A metropolitan titular see of Achaia Secunda. The city was
founded by the Phoenician Cadmus in the sixteenth century B.C.,
afterwards made illustrious by the legends of Laius, Œdipus, and
of Antigone, the rivalry of Eteocles and Polynices, and the
unfortunate siege by the seven chiefs of Argos. After the taking
of Troy, Thebes became the capital of Boeotia, but did not
succeed in imposing its hegemony, for Athens supported certain
towns in their opposition. Thebes allied itself to the Persians
against the Greeks, but was conquered with them and submitted to
Sparta, until its two generals Pelopidas and Epaminondas
restored it to the first rank. The death of the latter before
Mantinea in 363 B.C., opened a new series of misfortunes for the
city. Conquered by Philip of Macedon, in 338 B.C., it revolted
two years after and drew on itself the vengeance of Alexander
who killed or sold all the inhabitants and destroyed all the
houses save that of the poet Pindar. Rebuilt in 316 B.C., by
Cassander, it was taken and r