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THESPIAE

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 840 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THESPIAE , an See also:

ancient See also:Greek See also:city of See also:Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the See also:low range of hills which runs eastward from the See also:foot of See also:Mount See also:Helicon to See also:Thebes. The deity most worshipped at Thespiae, according to See also:Pausanias, was See also:Eros, whose See also:primitive See also:image was an unwrought See also:stone. The See also:town contained many See also:works of See also:art, among them the Eros of See also:Praxiteles, dedicated by See also:Phryne in her native See also:place; it was one of the most famous statues in the ancient See also:world, and See also:drew crowds of See also:people to Thespiae. It was carried off to See also:Rome by Caligula, restored by See also:Claudius, and again carried off by See also:Nero. There was also a See also:bronze statue of Eros by See also:Lysippus. The Thespians also worshipped the See also:Muses, and celebrated a festival in their See also:honour in the sacred See also:grove on Mount Helicon. Remains of what was probably the ancient citadel are still to be seen, consisting of an oblong or See also:oval See also:line of fortification, solidly and regularly built. The adjacent ground to the See also:east and See also:south is covered with See also:foundations, bearing See also:witness to the extent of the ancient city. The neighbouring See also:village Eremokastro, on higher ground, was thought by Ulrichs to be probably the site of the ancient Ceressus. In 1882 there were discovered, about 1200 yds. east of Eremokastro, on the road to Arkopodi (See also:Leuctra), the remains of a polyandrion, including a See also:colossal stone See also:lion. The See also:tomb See also:dates from the 5th See also:century B.C., and is probably that of the Thespians who See also:fell at See also:Plataea, for those who fell at See also:Thermopylae were buried on the See also:field.

See also:

History.—Thespiae figures chiefly in historj as an enemy of Thebes, whose centralizing policy it had all the more to fear because of the proximity of the two towns. During the See also:Persian invasion of 48o B.C. it stood almost alone 'among Boeotian cities in rejecting the example of See also:treason set by the Thebans, and served the See also:national cause with splendid devotion. Seven See also:hundred Thespians accompanied See also:Leonidas to Thermopylae and of their own See also:free will shared his last stand and destruction. The remaining inhabitants, after seeing their city burnt down by See also:Xerxes, furnished a force of 1800 men to the confederate Greek See also:army at Plataea. In 424 B.C. the contingent which the Thespians had been compelled to furnish sustained heavy losses at Delium, and in the next See also:year the Thebans took See also:advantage of this temporary enfeeblement to accuse their neighbours of friendship towards See also:Athens and to dismantle their walls. In 414 they interfered again to suppress a democratic rising. In the Corinthian See also:war Thespiae sided with See also:Sparta, and between 379 and 372 repeatedly served the Spartans as a See also:base against Thebes. In the latter year they were reduced by the Thebans and compelled to send a contingent to Leuctra (371). It was probably shortly after this See also:battle that the Thebans used their new predominance to destroy Thespiae and drive its people into See also:exile. The town was rebuilt at some later See also:time. In 171 B.C., true to its policy of opposing Thebes, it sought the friendship of Rome. It is subsequently mentioned by See also:Strabo as a place of some See also:size, and by See also:Pliny as a free city.

See See also:

Herodotus, v. 79, vii. 132-ix. 30; See also:Thucydides, iv. 93, 133, vi. 95; See also:Xenophon, Hellenica, iv. vi.; Pausanias, ix. 13. 8–14, 2, 26–27; Strabo, ix. pp. 409–10; B. V. See also:Head, Historia Numorum (See also:Oxford, 1887), pp. 479–80; See also:Leake, Travels in See also:Northern See also:Greece, ii.

479 sq.; See also:

Dodwell, Tour through Greece, i. 253; See also:Bursian, Geogr. von Griechenland, i. 237 sq.; Ulrichs, Reisen u. Forschungen in Griechenland, ii. 84 sq.; Milted. d. See also:deutsch. archaol. Inst. in Athen (1879), pp. 190 sq., 273 sq.; llpaKruch rits hpx. 'Eratptas (1882), PP. 65-74.

End of Article: THESPIAE

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