Thebes: Lost City of Ancient Greece with Professor Paul Cartledge

Greek Thebes (not to be confused with the Egyptian Thebes) was one of the most powerful and interesting of ancient Greek cities, but it tends to get overlooked in favour of Athens, Sparta, or Alexander the Great's kingdom of Macedon. For 20 years in the later 4th century BCE, it was literally lost – destroyed on Alexander's orders – but before that it had been a major political player. Theban myths have continued to resonate in the Western imagination to our own day. Think only of Oedipus – or his sister-daughter Antigone...

Hosted by Classics for All's Chairman, Jimmy Mulville, this talk by Professor Paul Cartledge (Emeritus A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture) uncovers the rich history and mythic origins of Thebes, bringing the forgotten city vividly back to life.

This was a Classics for All fundraising event, hosted on 23 November 2021.