Thebes

Thebes was the chief city of Boeotia, the fertile region north of Attica, and one of the oldest and most storied cities of Greece — the setting of the myths of Oedipus, Dionysus, and Heracles. It led the Boeotian League of neighboring towns and was a frequent rival of Athens.

A brief hegemony

Thebes' great moment came in the fourth century BCE. Under the brilliant generals Epaminondas and Pelopidas, and with its elite corps the Sacred Band, it shattered the long-invincible Spartan army at the battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE, broke Sparta's power, and for about a decade was the leading state in Greece.

Destruction

That ascendancy did not last. In 335 BCE Thebes revolted against Macedon and was destroyed by the young Alexander, who spared, it was said, only the house of the poet Pindar — a grim demonstration of the new Macedonian mastery of Greece.