Greek city of Thespiae in Boetia
Bronze 15mm (3.3 grams) Struck 146-27 B.C.
Reference: Sear 2461; B.M.C. 8.14-21
Laureate female head right, veiled and wearing modius.
ΘΕΣΠΙ / ΕΩΝ either side of lyre; all within
laurel-wreath.
Situated on the south-eastern
slopes of Mt. Helikon, Thespiai opposed the Persian invaders in 480 B.C. and was
burnt by them. The town possessed the famous statue of Eros by Praxiteles.
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Thespiæ (Greek:
Θεσπιαί, Thespiaí) was an ancient
Greek
city in
Boeotia. It
stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which runs eastward
from the foot of
Mount
Helicon to
Thebes. According to
Pausanias, the deity
most worshipped
at Thespiae was
Eros, whose primitive image was an unwrought stone. The city contained many
works of art, among
them the Eros of
Praxiteles,
one of the most famous statues in the ancient world; it drew crowds of people to
Thespiae. It was carried off to
Rome by
Caligula,
restored by
Claudius, and again carried off by
Nero. There was
also a bronze statue of Eros by
Lysippos.
The Thespians also worshiped the
Muses, honored by a
shrine in the
Valley of the Muses and celebrated in a festival in the sacred grove on
Mount Helicon. Remains of what was probably the ancient
citadel
are still to be seen, consisting of an oblong or oval line of fortification,
solidly and regularly built. The adjacent ground to the east and south is
covered with foundations, bearing witness to the extent of the ancient city. In
1882, the remains of a
tomb, including a colossal stone lion, were discovered on the road to
Leuctra. The tomb dates from the
fifth century BC, and is probably that of the Thespians who fell at the
Battle of Plataea, as those who fell at the
Battle of Thermopylae were buried on the battlefield.
Historically, Thespiae figures chiefly as an enemy of Thebes.
Like Plataea,
the other Boeotian city that always considered nearby Thebes as bullying threat,
Thespiae tried to safeguard their independence by allying themselves with other
major cities, like Athens or Sparta, that could protect them from Theban power.
During the
Persian invasion of 480 BC it was one of the few cities in Boeotia to reject
the example set by the Thebans, sending seven hundred men with
Leonidas to Thermopylae. After the city was burned down by
Xerxes I, the remaining inhabitants furnished a force of 1800 men to the
confederate Greek army at Plataea. During the
Athenian
invasion of Boeotia in 424, the Thespian contingent of the Boeotian army
sustained heavy losses at the
battle of Delium, and in the next year the Thebans took advantage of this
temporary enfeeblement to accuse their neighbors of friendship towards Athens
and to dismantle their walls. In 414 they interfered again to suppress a
democratic rising. In the
Corinthian war, Thespiae sided with
Sparta, and
between 379 and 372 repeatedly served the Spartans as a base against Thebes. In
the latter year they were reduced by the Thebans and compelled to send a
contingent to the
Battle of Leuctra in 371. It was probably shortly after this battle that the
Thebans used their new predominance to destroy Thespiae and drive its people
into exile. The
town was rebuilt at some later time. In 171, true to its policy of opposing
Thebes, it sought the friendship of
Rome. It is subsequently mentioned by
Strabo as a
place of some size, and by
Pliny as a free city.
Although citizens of Thespiae are called Thespians, the
common word thespian meaning an actor comes not from this city but from
the legendary first actor,
Thespis. Both
Thespis and Thespiæ are cognate with the verb θεσπίζειν, thespízein, to
institute; they as well as the related word θεσμός, thesmós, an
institution, and θέσις,
thésis, a position, are ultimately derived from the verb τιθέναι,
tithénai, to put in place.
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