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Bottom of the pile
20
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
5/100Critics
36/100Scholars
Author:
Paul Cartledge
Publisher:
Harry N. Abrams
Date:
September 22, 2020
Though frequently overshadowed by rival city-states Athens and Sparta, Thebes played an integral role in the achievements and culture of ancient Greece. Paul Cartledge brings the city back to life through the myths of Oedipus and Heracles, the dramas of Pindar and Sophocles, and the histories of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Plutarch.
What The Reviewers Say
Mr. Cartledge’s command of the historical material is effortless and exhaustive, and his appreciation of Thebes is persuasive. Between the radical but self-destructive democracy of Athens and Sparta’s totalitarian oligarchy (both imperialist), Thebes and Boeotia stand in the middle as an early model of democratic federalism.
Cartledge, matching his unrivaled command of the complex, fragmentary and often contradictory sources to his talents as a storyteller, traces the arc of the Theban story as well as anyone is likely to trace it.
Thebes, a survey of a thousand years of Theban myth and history, marks a new phase in Paul Cartledge’s career..
After a slightly pedestrian introduction—it read better a second time as a summing-up after finishing the book—and the lack of a Theban Thucydides to put meat on the bones of their decades on the naughty step, Cartledge’s narrative comes to life as the city of Thebes flourishes. The story of their rise and fall in the second half of the book is told as vividly as he relates their myths in the enjoyable second chapter. Alas, for Thebes, glory was all too fleeting..
