Sacred Band of Thebes: Map & History
Thebes is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
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Thebes is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is the largest city in Boeotia and a major center for the region.
Modern Countries Once Part of Sacred Band of Thebes
At its mapped extent, Sacred Band of Thebes covered territory in 1 present-day country. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Sacred Band of Thebes's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Sacred Band of Thebes in Depth
History
It played an important role in Greek mythology, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus, Heracles and others. One myth had the city founded by Agenor, which gave rise to the (now somewhat obscure) name "Agenorids" to denote Thebans.
Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed a Mycenaean settlement and clay tablets written in the Linear B script, indicating the importance of the site in the Bronze Age.
Geography
Thebes is situated in a plain, between Lake Yliki (ancient Hylica) to the north, and the Cithaeron mountains, which divide Boeotia from Attica, to the south. Its elevation is 215 m (705 ft) above mean sea level. It is about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Athens, and 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Lamia. The A1 motorway and the Athens–Thessaloniki railway connect Thebes with Athens and northern Greece. The municipality of Thebes covers an area of 830.112 km2 (320.508 sq mi), the municipal unit of Thebes 321.015 km2 (123.945 sq mi) and the community 143.889 km2 (55.556 sq mi).
According to the nearby weather station of Aliartos, Thebes has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Thebes, Greece (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Sacred Band of Thebes: Key Facts
Preceded by
- Thebes
Facts from Wikidata Q5760 (CC0).
Sacred Band of Thebes Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 33,821 km² in 358 BCE.
Sacred Band of Thebes: Frequently Asked Questions
When did Sacred Band of Thebes exist?
Sacred Band of Thebes is dated to 366 BCE – 351 BCE, in the Classical Antiquity era.
How large was Sacred Band of Thebes at its peak?
At its peak in 358 BC Sacred Band of Thebes covered about 33,821 km².