Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece by Paul Anthony Cartledge

Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece Reviews

• 
  Emma

  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

  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)

  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.
• 
  Christopher

  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?
• 
  Susan Paxton

  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.
• 
  Veronica Marshall

  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.
• 
  Claudia

  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
• 
  Todd

  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.
• 
  Meagan

  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

  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
• 
  Ted Richards

  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

  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.
• 
  Matt McCormick

  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.
• 
  Jeff

  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

  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

  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.
• 
  Trish

  
  Despite the handicap of this being an uncorrected proof and not for sale (but can I send it to my grandson who is studying history at NYC?), I enjoyed most of this book and learned a lot which was my purpose in submitting my name to Goodread's Giveaways.
  
  Some 30 years ago, I traveled through Greece by a small tour group. Our guide regaled us with tales of the ancient Greeks and their gods, so I traveled through many of these shrines and much of the area covered in this book. But I must agree, the majority of what we learn elsewhere is about Athens and Sparta, then the rise of Macedonia. Thebes is sadly overlooked. So I welcomed this book.
  
  Not having much to pin the places or people to that were mentioned in the first chapter, I thought it was rather boring until I reread it at the end. Then it made much more sense. Chapter 2: Greek mythology could be a book in itself! The gods are still confusing to me since I cannot relate to their practices. If one could participate in their festivities, they would become much more memorable.
  
  The books gains momentum and one's interest picks up in the succeeding chapters. It seemed like the Greeks were a feisty bunch, always at war until you realize that this happened over a LONG period of time. However, their memories were long and slights and lost battles were never forgotten nor forgiven. I was surprised to learn that often Persia aided all sides (Athens, Sparta, and Thebes) in their war endeavors with financial aid and some times mercenaries.
  
  Placing their 'eternal' triangle into contemporary politics, I see Sparta representing the Military Establishment, Athens, the Liberals, while Thebes is the cautionary Swing vote. I wonder how other readers find this.
  
  Peripeteria = major downfall. This modern age, the British Empire, The Ottoman Empire, HRE, the resolving of the USSR. Foretelling the coming years of the USA, the rise of China?
  
  A little criticism, small indeed. Would the average reader (me) know the meaning of “harmost” on p. 192? I had to look it up in Wikipedia, Spartan military governor. Will the final edition contain a small glossary? Also, why include a single German term, “Drang nach Oster” (Push to the East) which was distracting. This copy contained no maps but if the final edition does, I hope it included one showing the distribution of the Greek dialects and another showing the environs of Thebes.
  
  If one is short on time, just read chapters 3 through 12, the ones that contain the real meat of the story of Thebes which was most interesting, containing details not commonly covered elsewhere.
  
  Not just this book, but the spread of Greek culture with the vast conquests of Alexander and later the Romans, where did all of the teachers of Greek, both language and culture, originate? And which dialect of Greek. That was a vast stretch of land to teach. If few of the “teachers” were from Thebes, that might explain why so little is mentioned of it in histories.
  
• 
  r

  "Here is a city with a foothold deep in mythic territory. It was the (adopted) birthplace of the god Dionysus and of the überhero-turned god Heracles, and - though his failure to realize it at first was to prove tragically fatal for him - of King Oedipus. It was also the residence of choice for famous Phoenician immigrant Cadmus, who was credited with actually founding it."
  
  "The Thebans repaid Dionysus handsomely by worshipping him as their patron city god, ahead even of Apollo, who performed that natronal function for other cities, and with whom he presided at Delphi. Located not very far away to the west in neighbouring Phocis, Delphi (literally meaning ‘Wombs') was the Greeks' most sacred spot, the supposed navel (omphalos) of the universe."
  
  "The destruction of Thebes on the orders of Alexander III, King I of Macedon (later surnamed 'the Great'), has rightly been classed as one of the most dramatic catastrophes to befall a major Greek polis. As we shall see, the adjective 'dramatic' has a peculiarly apt point in this context. The destruction occurred just three years after the disaster of the defeat at Chaeronea by Alexander's father Philip II. It set the seal on Thebes's downfall from a position of great power and influence to one of minor significance."
  
  "Thebes, the real Thebes of History, was therefore dead. But not for all that long, although its resurrected afterlife as a historical city was to be far less glorious. On the other hand, as if by divine compensation, its afterlife as a city of Myth was to soar as never even in antiquity. Thebes, mythical Thebes, would become all the - rage."
• 
  Shrike58

  When it's all said and done I had a hard time deciding how to rate this book, flirting at one point for giving it top marks. That I did not do so is a commentary on how hard it is to say anything coherent about Classical Thebes, on the basis of the sources that have come down to us. That Cartledge goes to some lengths to explain what we know about the city, and how, is one of the things that makes this a fairly hard read, while making me respect the author as a historian. Still, Cartledge does have enough to work with to give the reader a sense of how, over time, Thebes evolved from being one of the more conservative Grecian polities, and prepared to ally themselves with the Persians, to being a great defender of Greek freedom under the leadership of Epaminondas, the man most responsible for breaking Spartan hegemony.
  
  Perhaps the ultimate irony in all this, and this ties into heroic Theban legend still being a vital metaphor in modern culture, is that the Classical Greeks were just as fascinated and worked the stories of Oedipus and Antigone and the like into their literature. Though much of this might have boiled down to the great Athenian dramatists enjoying nothing more than wallowing in the misfortunes of a great political rival!
• 
  Richard Tullberg

  Books from the point of view of Thebes is needed since it's shrouded in mystery. What happened after they medized during the greeco Persian war? What did they do for most of the time, Peloponnesian war, their time leading up and after their hegemony and their culture. What are the Athenian plays set in Thebes based on?
  
  Unfortunately just like books centered on Sparta and Athens we have to tread allot of water people who have read on the subject already have. We get explanations about the other states, events etc that is needed to understand Thebes but at this point it's just like reminders, reading up before a test.
  
  It's hard to keep yourself invested when it feels like we mostly get some more information i fused in allot we already have read in countless other books . That usually happens with events or time periods where the subject is highly unknown, we mostly talk about the same things but add details or perspectives from another point of view. Even though it's hard, it's just speculation since most sources are either much later or Athenian. In a climate today when one news papers reporting is opposite another it's hard to speculate when this newspaper wasn't even written in that polis.
• 
  Dennis Murphy

  Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece by Paul Anthony Cartledge is a very enjoyable foray into slice of Greek history. Perhaps as might be expected, the book is about 1/3rd Thebes, 2/3rds Ancient Greece. There is an extensive foray into the Peloponnesian Wars, Persia, and other things. Still, this was a excellent investigation into one of the less well-understood, but still one of the most important, city states in the ancient hellenic world. Only three others stand out as about as important, the city of Syracuse on Sicily and the cities of Corinth and Argos in mainland Greece. Athens and Sparta tend to hog all the glory, and they are rather prominent co-stars of this book. Overall, I enjoyed Cartledge's approach. He had a nice balance of myth, political-military history, and some social history. There is also the afterlife of Thebes, which spoke to the influence the city and its various myths have had on our collective conscious. While it may not be the best work on the period I've encountered, it is top class. Give it a go if you're interested.
• 
  Stephen Morrissey

  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.
• 
  Sherrie

  ***I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway***
  
  What did I know about Thebes prior to reading this book? It was Greek. Antigone was set there. It was kind of a big deal, but not as big as Sparta or Athens...maybe?
  
  What do I know after reading this book? A whole heckofalot more than that. This book could be used as a textbook for an undergraduate course in the amount of historical data presented. Fortunately, it reads much easier than virtually all undergraduate history textbooks I've encountered. I thoroughly enjoyed the emphasis the writer puts on HOW we know the things we know and gives the reader space to weigh the accuracy and importance of these sources independently.
  
  There's a humor in this book, albeit a dry one, and while this won't be the most memorable book I've read this year; it is one I would recommend to history nerds reading this review.
• 
  Mr Rick Forncett

  Thebes was the third city state of Classical Greece and has been rather neglected in comparison with its more glamorous rivals of Athens and Sparta.
  Thebes seems to have been largely disregarded by modern writers, partly due to a lack of historical evidence and also perhaps because of the reputation of ancient Thebans as somewhat unsophisticated thugs.
  In this book Paul Cartledge has attempted to right the balance and give Thebes the credit that it is due. He believes that we should consider Thebes "central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks’ multiple achievements..." The book also covers the rich pickings of mythical Thebes which include stories involving both the Sphinx and Oedipus amongst others.
  The book is very comprehensive and I found it a fascinating read.