Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1188

 1164 THERVINGI. riiv QepfxiKoov avvoSov to mean the assembly lielJ at Thermopylae. Polybius's account of Philip's first invasion of Aetolia, which resulted in the capture of Thermum, supplies us with the chief information respecting the towns in the central plain of Aetolia. Philip set out from Limnaea, on the south-eastern corner of the Ambraciot gulf, crossed the Achelous between Stratus and Conope, and marched with all speed towards Thermum, leaving on his left Stratus, Agri- nium, and Thestienses (&(aTif7s'), and on his right Conope, Lysimachia, Trichonium, and Phoeteum. He thus arrived at ]Ietapa, on the lake Trichonis, and from thence marched to Thermits by the road already mentioned, passing by Pamphia in his way. He returned by the same road as far as Metapa, but from the latter place he marched in one day to a place called Acrae, where he encamped, and on the next day to Conope. After remaining a day at Conope, he marched up the Achelous, and crossed it near Stratus. The remains of the walls of Thermum show that the city was about 2 j miles in circumference. It was in the form of a triangle on the slope of a pyramidal hill, bordered on either side by a tor- rent flowing in a deep ravine. The only remains of a public edifice within the walls consist of a square, pyramidal, siiapeless mass of stones. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 126, &c.) THERVINGI. [GoTiii, p. 1009.] THE'SPIAE (060-77101, also Qea-irtia or Qlairia, Horn. II. ii. 498; Herod, viii. 50; Paus. ix. 26. § 6: i^th. ©ecTTTieus, Thespiensis, fem. ©euTrias, Qeairis : Adj. ©ecTTrio/cds, Thespius, Thespiacus), an ancient city of Boeotia, situated at the foot of Mt. Helicon, looking towards the south and the Crissaean gulf, where stood its port-town Creusa or Creusis. (Strab. ix. p. 409; Paus. ix. 26. § 6; Steph. B. s. v.) Thespiae was said to have derived its name from Thespia, a daughter of Asopus, or from Thespius, a son of Erechtheus, who migrated from Athens. (Paus. I. c. Diod. iv. 29.) The city is mentioned in the catalogue of Homer. (/?. ii. 498.) Thespiae, like Plataea, was one of the Boeotian cities inimical to Thebes, which circumstance affected its whole history. Thus Thespiae and Plataea were the only two Boeotian cities that refused to give earth and ■water to the heralds of Xerxes. (Herod, vii. 132.) Seven hundred Thespians joined Leonidas at Ther- mopylae; and they remained to perish with the 300 Spartans, when the other Greeks retired. (Herod, vii. 202, 222.) Their city was burnt by Xerxes, when he overran Boeotia, and the inhabitants with- drew to Peloponnesus. (Herod, viii. 50.) The survivors, to the number of 1 800, fought at the battle of Plataea in the following year, but they were reduced to such distress that they had no heavy armour. (Herod, ix. 30.) After the expul- sion of the Persians from Greece, Thespiae was rebuilt, and the inhabitants recruited their numbers by the admission of strangers as citizens. (Herod. viii. 75.) At the battle of Delium (u. c. 424) the Thespians fought on the left wing against the Athenians, and were almost all slain at their post. (Thuc. iv. 93, seq.) In the following year (b. c. 423), the Thebans destroyed the walls of Thespiae, on the charge of Atticism, the Thespians being unable to offer any resistance in consequence of the heavy loss they had sustained while fighting upon the side of the Thebans. (Thuc. iv. 133.) In b. c. 414 the demucratical party at Thespiae attempted THESPIAE. to overthrow the existing government; but the latter receiving assistance from Thebes, many of the con- spirators withdrew to Athens. (Thuc. vi. 95.) In B.C. 372 the walls of Thespiae were again destroyed by the Thebans. According to Diodorus (xv.46) and Xenophon {Ilell. vi. 3. § 1) Thespiae was at this time destroyed by the Thebans, and the inhabitants driven out of Boeotia ; but this happened after the battle of Leuctra, and Mr. Grote (^Hist. of Greece, vol. x. p. 219) justly infers from a passage in Isocrates that the fortifications of the city were alone demolished at this period. Pausanias expressly states that a contingent of Thespians was present in the Theban army at the time of the battle of Leuctra, and availed themselves of the permission of Epaminondas to retire before the battle. (Paus. ix. 13. § 8, ix. 14. § 1.) Shortly afterwards the Thespians were expelled from Boeotia by the Thebans. (Paus. ix. 14. § 2.) Thespiae was afterwards rebuilt, and is mentioned in the Roman wars in Greece. (Polyb. xxvii. 1 ; Liv. xlii. 43.) In the time of Strabo, Thespiae and Tanagra were the only places in Boeotia that deserved the name of cities. (Strab. ix. p. 410.) Pliny calls Thespiae a free town (" libe- rum oppidum," iv. 7. s. 12). It is also mentioned by Ptolemy (iii. 15. § 20) and in the Antoiiine Itinerary (p. 326, ed. Wess.), and it was still in existence in the sixth century (Hierocl. p. 645, ed. Wess.). Eros or Love was the deity chiefly worshipped at Thespiae; and the earliest representation of the god in the form of a rude stone still existed in the city in the time of Pausanias (ix. 27. § 1). The courtesan Phryne, who was born at Thespiae, presented to her native city the celebrated statue of Love by Praxiteles, which added greatly to the prosperity of the place in consequence of the great numbers of strangers who visited the city for the purpose of seeing it. (Dicaearch. § 25, ed. Jliiller; Cic. Verr. iv. 2; Strab. ix. p. 410, who erroneously calls the courtesan Glycera; Paus. ix. 27. § 3.) The story of the manner in which Phryne became possessed of this statue, and its subsequent history, are related in the life of PR.ji;iTELES. [^JJict. of Biocjr. Vol. III. pp. 520, 521.] In the time of Pausanias there was only an imitation of it at Thespiae by Jlenodorus. Among the other works of art in this city Pausanias noticed a statue of Eros by Lysippus, statues of Aphrodite and Phryne by Praxiteles; the agora, containing a statue of Hesiod; the theatre, a temple of Aphrodite Melaenis, a temple of the Muses, containing their figures in stone of small size, and an ancient temple of Her- cules. (Paus. ix. 27.) Next to Eros, the Muses were specially honoured at Thespiae; and the festi- vals of the 'Ep£«)Ti'3ia and Mouueitt celebrated by the Thespians on Mt. Helicon, at the end of every, four years, are mentioned by several ancient writers. (Paus. ix. 31. § 3; Pint. Amat. 1; Athen. xiii. p. 561; K. F. Hermann, Ze/H'iucA dergottesd. Alterth. § 63, n. 4.) Hence the JIuses are frequently called Thespiades by the Latin writers. (Varr. L. L. vii. 2; Cic. Verr. ii. 4; Ov. Met. v. 310; Plin. xxxvi. 5. s. 4, § 39, ed. Sillig.) The remains of Thespiae are situated at a place called Lifka from a deserted village of that name near the village of ErimSkastro or Rimdkasiro. Unlike most other Greek cities, it stands in a plain surrounded by hills on either side, and its founders appear to have chosen the site in consequence of its abundant supply of water, the sources of tha