Boeotia

It is traditionally considered that Xenophon intentionally suppresses the image of the Theban commanders in his work "Hellenika", where even Epaminondas-the winner of The Battle of Leuctra-is not mentioned by name. The suppression of the commanders is often explained by his disaffection towards the Thebans, because of his participance in The Battle of Coronea supporting Sparta against the Thebans. Furthermore , he lost his son Gryllus fighting the Thebans at Mantinea. At our point of view, this negative judgement of Xenophon's view on Thebes and the Thebans is explained first of all by Athens' traditional education, which created a negative literary tradition towards Thebes. The literary tradition was established long before Xenophon's existence and continued after him. The tradition was established as response to the border conflicts between the Thebans and the Athenians, that continued during archaic and classical periods of the history of Greece. The anti-Theban literary tradition is also supported by evidence of material culture, namely the border system of defense. Studying these materials , allows us to conclude that at the time of Xenophon, in the first half of the 4th cent. BC, at a time when their oppositions escalated against each other, the Athenians and the Thebans literally observed each other over the fortress walls. With regard to Xenophon, his hatred against the Thebans is mostly visible in his work "Hellenika". The main argument that Xenophon uses is retelling of Pelopidas' speech that he gives at the court of the Persian king, where the first thing he mentions is the Thebans' pro-Persian attitude. Epaminondas is mentioned in the "Hellenika" only in episodes of his career as a commander where he cannot achieve his goals or develop past success.

Abstract: The contribution contains a critical re-assessment of the earliest archaeological material originating from the Valley of the Muses, i.e. archaic vessels and figurines, two examples of hydriai allegedly linked with the Muses and an iconographic testimony. In the current historiography, these sources are still considered to confirm the archaic, or even earlier, origin of the cult of the Muses at the foot of Mt. Helicon. An analysis of testimonies is complemented with an overview of a broader cultural context (i.e. the musical agones, the Muses and nymphs, the history of Ascra/Thespiae); this enables us to correctly assess the sources and supports chronological considerations. Conclusions drawn from the re-assessment of testimonies are of key importance not only to the dating of the cult of the Muses at this site, but also to our assessment of the phenomenon of the cult of these goddesses in the Greek world in general.

During the Hellenistic period, Boeotia was one of the most important anthemion-stele producing centers in Greece. Due to the antiluxury decree of Demetrios of Phaleron (317-307 B.C.) in Athens, many Athenian artists immigrated to nearby Boeotia, where they continued the attic anthemion-stele tradition.
In the Middle Hellenistic period, while workshops in central, southern (Thebes, Thespiae) and east Boeotia (Tanagra) continued the traditional baroque style, artisans of Chaironeia in northwestern Boeotia differed. Once students of the Thespian baroque masters, the Chaironean craftsmen created a naïv version of the baroque tradition using local, thick grained gray-blue marble. This new naïv style eventually spread throughout Phocis and Doris.

Boeotian elites in the first half of the Fourth Century BC did not change dramatically: despite political innovations and the fall of the classical koinon in 386, in fact, it appears that the same families played central roles in Theban and Boeotian politics in the new institutions in place after 379. It is therefore possible to compare the situation with Ronald Syme’s reading in his Roman Revolution (1939), because a study of the families shows that the new Boeotian koinon of Epameinondas and Pelopidas, in fact, was still centred on the same aristocratic class.

From 1994 to 1998, the 9th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities undertook a rescue excavation of the ancient cemetery at Akraiphia alongside the Athens-Lamia National Road. Excavators unearthed 698 burials (499 inhumations and 199 cremations) and established that the cemetery was used continuously from the late Geometric until the Late Roman period.
15 of the 134 burials dated from post Classical to Roman times contained coins (11,2%); 26 of the total 29 bronze coins recovered were Ancient Greek and the remaining 3 were of Roman date. The most common Ancient Greek coins belong to the Boiotian mint with 18 coins (69%), while the Lokrian examples are the second most prominent with 3 coins (11,5%). A single coin (3,9%) is represented from each of the following types: Macedonia (Philipp V), Krannon (Thessalian Histiaiotis), Histiaia (Euboia), Athens and Phlious. The 3 Greek Imperial coins were issued respectively as follows: in Corinth during the reign of Antoninus Pius, in Laconian Las of the reign of Caesar Geta and in Kleonai in the Argolid during the reign of Plautilla.
The «death-coin» appeared in burials from the Akraiphia cemetery dating from the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 3rd century BC making them contemporaneous with the cemeteries at Haliartos, Halai (Lokris), and Oropos (West Attica). With the exception of a single hoard of 3 coins (Grave 10) the rule was a single death-coin in each grave. The low frequency of its appearance is not surprising, since archaeological evidence has shown that the rite was not widespread in Classical and Hellenistic times and certainly did not appear consistently in the Greek world, being restricted to specific groups of people. The presence of coins in graves, usually connected with the belief that the dead had to pay for their journey to the underworld –»Charon’s obol»–, seems to be at last a very simple interpretation.

The current study employs insights and methods from the field of landscape archaeology, which is relatively underutilized in Byzantine studies, to illuminate the changes. Through the study of surface ceramics and surviving architecture in the surroundings of ancient Tanagra in the modern prefecture of Boeotia (νομός Βοιωτίας) in central Greece, an attempt is made to appreciate settled space and trace the evolution of Byzantine settlement systems, beginning with the late antique town of Tanagra itself, and spreading out into its rural hinterland. This paper provides a model of investigation and historical change that can be applied more broadly in other Greek contexts. This paper begins with an introduction to the field of landscape archaeology and its employment in Byzantine studies, followed by an account of the physical landscapes of Boeotia and of the microregion in question. Taking into account past and current use of the terms “town” and “rural periphery,” now popular in medieval Western and Byzantine studies, the remainder of this study shows how this transformation of settled space was shaped from late antiquity to the thirteenth century.

Tesi magistrale - Filologia e storia dell'antichità - frontespizio

This work aims to provide an edition of some Pindar’s fragments (frr. 51a-d, 52g and 52k M.) related to the mythical prophet Tenerus and the Boeotian sanctuaries of Apollo Hismenius (Thebes) and Apollo Ptoios (Acraephia). The edition is accompanied by an Italian translation and a detailed commentary. Herwig Maehler’s (1989, post Snell) and Ian Rutherford’s (2001) editions are, of course, essential reference points, yet these texts would still benefit from some philological and exegetical improvements. A brief introduction to the aforementioned sanctuaries and on their relationship with each other is provided; by way of conclusion, it is discussed how these fragments can be read in the Boeotian historical context and how Pindar depicts himself as a poet in these texts.

https://etd.adm.unipi.it/theses/available/etd-03092022-092928/

This paper analyses the battle of Chaeronea that took place in the summer of 338 in central Greece, which entailed the establishment of Philip II’s Hegemony in Greece, and especially, the end of the hegemonic attempts of the principal powers that had characterized the Classical period. In order to understand better this battle, a new approach is proposed. Thus, both armies deployed into two parallel lines just at the entrance of the plain. Philip leaded the left wing of the Macedonian formation and Alexander the right one. Macedonian and hoplitic
phalanges fought alongside to the cavalry and light infantry. Philip made
retreat his wing in order to stretch and cause the opposite line to break
while Alexander attacked in his wing. Finally, the Macedonian cavalry
carried out a wrapping of the Boeotians so it was not necessary to apply
for a frontal charge.

Introduction - 1. Geometric and subgeometric Boeotian terracottas - 2. Boeotian terracottas in the 7th century B.C. - 4. Boeotian terracotta production at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries - 4. The Boeotian primitive style in the 6th century B.C. - 5. Primitive terracottas of the archaic period outside Boeotia - 6. Boeotian coroplastic primitives and terracottas of other centers - 7. Late archaic Boeotian terracotta sculpture - Conclusion - Abbreviations - List of illustrations - Plates.

The paper shows the hystorical and archaeological analysis of the landscape and urban evolution of Tespies, an ancient polis of Boeotia (Central Greece), from the Aegean Bronze Age to the Late Byzantine Age; it shows so the evolution of the chora of Tespies.

TWO ROMAN IMPERIAL "PALMETTE" FUNERARY STELAI
The two funerary “palmette” stelai (nos. 17, 16) published here are from ancient Tanagra. They are housed in the recently-renovated Museum of Schematari in the village of this name.
Stele no. 17 is of a gray Boeotian “marble”. It is surmounted by a wide palmette crowning element with relief decoration (a nine-petaled palmette at the center, and three-petaled half-palmettes at the corners). On the front of the body of the stele there is a carved petal-shaped niche, supported on its sides by pilasters with capitals (a part of the left side is preserved). Within the niche is a relief depiction of a frontal female head, broken off at the base of the neck. On the basis of stylistic criteria, the scene in the niche may be dated to the late Tra- janic-early Hadrianic period. The similar finishing of stele and crowing element argues in favour of their hav- ing been done at the same time. However, a series of individual features (part of the stem on the left side (facing the monument) of the crowning element, saddle-shaped cross-section of the crowning element, the stele’s construction material) raise the serious possibility that this stele is the product of a reworked earlier Hellenistic palmette stele from which traces of its existing decoration have been completely erased, and the present result is an original work of the Roman Imperial age.
Stele no. 16 is of a white, probably Pentelic marble, and it too has a palmette crowning element. On its main body inside the vaulted niche, whose apse is supported on either side by pillars with capitals, a scene with three frontal figures (their faces deliberately cut off) has been carved. The stele is the product of a re- worked earlier palmette funerary stele of the Hellenistic age, from whose crowning element only a part of the palmette remained. The niche was created during the Roman Imperial age; the three relief figures were carved inside it, as were the inscriptions on the pediment of its crowning element, the vaulted epistyle of its niche, and its plinth. There is a discussion of problems concerning: a) the sex of the two adult figures in the scene; b) the inscriptions, which do not correspond to the figures they accompany; c) the profession of the right- hand figure in light of the attribute he holds, and d) the stele’s date.

Terracotta Votive offerings in a rural Sanctuary of Orchomenos, Boeotia.
A recent excavation at Orchomenos, between the River Kephisos and the rugged slope of mount Akontio, brought to light the remains of an unknown rural sanctuary, as well as abundant terracotta objects and evidence for continuity of cult from the Archaic into the Hellenistic period (7th-3rd c. BC). From the votive offerings and the other excavation data, it is deduced that festivals were celebrated in honour of female deities of nature, fertility and fecundity, very possibly of the Graces (Chares) in combination perhaps with the Oceanids and nymphs, as well as with the thesmophorai goddesses Demeter and Kore. According to many ancient textual testimonies, the cult of the Graces was the oldest and most popular in Orchomenos, while the celebration of the thesmophoreia should be considered certain in a city so rich in cereal production and stock-raising.
Last, from the kind, the provenance and the alternation of the copious terracotta votive offerings(all kinds of figurines, miniature vases and lamps), the development of the rural sanctuary and its cult during the Archaic and especially the Classical period can be traced. Study of these finds sheds light on many new and unknown facets of the history of Orchomenos, from the founding of the sanctuary until is abandonment or rather its transfer to another place in the city, perhaps near the theatre, where inter alia contexts in music and poetry, known as the Charitesia, were held in Roman times.

Η Βοιωτία ξεκινά την έκδοση κοινού νομίσματος προς το τέλος του δεύτερου μισού του 6ου αι. π.Χ., με σύμβολο τη βοιωτική ασπίδα. Περί τα μέσα του 5ου αι. π.Χ. πολλές βοιωτικές πόλεις κόβουν ήδη το δικό τους νόμισμα. Όμως η κυριαρχία της Θήβας στο Κοινό των Βοιωτών στο β'μισό του 5ου αι. π.Χ. σήμανε την υιοθέτηση του θηβαϊκού νομίσματος ως κοινού βοιωτικού νομίσματος.

In 1995, during the construction works of parallel roads alongside the Athens–Lamia National Highway (Fig. 2), below the modern village of Akraiphnion (103rd km), the 9th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities unearthed part of a Roman villa rustica with preserved dimensions 18,10×16,10 m., and orientation N.-S. (Figs. 3, 4). At least six quadrilateral rooms came to light. The southern part of the building was covered up by the National Road; due to this fact the research could not de continued towards this direction. The villa, which was founded in the Early Roman period, is situated in the narrow plain stretching below the southern slopes of the acropolis of ancient Acraiphia, ca. 700 m. away from the ancient city. Its location on the east side of the Copaïs basin (formerly a lake) is combined with the exploitation of water in the area. Inside Room III, the single room paved with a treading floor, a stone press with a collection vat were found in situ (Figs. 6, 8). This archaeological evidence proves that during a later phase, i.e. in the Middle Roman period, a wine press functioned there. A crushing stone (orbis) (Figs. 9a,b) from a rotary olive crusher (trapetum), found in the next Room IV, though not in its original place, testifies to an oil press installation either in the same or in another area. Room II was identified as the storage room by the lower part of a dolium found in situ (Fig. 10); it was mended in antiquity with lead repairs. The great number of coins dispersed in the building (Fig. 15) –unusual for a domestic house– leads us to the hypothesis that some kind of trade related to wine production and sale took place in this complex.

The subject of the following thesis is the history of Thebes in 404-379/8 BC. The beginning
of the Fourth Century was a crucial period for this central Greek  polis. It was the time when
Thebans became the leading political force of Hellas. This political promotion helped them to reach
the superiority over another Greek city-states in the 70s and the 60s of this century. The period
between 404 and 379/8 BC was characterised by the Theban departure from alliance with Sparta
which was concluded in the Mid-Fifth Century BC. Thebans and Spartans as allies gained a victory
in the Peloponnesian War against Athens (431-404 BC). After this conflict these two  poleisbegan to
diverge and gradually the Thebes was taking up anti-Spartan attitude. This change was caused to
a great extent by the rising of Spartan imperialism. Sparta was taking advantage of her strengthened
position and it triggered resistance of other Greek states. The Corinthian War (395-387/6 BC) in
which Thebes, Athens, Corinth and Argos faced the Lacedaemonian power ended with the keeping
of the  status quo ante. The King's Peace (387/6 BC) was concluded thanks to Persian support to
Sparta and it sanctionned the Spartan hegemony in Greece proper. The principle of autonomy (the
base of the treaty) led to the dissolution of the commanded by Thebans Boeotian League. After
King's Peace Sparta governed by the king Agesilaos pursued an imperialistic politics and broke the
principles of the treaty. The clearest example of this politics was taking control over Thebes and
appointing of the puppet government of Leontiades in 382 BC. His pro-Spartan faction eliminated
the majority of the oppositional group of Ismenias. Three-year rule of Leontiades' clique was ended
in December 379/8 BC by the coup d'état. It was conducted by the small group of patriots with the
Athenian support. Then Thebans reactivated the Boeotian League and started the war against
Sparta. This conflict named the Boeotian War was finished by the battle of Leuctra (371). Its result
was the downfall of Spartan hegemony and rise of Thebes.
This following thesis shows an historical outline of Theban history in the beginning of the
Fourth Century in the chronological order. In the introduction were depicted the premises of the
thesis and the sources dealing with this period. The first chapter outlines the history of Thebes from
the Archaic Period to the year 404 BC. It's divided into two sections: the first of them shows the
situation in Thebes and in Boeotia before the Peloponnesian War, the other one depicts the crucial
(from Theban perspective) changes that took place during this conflict. The second chapter presents
the period 404-382 BC. It was the time when independent Thebes began to conduct hostile politics
towards Sparta. This politics was crowned by the Theban participation in the Corinthian War. The
beginning of this war, year 395 BC, is a turning point dividing this chapter into two sections.
57
Theban foreign policy, the political strife between the pro- and anti-Spartan factions and the activity
of two leaders (Leontiades and Ismenias) are the main topics in this part of the work. The third
chapter shows the three-year period between two coups d'étatmade in Thebes in 382 and 379/8 BC.
These events are placed in separate chapter because of their unusual importance to the history of
Greece in the Fourth Century. Thebes liberated in winter 379/8 BC became independent again.
Thebans began the war against Sparta and in 371 BC put an end to the Spartan hegemony.

The Boiotian villae rusticae of Roman times are distributed in four broad regions: in northwestern Boiotia (Chaironeia), along the northeastern and south-southwestern coasts of the Copaϊs (Akraiphia, Aliartos), in central (Thebes, Thespies) and southeastern Boiotia (Tanagra). They are all, without exception, situated close to astea. They are built near or upon the main roads; some along the banks of rivers or near the shores of lakes. They are small poor residences, built with stone rubble and mud–sometimes with spolia in second use. Installations combined with rustic economy, i.e. wine (Chaironeia, Akraiphia, Thebes, Tanagra) and oil presses (Tanagra), have come to light in some of them, as well as storerooms for the storage of various products in pithoi (dolia). Open air vats and baths are also related to villae, which have not yet been located. Industrial installations of a large scale (ceramic kilns), associated with trade activity, have been discovered in Akraiphia and on the eastern Boiotian coasts close to the South Euboian Gulf (Dilesi, Aulis). The villae founded in Early Roman times still existed during the Middle Roman period. In the Chaironeia region this rustic model was discontinued after the Herulian invasion in Greece (268 AD.), while in the Copaϊs region (Akraiphia, Aliartos) it is abandoned with the Visigothic invasion of Alaricus a century later (395-396 AD). On the contrary, in the Thespies and Tanagra regions the villa rustica flourished during the Late Roman period (late 4th – early 7th c. AD).

Epameinondas the great Theban general and politician (c. 318/312-362 B.C.) deserves credit for crippling the might of Sparta, founding the independent polis of Messenia and advancing the Boeotian League to the foremost position of power in all of Greece. It is then rather surprising that not a single dedicated monograph has been published in English on the general. With this thesis I hope to remedy the situation by providing a detailed and exhaustive account of Epameinondas’ life and career. Such a task is made difficult since the surviving source material for the early to the middle of the fourth century predominantly focuses on the affairs of Athens and Sparta. However, once information on Thebes has been isolated a continuous narrative may be comprehended, which uplifts the veil on an obscure portion of history. As a result it is possible to produce a detailed analysis of Epameinondas’ role in the government and his development of a federal league of states led by the Thebans. Al...

Among the vessels unearthed in the oldest sanctuaries in the city of Eretria is the high-necked jug, which was only used for a short time in the 7th and early 6th centuries BC. The aim here is to discuss again that corpus under the prism of the mirror questioning ‟that are the rituals in images – that are the images of rituals?”. We can now refer to a large amount of material from five places of worship in the Euboean city: the sanctuary of Apollo Daphnephoros, a sacrificial area whose recipient divinity remains today anonymous, the sanctuary of Athena on top of the acropolis, the so-called ‛Heroon at the Western Gate’ complex built at the beginning of the 7th century near a group of rich tombs from the late 8th century, as well as the sanctuary of Artemis Amarysia under excavation in the territory of the city.
The objective is to discuss the coherence of the corpus, the interpretation of the images painted on the different jugs forming the corpus, their adequacy with their support, their relationship or non-relationship with the different cults and rites implemented by the Eretrians in their sanctuaries and in their funeral practices, in Euboea and in a wider geographical area, in neighbouring Boeotia.

Parmi les céramiques livrées par les sanctuaires les plus anciens de la cité d’Érétrie se distingue la cruche à haut col, qui ne fut en usage que sur une courte durée, au VIIe et au début du VIe siècle avant J.-C. Il s’agit ici de reprendre, sous le prisme du questionnement en miroir « que sont les rituels en image – que sont les images de rituel ? », la discussion de ce dossier. Nous disposons désormais d’un matériel conséquent, issu de cinq lieux de culte dans la cité eubéenne : le sanctuaire d’Apollon Daphnéphoros, une aire sacrificielle dont la divinité récipiendaire reste à ce jour anonyme, le sanctuaire d’Athéna au sommet de l’acropole, l’ensemble dit « Hérôon à la Porte de l’Ouest » aménagé au début du VIIe siècle près d’un groupe de riches tombes de la fin du VIIIe siècle, ainsi que le sanctuaire d’Artémis Amarysia en cours de fouilles dans le territoire de la cité.
Il s’agit de discuter de la cohérence du corpus, de l’interprétation des images peintes sur les différentes cruches formant le corpus, de leur adéquation avec leur support, de leur relation ou non avec les différents cultes et rites mis en œuvre par les Érétriens dans leurs sanctuaires et dans leurs pratiques funéraires, en Eubée et dans un arc géographique plus étendu, en Béotie voisine.

In this chapter we will concentrate our account on the Phocian and Theban military commanders: the Phocians Philomelos, Onomarchos, Phayllos and Phalaecos and the Thebans Gorgidas, Pelopidas, Epameinondas, Pammenes and Lacrates. This is one of the best ways of examining the true nature of military command and the conditions in which it was exercised in the broad area that extends from the frontiers of Attica to the farthest limits of Macedonia. These leaders, their achievements, the setbacks they suffered and the innovations they instigated or provoked affected not only the states they fought, that is to say, in terms of foreign policy, but can also be understood, at least in part, within the framework of the states they lived in, i.e., the domestic situation. That is, their political and military command ultimately brought about a profound transformation of their own states. And so, while it was a polis, Thebes, that effectively came to replace the Boiotian Confederacy, Phocis was a forerunner of what would be common in the Hellenistic Era: a dynasty of warlords, their friends (philoi) and their military forces (dynameis) that came to virtually replace the Federal State.