; the independence of Plataea was secured, and the Asopus made the limit between Attica and Boeotia. These events form the earliest manifestation of the inveterate hostility between Thebes and Athens, which pervades the subsequent history of Greece. In the Persian war, Thebes deserted the cause of Greece, their troops surrendered at Thermopylae, and fought against the Athenians at Plataea. Immediately after the latter battle the victors demanded the surrender of the authorities of Thebes, and put them to death, and the city would have been deprived of the supremacy in the Boeotian league, had it not been for the interest of Sparta to prevent the subordinate cities from joining Athens, by continuing the Theban supremacy. In 456 B.C., the Athenians under Myronides invaded Boeotia, gained a great victory at Cenophyta, and established democratic governments in Thebes and the other Boeotian towns. The aristocratical leaders went into exile; but in 447 returned, and having captured several of the towns, and defeated an Athenian army, succeeded in re-establishing the former aristocratic governments. During the Peloponnesian war the Thebans were firm allies of Sparta, and, indeed, were more bitter in their hostility to Athens than the Spartans themselves. But the success of Sparta in this war caused a total change in the sentiments of Thebes. That state, now that Sparta claimed a supremacy over the whole of Greece, became as hostile to it as it had ever been to Athens; and even began to countenance and assist the popular party in the latter city. Thus, it hardly needed the interference of the Persian satrap Tithraustes to raise a fresh civil war in Greece, and as early as 395 B.C. Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos, had declared war against Sparta. At the battle of Coronea, in 394, the Thebans for the first time encountered the Spartans, and they were the only part of the allied army not routed on that occasion. The peace of Antalcidas, which put an end to this war, in 387, deprived the Thebans of their supremacy over Boeotia, and in 382 the Spartans gained a still further advantage by treacherously seizing and retaining the citadel of Thebes.

The Thebans continued under the power of the Spartans for three years; but at length a conspiracy being formed against them by Pelopidas and some of the principal people in the city, the Spartans were all massacred or driven out, and the citadel was regained. These transactions so exasperated the Spartans that their king Cleombrotus immediately marched against Thebes, though it was then the depth of winter. The Athenians at first declined to assist the Thebans; but an attempt rashly made by the Spartan general, Sphodrias, on the Piraeus, determined them to take up arms. Thus, the Thebans gradually recovered all the towns of Boeotia, and at length begun to act on the offensive against their enemies, and invaded Phocis. In the numerous encounters which took place, Pelopidas always signalised himself; and at Tegea, in 375, he gained a complete victory over the Spartans, which proved a prelude of the more celebrated and decisive battle of Leuctra.

The rising power of Thebes now began to excite the alarm of the Athenians, and led them to make overtures for a general peace. Accordingly, in 371 B.C., a congress was held at Sparta, at which the Athenian envoys proposed to the other states the same terms as had been included in the peace of Antalcidas,—namely, that the independence of all the Grecian states should be guaranteed. A treaty on these terms was drawn up and agreed to; but as Sparta did not hold herself precluded, either by this or the former treaty, from acting in the name of her subjects in Laconia and Messenia, the Thebans, as on a former occasion, put forward a claim to sign the treaty in the name of Boeotia. This claim was, as formerly, rejected by the other contracting parties; and as this demand was insisted on, Thebes was excluded from the treaty. The Spartans immediately declared war, and instructed Cleombrotus, who was then in Phocis, to invade Boeotia. The Thebans, though alone opposed to the whole power of Sparta, resolved to resist to the last. Epaminondas, as Boeotarch, commanded their army, which did not amount to a third of the Spartan forces; and his skill, along with the valour of his friend Pelopidas, who commanded what was called the Sacred Band, consisting of men who had sworn to conquer or die, secured the independence of Thebes. The Spartan general, not trusting himself to an encounter among the mountains of Phocis, conveyed his men by sea to the port of Creusis, where he landed and encamped on the plain in front of Leuctra. Epaminondas resolved to give battle; and one of the most obstinate and bloody encounters recorded in Greek history took place. The result was the total defeat of the Spartan army and the death of Cleombrotus.

The victorious general, desirous to improve this great victory, sent a herald, crowned with garlands, to communicate it in form to the Athenians, in hopes that this would be an effectual means to reunite them to the Theban interest. But the Athenians, whose policy it now was to prevent either Sparta or Thebes from obtaining the sovereignty of Greece, would not even grant their herald an audience. The Thebans took care to strengthen themselves by alliances, and had brought the Phocians, Locrians, Acarnanians, Euboeans, and other states, under their dependence; so that they were now in a condition to act offensively against the Spartans. At the same time, the state of affairs in the Peloponnese gave them a pretext and an opportunity for interfering to their own advantage. The Mantineans restored their city, which had been formerly destroyed by the Spartans, and, along with the Tegeans, formed a scheme for establishing Arcadia as a united state independent of Sparta, and founding a new capital, Megalopolis. This scheme was highly approved by the Thebans; and, in order to promote its success, Epaminondas undertook his first invasion of the Peloponnese. He was joined by the Arcadian and other confederate forces; so that the whole amounted to 40,000, or, according to some accounts, 50,000 men, besides great numbers of those who followed the camp, rather for plunder than Thebes fighting, and were computed at about 20,000 more. The army was divided into four columns, and moved towards Sellasia, the place of rendezvous, from which they pursued their march with fire and sword towards Sparta. The city was saved by the skill and vigour of Agesilaus; but Epaminondas succeeded in inflicting an irreparable blow on the supremacy of Sparta. Although the legal term of office for which he and Pelopidas had been elected had expired, they remained in the Peloponnese till they had not only seen the secure establishment of the Arcadian confederacy, but restored the Messenians to their ancient country, and rebuilt their capital. After this successful campaign the Thebans returned homeward, foiling on their way an attempt of the Athenians, under Iphicrates, to interrupt them at the isthmus. But on their return the generals were both arrested as state-prisoners, for having prolonged their command four months longer than the time limited by law. At last, however, in consideration of their services, they were both honourably acquitted. This prosecution had been chiefly carried on and encouraged by Menecleides, a discontented Theban, and a bold and able speaker, who by his artful calumnies at the trial, so far prevailed as to get Epaminondas deprived of the office of Boeotarch for a whole year, though he could not gain the same advantage against Pelopidas, who was a greater favourite of the people.

Meanwhile the Spartans, with much difficulty, had recovered themselves from their great defeat at Leuctra, and were careful to strengthen themselves with auxiliaries from other states, especially from Athens, with which they renewed their old treaty. Soon after the Arcadians renewed the war, and took Pallene in Laconia by storm, put the garrison to the sword, and were presently assisted by the Archives and Eleans, and especially by the Thebans, who sent them 7000 foot and 500 horse, under the command of Epaminondas. This measure so alarmed the Athenians, that they immediately sent Chabrias with some forces to oppose his passage, who, though he did not succeed in intercepting their advance, repulsed the Theban forces in an attack upon Corinth. For this ill success Epaminondas was deprived of his command, and reduced to the condition of a private citizen. An occasion, however, soon offered to make his services again necessary to the state. The Thessalians, who had groaned some time under the tyranny of the usurper Alexander of Pherae, sent an embassy to Thebes to implore their aid and protection; upon which Pelopidas was immediately sent as ambassador to expostulate with him on their behalf. He proceeded directly to Pharsalus in Thessaly, where he met by the tyrant at the head of a numerous army, while he himself was only accompanied by a very small band; and no sooner had Alexander got him into his power, than he caused him to be seized and sent prisoner to Pherae. The Thebans, highly resenting the indignity offered to their ambassador, sent immediately an army into Thessaly; but the generals were repulsed with great loss, and it was owing to Epaminondas, who was among them in a subordinate position, that they were not totally cut off. Epaminondas was then reinstated in the command, and sent with a new army to repair the late dishonour, and prosecute their revenge. The news of his being in full march greatly alarmed Alexander, who was glad to accept of a truce of thirty days, and to release Pelopidas, upon which Epaminondas withdrew his forces, and returned to Thebes.

The Thebans, having now risen by their success in war to a position of superiority over the other Greek states, wished to secure this advantage by a general treaty; and as Sparta had consolidated her power by the peace of Antalcidas, through the intervention of Persia, they determined to follow that example, and sent Pelopidas as an ambassador to the court of Susa. He was successful in his negotiations with the king, and returned with conditions highly favourable to Thebes, on which the Persian monarch would conclude an alliance with Greece. The most important of these conditions were that Sparta should give up Messenia, and Athens her command of the sea. A congress was assembled at Thebes to consider these proposals; but with all their efforts the Thebans could not procure the acceptance of the treaty, and the war with Sparta was continued. Epaminondas invaded the Peloponnese the third time, in 366, in order to gain over the Achaean states to the cause of Thebes. This he succeeded in doing, but not without exciting the jealousy of the Arcadians, who had even before viewed with dislike the growing power of Thebes. Meanwhile the gallant but rash Pelopidas had fallen in an expedition against Alexander of Pherae; although the ultimate issue of the expedition was successful. Affairs in the Peloponnese were, however, beginning to assume an unfavourable aspect. A war had broken out between Arcadia and Elio, which, though terminated by the intervention of the Achaeans, led to the return of Elio to the Spartan side, and was soon renewed with increased fury. The leading party among the Arcadians, who were in the interest of Thebes, took the rash step of seizing upon the sacred treasury at Olympia; and this not only embittered the hostility of their enemies, but produced a reaction in Arcadia itself, so that, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Theban party, a peace with Elio was concluded at Tegea. On learning this, Epaminondas immediately declared that the Thebans would again enter the Peloponnese, and, with those allies that still remained faithful, carry on the war with Sparta. Alarmed at this announcement, the Eleans, Achaeans, and Arcadians sent to Athens and Sparta, and formed with them a coalition against Thebes. Epaminondas was nothing daunted by the adverse circumstances; but though he had only the Messenians and Argives, with the towns of Megalopolis and Tegea to rely upon in the Peloponnese, and Thessaly, Locris, and Euboea in Northern Greece, collecting an army, he hastened to the south, and, in 362, passed the isthmus for the fourth and last time. At Tegea he effected a junction with the forces of his allies, which raised the whole number of his army to 30,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry. The confederate army against him had ordered their rendezvous at Mantinea, the place which they naturally concluded would be first attacked, as being the chief seat of those who had revolted from the Thebans. But while they were securing themselves on that side, Epaminondas, who wisely considered how far this confederacy and expedition must have drained the city of Sparta of its main strength, broke up privately from Tegea, ceased at and marched all night, with a design to have surprised the temple on capital. His project being discovered, Agesilaus took measures to disconcert it; so that, though the Theban general made several vigorous assaults on that city, he was so stoutly repulsed, and the Spartans behaved with such intrepid valour, that he was forced to retire. He next attempted to take Mantinea by surprise; and would most probably have succeeded had not a body of Athenian cavalry come unexpectedly to its relief, and given him a fresh repulse. These two defeats greatly exasperated the Theban general, who had never before experienced such disasters; moreover the time allotted him for his expedition was almost expired, and he was in the midst of his enemy's country, without any certainty of obtaining supplies. Under all these difficulties, he rightly considered that he must immediately resolve upon a decisive battle, in which he might at once retrieve his affairs, or fall honourably in the attempt. In the battle which ensued, Epaminondas drew up his troops with his usual skill, and charged with such vigour and intrepidity as, after an obstinate resistance, to gain a complete victory. But in the very height of his Thebes, success he was carried mortally wounded from the field; and hardly had he learned the fact of his victory before he expired. The results of this victory did not compensate to Thebes for the loss of such a man as Epaminondas to guide her counsels, and lead her armies to victory. A general peace was concluded, in which indeed the independence of Messenia was recognised, but no important change took place in the relation of the different Greek states. Sparta, which during the preceding ten years had been preserved from utter ruin chiefly by the ability of Agesilaus, never again rose even to the second position in Greece; and Thebes was unable to retain the supremacy that Epaminondas and Pelopidas had secured for her. Athens, on the other hand, notwithstanding all her former reverses, had been, ever since the victory of Conon at Cnidus in 394, slowly but steadily recovering her ancient power; and had it not been for the old enmity which still subsisted between Thebes and Athens, these states might together have defended the liberty of Greece against the power of Macedon, that soon began to threaten it. But in place of this the two states were constantly opposed to each other, until it was too late to resist the common enemy, who gained strength by the policy pursued by the Theban government. As early as 383 a war broke out between Thebes and Athens for the possession of Euboea, which the Athenians finally succeeded in obtaining. The next important contest in which Thebes was engaged was the Phocian or Sacred War, which began in 357 B.C., and in which Thebes was again opposed to Athens and Sparta, but supported by the power of Philip of Macedon. (For an account of the war, see Macedonia.) It terminated in 346, greatly to the advantage of Philip, but without increasing the power of Thebes. Thebes continued in alliance with Philip, until, on the occasion of a dispute between Amphissa and the Amphictyonic council, that monarch suddenly entered Greece, and seized the commanding position of Elatea in Phocis. On the news of this event reaching Athens, the utmost alarm and confusion prevailed; but some measure of confidence was speedily restored, when, on the motion of Demosthenes, an alliance was proposed and successfully effected with the Thebans, who were now fully alive to the impending danger. In 338 the allies sent an army into the field against Philip, but suffered a total defeat at Charonea. This battle decided the fate of Greece; Thebes opened its gates to the conqueror, and the chief citizens were put to death or banished. A Macedonian garrison was stationed in the citadel, and the sovereignty of Thebes over Boeotia was abolished. After the death of Philip, in 336, the Theban exiles returned, besieged the Macedonian garrison, and invited the other Greek states to declare their independence. But all their attempts were frustrated by the rapid advance of Philip's successor, Alexander, who, in 335, razed the city to the ground, sparing only, it is said, the house of Pindar, and sold its inhabitants into slavery. The citadel was still retained by a Macedonian garrison, but the rest of the city lay waste until, twenty years after, it was restored by Cassander. It is unnecessary to trace the history of Thebes further down. It never again formed an independent state, but was subject in succession to Macedonia, Rome, Constantinople, the Turkish empire, and the modern kingdom of Greece; and, in the course of the vicissitudes of 2000 years, it has suffered many calamities, and is now reduced to an insignificant town of 9000 inhabitants. The Thebans, along with the rest of the Boeotians, were from a very early time taunted by the other Greeks for their alleged dulness and stupidity. But it does not appear that there was any good ground for such a charge, unless it were their undoubted inferiority to the Athenians in quickness and versatility of intellect; and they can boast of such names as Hesiod, Corinna, Pindar, Pelopidas, Epaminondas, and Plutarch, among their natives. Thus, though they were far from attaining the high distinction of Athens in literature and philosophy, they were at least superior to Sparta in intellectual development; though during the long period when they were almost entirely under the influence of that country, they probably became assimilated, in no small degree, to the Spartan character.