Thebe Hypoplakia (Ancient Greek:Ὑποπλακίη Θήβη,romanized: Hypoplakíē Thḗbē), alsoCilician Thebe (Ancient Greek:Κιλικιακή Θήβη,romanized: Kiliakḗ Thḗbē) andPlacian Thebe (Ancient Greek:Πλακία Θήβη,romanized: Plakía Thḗbē), was a city in ancientAnatolia. Alternative names includePlacia,Hypoplacia andHypoplacian Thebe(s), referring to the city's position at the foot of Mount Placus. Near the local village "Tepeoba".
Strabo places it at 60stadia fromAdramyttium.[1]Pomponius Mela says it was between Adramyttium andCisthene.[2]Josef Stauber places it inPaşa Dağ, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) northeast ofEdremit, Balıkesir,[3] however in another previous publication he places it inKüçuk Çal Tepe.[4] The editors of theBarrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World settle on a site 1 mile (1.6 km) north-northeast of Edremit.[5][6]
Strabo places Thebes andLyrnessus "in what was later called the Theban plain." He highlights the fertility and richness of this plain, as doHerodotus,[7]Xenophon,[8]Polybius,[9] andLivy.[10] Historians such as Walter Leaf have speculated on its location, but have not managed to identify the plain nor the city.[11] Strabo, without specifying the time, reports that, due to their fertility, the Theban plain was disputed by theMysians andLydians, and later the Greeks who colonized it coming fromAeolis and from the island ofLesbos. He adds that in his times, the second century, the plain was occupied by the people of Adramyttium.[1]
The place name differs according to some Greek authors: Ὑποπλάκιος Θήβη.[12] Θήβη,[13] Θήβαι,[14] Θήβα Πλακία,[15] and Θῆβε.[16]
The only mentions in thearchaic andclassical ages to Thebes as apolis (city-state), are connected with the Homeric tradition.[17][18] However,Quintus Curtius Rufus refers to Thebes as "urbs", retrospectively in the context of the fourth century BCE.[19]
Herodotus expressly mentions Thebe in a passage from a chapter of his account of theSecond Persian invasion of Greece. He refers that thearmy of theAchaemenid kingXerxes I on its way to the invasion ofcontinental Greece, went fromLydia towards theCaicus and the region ofMysia, through the territory ofAtarneus to the city ofCarene, and after passing it the troops went up the coast to the north, then went northeast, along the coastal route that contoured theSinus Adramyttius, until reaching Adramyttium, a city located in the fertileplain of Thebe.[7]
In the 4th century BCE, Thebe minted coins in bronze on which the legends «ΘΗΒ» or «ΘΗΒΑ» appear.[20]
According to one account, the city of Thebe was founded by the heroHeracles after his sack ofTroy during the reign of KingLaomedon and named after his birthplace, Thebes in Boeotia. At the time of theTrojan War, Hypoplacian Thebe was in the hands of a people known as the Cilicians, and ruled by KingEetion. Eetion's daughterAndromache was given in marriage toHector, son ofKing Priam of Troy. TheAchaeans, led byAchilles, sacked the city during the latter part of the war, killed KingEetion, his wife and his sons. They also carried off several women, includingChryseis, who became theconcubine ofAgamemnon. Chryseis's father attempts to ransom his daughter, initiating the plot ofHomer'sIliad.[21] One of Achilles' horses,Pedasus, also came from Thebe.[22]
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39°35′51″N27°01′13″E / 39.597431°N 27.020171°E /39.597431; 27.020171