Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1173

 THEBAE BOEOTIAE. stationed in Orclidiiienus and Tliespiae for the purpose of overawing Boeotia, and the cit}' of Plataea was re- built to serve as an outpost of the Spartan power. (Pans. ix. 1. § 4). A more direct blow was aimed at the independence of Thebes in b. c. 382 by the seizure of the Cadmeia, the citadel of the city, by the Spartan commander, Phoebidas, assisted by Leontiades and a party in Thebes favourable to Sparta. Though Phoebidas appears to have acted imder secret orders from the Ephors (I)iod. xv. 20; j'lut. Agesil. 24), such was the indignation excited throughout Greece by this treacherous act in time of peace, that the Ephors found it neces.sary to dis- avow Phoebidas and to reniove him from his com- mand; but they took care to reap the fruits of his crime by retaining their garrison in the Cadmeia. (Xen. ilell. v. 2. § 25.) Many of the leading citizens at Thebes took refuge at Athens, and were received with the same kindness v/hich the Athenian exiles experienced at Thebes after the close of the Peloponnesian War. Thebes remained in the hands of the Spartan party for three years ; but in n. q. .'i79 the Spartan garrison was expelled from the Cadmeia, and the party of Leonliades overthrown by I'elopidas and the other exiles. The history of these events is too well known to be repeated here. In the following year (b. c. 378) Thebes formed an alliance with Athens, and with the assistance of this state resisted with success the attempts of the Lacedaemonians to reduce them to subjcctiun ; but the continued increase of the power of tlie Thebans, and their destruction o t the city of Plataea [Pl.^- taka] provoked the jealousy of the Athenians, and iinally induced them to conclude a treaty of peace with Sparta, B. c. 371. This treaty, usually called the peace of Callias from the name of the leading Athenian negotiator, included all the parties in the late war with the exception of the Thebans, who were thus left to contend single-handed with the might of Sparta. It was universally believed that Thebes was doomed to destruction; but only twenty days after the signing of the treaty all Greece was astounded at the news that a Lacedaemonian army )iad been utterly defeated, and their king Cleom- brutus slain, by the Thebans, under the command of Epaminondas, upon the fatal field of Leuctra (b. c. 371). This battle not only destroyed the pres- tige of Sparta and gave Thebes the ascendency of Greece, but it stript Sparta of her Peloponnesian allies, over whom she had exercised dominion for centuries, and led to the establishment of two new political powers in the Peloponnesus, which threatened her own independence. These were the Arcadian confederation and the restoration of the state of Messenia, both the work of Ejiaminondas, who con- ducted four expeditions into Peloponnesus, and di- rected the councils of Thebes for the next 10 years. It was to the abilities and geiuus of this extraordinary man that Thebes owed her position at the head of the Grecian states; and upon his death, at the battle of JIantineia (b. c. 3G2). she lost the pre-eminence she had enjoyed since the battle of Leuctra. During their supremacy in Greece, the Thebans were of course undisputed masters of Boeotia, and they availed themselves of their power to wreak their vengeance upon Orchomenus and Thespiae, the two towns wdiicli had been the most ininucal to their authority, the one in the north and the other in the south of Boeotia. The Orchomenians had in b. c. .39.5 openly joined the Spartans and fought on their side; and the Thespians had withdrawn from the THEBAE BOEOTIAE. 1149 Theban army just before the battle of Leuctra, when Epaminondas gave permission to any Boeotians to retire who were averse to the Thei)an cause. (Pans. ix. 13. § 8.) The Thespians were explled from their city and Boeotia soon after the battle of Leuctra [Thespiae]; and Orchomenus in b. c. 368 was burnt to the ground by the Thebans; the male inhabitants were put to the sword, and all the women and children sold into slaveiy. [Oucno- MENUS.] The jealousy which Athens had felt towards Thebes before the peace of Callias had been greatly increased by her subsequent victories ; and the two states appear henceforward in their old condition of hostility till they were persuaded by Demosthenes to unite their arms for the purpose of resisting Philip of Macedon. After the battle of Mantineia their first open war was for the possession of Euboea. After the battle of Leuctra this island had passed under the supremacy of Thebes; but, in B.C. 358, discon- tent having arisen against Thebes in several of the cities of pjuboea, the Thebans sent a powerful force into the island. The discontented cities applied for aid to Athens, which was readily granted, and the Thebans were expelled from Euboea. (Diod. svi. 7; Dem. de Cherson. p. 108, de Cor. p. 259, c. Ctesipk. p. 397.) Shortly afterwards the Thebans commenced the war against the Phocians, usually known as the Sacred War, and in which almost all the leading states of Greece were eventually involved. Both Athens and Sparta supported the Phocians, as a counterpoise to Thebes, though they did not render them much effectual assistance. This war termi- nated, as is well known, by the intervention of Philip, who destroyed the Phocian towns, and restored to Boeotia Orchomenus and the other towns which the Phocians had taken away from them, b.c. 346. The Thebans were still the allies of Philip, when the latter seized Elateia in Phocis towards the close of B.f. 339, as preparatory to a march through Boeotia against Athens. The old feeling of ill-will between Thebes and Athens still continued : Philip calculated upon the good wishes, if not the active co-operation, of the Thebans against their old enemies ; and pro- bably never dreamt of a confederation between the two states as within the range of probability. This union, however, was brought about by the eloquence of Demosthenes, who was sent as ambassador to Thebes, and who persuaded the Thebans to fuini an alliance with the Athenians for the puiqiose of resisting the ambitious schemes of Philip, hi the following year (b. C. 338) Philip defeated the combined forces of Thebes and Athens at tlie battle of Chaeroneia. which crushed the liberties of Greece, and made it in reality a province of the Macedonian monarchy. On this fatal field the Thebans main- tained the reputation they had won in their battles with the Spartans; and their Sacred Band was cut to pieces in their ranks. The battle was followed by the surrender of Thebes, which Philiii treated with great severity. Many of the leading citizens were either banished or put to death; a Jhicedoniuu garrison was stationed in the Cadmeia; and the go- vernment of the city was jilaced in the hands of 300 citizens, the jiartisans of Pbilij). The Thcbuns were also dei)iived of their sovereignty over the Boeotian towns, and Orchomenus and Plataea were ri'stored, and again tilled with a population hastile to Thebes. (Diodor. xvi. 87; Justin, ix. 4; Pans. iv. 27. § 10, ix. 1. § S.) In the year after Philip's death (u.c. 3.'i5) the Theban exiles got possession of the city,