Thespiai

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Thespiai ( Katharevousa Θεσπιαί, modern Greek Θεσπιές Thespiés , in antiquity Thespeia ancient Greek Θέσπεια , lat. Thespiae or Thespia ) was an important ancient Greek city in southern Boeotia and a member of the Boeotian League .

location

Thespiai is located in the south of Boeotia on an old thoroughfare to northern Greece at the eastern foot of Mount Helikon , which was famous in Greek mythology as the home of the muses , who are therefore sometimes also called Thespiades (Latin Thespiades ). Thespiai was on the Permessos River (Askris Potamos) in the area of ​​the present-day villages of Leondari and Ellopia. In the north it borders on the territory of Haliartos .

history

The city was already mentioned by Homer , but like Plataiai (Platää) or Orchomenos , it was always in the shadow and in competition with the mighty neighboring city of Thebes . This kept the smaller neighboring cities dependent, similar to Athens the cities of Attica.

Thespiai became famous in the war against the Persians under Xerxes I , in which the city took part in contrast to Thebes , in particular through the support of the Spartians under Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. According to tradition, six to seven hundred thespians are said to have stood by the 300 Spartan hoplites there and all of them fell in battle. Alternatively, Delbrück suggests that the Thespians were withdrawn from the pass like the other troops except the Spartans, but were overtaken and destroyed by the fast Persian troops on the way home. The city was then burned down by Xerxes.

Nevertheless, the Thespians also took part in the Battle of Plataiai , in which the Persian invading forces were finally defeated. The city was then rebuilt.

In the Peloponnesian War Boiotia was defeated in 424 BC. Attacked by Athens , but the Boeotians were able to prevail against the Athenians in the Battle of Delion . In this battle the Thespians suffered so great losses that the Thebans took advantage of Thespiai's weakness and pushed through the razing of the city wall.

In the following years the Thespians tried to exist alongside Thebes through an alliance with Sparta , but after Sparta's defeat by Thebes at Leuctra in 371 BC. When the Thespians were forced to join the Thebes side, the city was again destroyed by the Thebans. The entire population was banished from Boeotia. They could only return with the peace treaty of Philocrates in 346. The city was rebuilt again and had some importance in the Macedonian and Roman times.

The Thespiai military lists are from the 260s to about 146 BC. Chr. Handed down. The number of conscripted 20-year-olds fell from 180 BC. And are mostly below 20. While this may be partly due to organizational changes, a declining population is to be assumed.

Culture

In Thespiai, the god Eros and the muses were worshiped. Games were held in honor of Eros and the Muses, but the most famous was the Eros statue of Praxiteles , which brought a considerable flow of tourists to Thespiai even in ancient times. The statue was transported to Rome by Caligula .

Research history

The Briton WM Leake visited the site in 1802 and 1806 and reported on some ruins, including churches from the early Christian period and the Middle Ages, as well as the remains of the Roman city ​​wall. The location of the city was disputed, Wheler located it in Neochori and believed the ruins at Leondari to be the remains of ancient Thisba . Albert Schachter assumes that the archaic Thespiai was around the Temple of Apollo by Toumboutsi and was only moved to its later location after the Persian Wars .

The first excavations were carried out by Paul Jamot from the École française d'Athènes between 1889 and 1891. Among other things, he examined the city wall and discovered numerous inscriptions. The area of ​​the city is therefore hardly built up in a modern way and was examined by Anthony Snodgrass and John Bintliff between 1989 and 1991 through inspections .

Settlement history

The area of ​​the city was already settled in the Neolithic. A tell (Greek magula) in the area of ​​the later city dates to the late Neolithic, but has not yet provided any building findings.

Classic time

The later city of Thespiai probably emerged in late Geometric or Archaic times from several settlements in the east of the later city. Even the archaic city had several cemeteries on the outskirts, especially on the streets, as was common in antiquity. In classical times there were several cemeteries in the immediate vicinity of the city (Thespiai West is described by Bintliff as "suburban"), larger farms, villages (Askris Potamos), small towns (Askra in the Valley of the Muses with 11 to 12 ha) and in a wider area Individual farms, which were presumably family owned, in more remote areas of the surrounding area ( chora ). Readings from the area of ​​the individual courtyards show a relatively large number of pieces of crockery, so these courtyards probably served as the residence of the owners, in contrast to the Roman period. Binliff believes that the land around Thespiai was cultivated by townspeople. The cemeteries were mainly on the poorer soil and do not seem to have been plowed later. In the vicinity of the city there were also rural sanctuaries, of which LSE 1 and 3 go back to archaic times. In Papoutsi (Toumboutsi or Topitsi), near the bridge over the Askis Potamos, there was a temple of Apollo in classical times, which was excavated by Paul Jamot. It is perhaps the temple of Apollo Archegetas with inscriptions . A road connected Thespiai with the port in Kreusis .

In the late classical period, the settlement reached its maximum size of approx. 95 hectares, only to shrink continuously thereafter. About half a kilometer west of the city was the classic cemetery (Thespiai West). The focus of the settlement subsequently moved to the east.

Bintliff assumes that the city had 10,000-14,000 inhabitants in classical times. The cities of Lektra and Eutresis also belonged to their territory .

Roman times

The Roman settlement was about 42 hectares in size, Bintliff reckons with about 5300 inhabitants in the early period, 6000 in the late Roman period. In the late Roman period numerous churches were built in Thespiai, the ruins of which were still partially visible in the 19th century. In Roman times the cemetery was built over by Thespiai West 2 and became a focus of the settlement. Some of the rural shrines around Thespiai, such as LSE 1, lost their sacred significance, but were still used as courtyards. Some of the villages or hamlets also seem to have been abandoned, a trend that reversed in the late Roman period (4th – 7th centuries). A village or a small town emerged in the Valley of the Muses. According to the results of the Bintliff and Snodgrass inspections, the arable land expanded from 42 to 48 hectares, but remained well below the 95 hectares of the classical period. Numerous new buildings were erected, as can be deduced from the brick finds. The economy now seems to be more oriented towards market production compared to the extensive self-sufficiency in classical times. A more extensive land use seems to have given up fertilization in favor of green fallow land, vegetables and wine decreased in favor of olives, grain, legumes and green fodder. A similar trend can be found in the southern Argolida. The rural settlements are more concentrated on fertile alluvial soils. Bintliff reckons with 20,000-25,000 inhabitants for the hinterland. In the 5th century or later, perhaps under the threat of Slavic invasions in the 6th and 7th centuries, an area of ​​12 hectares of the urban area ( kastro ) was created using spoils from the classical city wall and other remains, such as a statue of Vettius Agoius Praetextianus , a governor of the late 4th century.

middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, numerous villages emerged in the chora of Thespiai, such as Erimokastro , Askra , Palaeoneochori and a settlement focus of unknown name in the TSH 14 locus identified through inspection, which fell desolate in the Franconian period in favor of THW 12 in the Askris Potamos valley. In Byzantine times, the territory was probably redistributed and the old borders of the city-state finally lost their importance in favor of a network of villages of relatively equal size.

Erimokastro remained the seat of a bishopric even in the Frankish times. The settlement itself belonged to a monastery. Under Ottoman rule, the settlement was relocated to Neu-Erimokastro ( Thespies ) in the west, which is more defensible . Kaskaveli / Leonari , on the other hand, is an Albanian foundation of the 14th or 15th century.

Modern settlement

In 1802 there were still three houses on the site of ancient Thespiai, but they were subsequently abandoned. Today the urban area is undeveloped.

useful information

The name of the famous "first actor" Thespis , who lived in the 6th century BC. Has nothing to do with Thespiai.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ so z. B. in Ovid Metamorphoses Book 5, 310
  2. ↑ John Bintliff , Phil Howard , Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 173
  3. ↑ A. Schachter, Reconstructing Thespiai. In: A. Schachter, A. Hurst (eds.), La montagne des Muses, Geneva 1966, 106 f
  4. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 131
  5. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 132
  6. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 133
  7. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 142
  8. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 134
  9. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 135
  10. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 143
  11. ↑ a b c John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 153
  12. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 1
  13. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, Jan.
  14. ^ A b John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 161
  15. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 154
  16. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 157
  17. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 158
  18. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 159
  19. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 163
  20. ^ A b John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 166
  21. ↑ John Bintliff, Phil Howard, Anthony Snodgrass (Eds.), 2007, Testing the hinterland. The work of the Boeotia survey (1989-1991) in the southern approaches to the city of Thespiai. MacDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge Mac Donald Institute, 182

Coordinates: 38 ° 18 ′ 12 ″  N , 23 ° 9 ′ 2 ″  E