THEBE
THEBE (
Θήβη), a famous ancient town in Mysia, at the southern foot of Mount Placius, which is often mentioned by Homer as governed by Eetion, the father of Andromache (
Il. 1.366,
6.397,
22.479).
The town is said to have been destroyed during the Trojan War by Achilles (
Il. 2.691; Strab. xiii. pp. 584, 585, 612, foll.)
It must have been restored after its first destruction, but it was decayed in the time of Strabo, and when Pliny (
5.32) wrote it had entirely disappeared.
The belief of some of the ancient grammarians (Etym. M. s.v. Didym.
ad Hom. Il. 1.336; Diac.
ad Hesiod. Scut. 49; and Eustath.
ad Hom. Il. 2.691) that Thebe was only another name for Adramyttium, is contradicted by the most express testimony of the best writers. Xenophon (
Xen. Anab. 7.8.7) places it between Antandrus and Adramyttium, and Strabo, perhaps more correctly, between Adramyttium and Carina, about 80 stadia to the north-east of the former. (Comp. Pomp. Mela, 1.18;
Steph. B. sub voce Although this town perished at an early period, its name remained celebrated throughout antiquity, being attached to the neighbouring plain (
Θήβης πεδίον, Campus Thebanus), which was famed for its fertility, and was often ravaged and plundered by the different armies, whom the events of war brought into this part of Asia. (
Hdt. 7.42; Xenoph.
l.c.; Strab. xiii. p.588;
Liv. 37.19.) Stephanus B. (s. v.) mentions another town of this name as belonging to the territory of Miletus in Asia Minor.
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