Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume II.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER VI.

Of their successes and reverses in war I found the following to be the most notable. They were beaten by the Athenians in battle, when the Athenians fought on the side of the Platæans in the war about borders. They were beaten a second time by the Athenians in the neighbourhood of Platæa, when they seem to have preferred the interests of king Xerxes to those of Greece. The popular party was not to blame for that, for at that time Thebes was ruled by an oligarchy, and not by their national form of government. And no doubt if the barbarian had come to Greece in the days when Pisistratus and his sons ruled at Athens the Athenians also would have been open to the charge of Medizing. Afterwards however the Thebans were victorious over the Athenians at Delium in the district of Tanagra, when Hippocrates, the son of Ariphron, the Athenian General perished with most of his army. And the Thebans were friendly with the Lacedæmonians directly after the departure of the Medes till the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians: but after the conclusion of that war, and the destruction of the Athenian navy, the Thebans soon joined the Corinthians against the Lacedæmonians. And after being beaten in battle at Corinth and Coronea, they were victorious at the famous battle of Leuctra, the most famous of all the battles between Greeks that we know of, and they put down the decemvirates that the Lacedæmonians had established in their towns, and ejected the Lacedæmonian Harmosts. And afterwards they fought continuously for 10 years in the Phocian War, called by the Greeks the Sacred War. I have already in my account of Attica spoken about the reverse that befell all the Greeks at Chæronea, but it fell most heavily on the Thebans, for a Macedonian garrison was put into Thebes; but after the death of Philip and accession of Alexander the Thebans took it into their head to eject this garrison: and when they did so the god warned them of their coming ruin, and in the temple of Demeter Thesmophorus the omens were just the reverse of what they were before Leuctra: for then the spiders spun white webs near the doors of the temple, but now at the approach of Alexander and the Macedonians they spun black webs. There is also a tradition that it rained ashes at Athens the year before Sulla began the war which was to cause the Athenians so many woes.

CHAPTER VII.

And now the Thebans were expelled from Thebes by Alexander, and escaped to Athens, and were restored by Cassander the son of Antipater. And the Athenians were very friendly in this restoration to Thebes, and the Messenians and Arcadians of Megalopolis also gave their help. And I think Cassander restored Thebes chiefly out of hatred to Alexander: for he endeavoured to destroy all the house of Alexander, for he ordered the Macedonians (who were exceedingly angry with her) to stone to death Olympias Alexander’s mother, and he poisoned the sons of Alexander, Hercules his son by Barsine, and Alexander his son by Roxana. Nor did he himself terminate his life happily, for he was swollen with the dropsy, and eaten up by worms. And of his sons, Philip the eldest not long after his accession was taken off by consumption, and Antipater the next killed his mother Thessalonice, the daughter of Philip (the son of Amyntas) and Nicasipolis. His motive for putting her to death was that she was too partial to Alexander her youngest son. And Alexander invited in Demetrius the son of Antigonus, and succeeded by his help in deposing his brother Antipater, and punishing him for his matricide, but seemed in Demetrius to find rather a murderer than ally. Thus was Cassander punished by the gods. In his lifetime the Thebans rebuilt all their old walls, but were destined it seemed to taste great misfortunes still. For they joined Mithridates in his war against Rome, I think only out of friendship to the Athenian people. But when Sulla invaded Bœotia panic seized the Thebans, and they repented, and tried to get again the friendship of the Romans. But Sulla was wroth with them, and found out other means of injuring them, and took half their territory on the following pretext. When he began the war with Mithridates he was short of money, he collected therefore the votive offerings from Olympia, and Epidaurus, and from Delphi all that the Phocians had left. These he distributed among his troops, and gave the gods in return half Thebais instead of money. The land thus taken away the Thebans afterwards got back by the favour of the Romans, but in other respects became thenceforwards weaker and weaker, and in my time the lower part of the city was quite deserted except the temples, and the citadel which they still inhabit is called Thebes and not Cadmea.

CHAPTER VIII.

And when you have crossed the Asopus, and gone about 10 stades from Thebes, you come to the ruins of Potniæ, among which is a grove to Demeter and Proserpine. And the statues by the river they call the Potnian goddesses. And at a stated season they perform other customary rites, and admit sucking pigs into what are called the Halls: and take them at the same season the year following to Dodona, believe it who likes. Here too is a temple of Dionysus Ægobolus (Goat-killer). For in sacrificing to the god on one occasion the people of Potniæ were so outrageous through drunkenness that they even killed the priest of Dionysus: and straightway a pestilence came on them, and the oracle at Delphi told them the only cure was to sacrifice to Dionysus a grown boy, and not many years afterwards they say the god accepted a goat as victim instead. They also shew a well at Potniæ, in which they say if the horses of the district drink they go mad.

As you go from Potniæ to Thebes there is on the right of the road a small enclosure and pillars in it: this it is thought is the place where the earth opened and swallowed up Amphiaraus, and they add that neither do birds sit on these pillars, nor do animals tame or wild feed on the grass.

At Thebes within the circuit of the old walls were seven gates which remain to this day, and all have their own names. The gate Electris is called from Electra the sister of Cadmus, and Prœtisis from Prœtus, a native of Thebes whose date and genealogy it would be difficult to ascertain. And the gate Neiste got its name from the following circumstance; one of the chords in the lyre is called nete, and Amphion discovered this chord at this very gate. Another account is that Zethus the brother of Amphion had a son called Neis, and that this gate got its name from him. And there is the gate Crenæa, so called from a fountain. And there is the gate called Highest, so called from the temple of Highest Zeus. And the sixth gate is called Ogygia. And the seventh gate is called Homolois, this is the most recently named gate I think, (as Ogygia is the oldest-named,) and got its name from the following circumstance. When the Thebans were beaten in battle by the Argives at Glisas, most of them fled with Laodamas the son of Eteocles, but part of them shrank from a journey to the Illyrii, and turned aside into Thessaly and occupied Homole, the most fertile and well-watered of all the Thessalian mountains. And when Thersander the son of Polynices restored them to Thebes, they called the gate by which they entered Homolois in memory of Homole. As you go from Platæa to Thebes you enter by the gate Electris, and it was here they say that Capaneus the son of Hipponous, making a most violent attack on the walls, was struck with lightning.[52]

CHAPTER IX.

I think this war which the Argives fought is the most memorable of all the wars which were fought between Greeks in the days of the heroes. For the war between the Eleusinians and the Athenians, as likewise that between the Thebans and the Minyæ, was terminated by one engagement, and they were soon friends again. But the Argive host came from the middle of the Peloponnese to the middle of Bœotia, and Adrastus got together allies from Arcadia and Messenia. And likewise some mercenaries came to help the Thebans from Phocis, as also the Phlegyæ from the district of the Minyæ. And in the battle that took place at Ismenius the Thebans were beaten at the first onset, and when they were routed fled to the city, and as the Peloponnesians did not know how to fight against fortifications, but attacked them with more zeal than judgment, the Thebans slew many of them from the walls, and afterwards made a sally and attacked them as they were drawn up in order of battle and killed the rest, so that the whole army was cut to pieces except Adrastus. But the battle was not without heavy loss to the Thebans, and ever since they call a victory with heavy loss to the victors a Cadmean victory.[53] And not many years afterwards those whom the Greeks call Epigoni marched against Thebes with Thersander. Their army was clearly swelled not only from Argolis, but also from Messenia and Arcadia, and from Corinth and Megara. And the Thebans were aided by their neighbours, and a sharp fight took place at Glisas, well contested on both sides. But the Thebans were beaten, and some of them fled with Laodamas, and the rest were reduced after a blockade. The epic poem called the Thebais has reference to this war. Callinus who mentions that poem says that it was written by Homer, and his view is held by several respectable authorities. But I think it is of a later date than the Iliad and Odyssey. But let this account suffice for the war between the Argives and the Thebans about the sons of Œdipus.