Main content

Thebes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the myths of the ancient Greek city of Thebes, as told by Athenian dramatists, and the times when Thebes dominated Greek history.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the myths and history of the ancient Greek city of Thebes and its depiction in Athenian drama. In myths it was said to be home to Heracles, Dionysus, Oedipus and Cadmus among others and, in history, was infamous for supporting Xerxes in the Persian War. Its prominence led to a struggle with the rising force of Macedon in which the Thebans were defeated at Chaironea in 338 BC, one of the most important battles in ancient history. The position of Thebes in Greek culture was enormously powerful. The strength of its myths and its proximity to Athens made it a source of stories for the Athenian theatre, and is the setting for more of the surviving plays than any other location.

The image, above, is of Oedipus answering questions of the sphinx in Thebes (cup 5th century BC).

With

Edith Hall
Professor of Classics at King's College London

Samuel Gartland
Lecturer in Ancient History at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford

and

Paul Cartledge
Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Available now

47 minutes

Last on

Thu 23 Nov 2017 21:30
成人快手 Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Germaine de Stael

Next

Carl Friedrich Gauss

See all episodes from In Our Time

LINKS AND FURTHER READING

听

READING LIST:

Vassilios Aravantinos, 韦he Archaeological Museum of Thebes (OLKOS, 2010)

Daniel W. Berman,听Myth, Literature, and the Creation of the Topography of Thebes听(Cambridge University Press, 2015)

R. J. Buck, A History of Boeotia (University of Alberta Press, 1987)

R. J. Buck, Boeotia and the Boeotian League 432-371 BC (University of Alberta Press, 1994)

John Buckler,听The Theban Hegemony 371-362 BC听(Harvard University Press, 1980)

Lowell Edmunds,听Oedipus听(Routledge, 2006)

J. Peter Euben (Ed.), Greek Drama and Political Theory (University of California Press, 1988), especially 鈥楾hebes: Theatre of self and society' by Froma Zeitlin

Mogens Herman Hansen and Thomas Heine Nielsen (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis (Oxford University Press, 2004), especially 'Boiotia' by M. H. Hansen

Pindar (trans. Cecil Bowra) The Odes (Penguin, 1982)

Anne Pippin Burnett, Pindar (Bristol Classical Press, 2008)

Nicholas Rockwell, Thebes: A History听(Routledge, 2017)

Sophocles (trans. Ruby Blondell, The Theban Plays: Antigone, King Oidipous and Oidipous at Colonus (Focus Classical Library, 2001)

Richard Stoneman, Pindar (I.B. Tauris, 2013)

Credits

Presenter Melvyn Bragg
Interviewed Guest Edith Hall
Interviewed Guest Samuel Gartland
Interviewed Guest Paul Cartledge
Producer Simon Tillotson

Broadcasts

  • Thu 23 Nov 2017 09:00
    成人快手 Radio 4
  • Thu 23 Nov 2017 21:30
    成人快手 Radio 4

Featured in...

In Our Time podcasts

Download programmes from the huge In Our Time archive.

The In Our Time Listeners' Top 10

If you鈥檙e new to In Our Time, this is a good place to start.

Arts and Ideas podcast

Download the best of Radio 3's Free Thinking programme.

Podcast

  • In Our Time

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.