The Contributions to the Refoundation of Thebes: A New Epigraphic and Historical Analysis

Kalliontzis, Yannis; Papazarkadas, Nikolaos

doi:10.1017/s0068245419000042

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…But attributing the re-foundation to one powerful individual does not quite explain how, within one generation, ‘the Thebans’ had managed to stage a remarkable comeback. Many other cities – including Athens – contributed to this re-foundation and were not simply motivated by a desire to curry favour with Cassander (Kalliontzis and Papazarkadas 2019). Alexander himself may have allowed this to happen since in sparing some Thebans (and in refraining from destroying its temples or committing other acts of impiety) he was at least allowing for the possibility that ‘the Thebans’ could reconstitute themselves at some future date 22 .…”

Section: Literary Sources For Poleis Destructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Κατεσκαψαν Ιεραπυτνιοι: The Destruction of Political Communities in the Second Century Bc and the Resilience of the Cretan Polis

Whitley

2023

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recently there has been a revival of interest in both the historical and archaeological dimensions of the destruction of cities. The destruction of the principal settlement of a polis is one thing, the effective eradication of the political community quite another. What did it take to destroy a political community? The historical record is full of references to destructions of one polis by another in late Classical to Hellenistic times in Crete. And though not all of these destructions led to the end of the political community in question, some did, and between the Classical period (where we know of 49 poleis) and the Roman conquest of Metellus (where we know of only 24) the numbers of Cretan poleis were drastically reduced. The destruction of Praisos by Hierapytna between 145 and 140 BC (Strabo 10.4.12) was one such case. This seems to form part of a horizon of destructions (of Dreros, Apollonia and Phaistos) that took place between 200 and 140 BC. Florence Gaignerot-Driessen has demonstrated that there is a clear ritual dimension to this in the case of Dreros, a dimension indicated elsewhere by the use of the verb κατέσκαψαν. Excavations at Praisos have shed light on this question. This paper argues that, while there is no evidence for a widespread destruction by fire, there is clear evidence for the ending of Praisian sanctuaries and the forced abandonment of houses and (most intriguingly) the abandonment of large storage vessels. A particular archaeological ‘signature’ of these abandonments, evident at Dreros, Phaistos and Praisos, is the abandonment of the ‘household pithos’, which in many cases seem to be older than the houses in which they have been found. The paper also argues that these archaeological signatures of what had to be destroyed in order to eradicate a political community in turn shed light on what made this particular form of ‘citizen state’ so resilient.

show abstract

Section: Literary Sources For Poleis Destructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%