On the Wrong Side

[mtvessel]

Nov 2021
Thebes - Paul Cartledge – Picador, 2020
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I know it's unfair, but this is a book that I really wish had been written by Mary Beard rather than the author. Beard's style is brilliantly balanced between academic authority and chatty friendliness. Cartledge tries something similar, but when he tries to to be humorous it comes across as painfully awkward, and when he doesn't, the dry style of a university academic is all too obvious. This is a pity because the subject matter is interesting - a history of classical Greece told from a different perspective from the usual sources (Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon). For there were many other polloi (city states) than Athens and Sparta, and their interactions tell a story of ongoing conflict between oligarchic tyranny and democracy that has become terrifyingly relevant to the current day.

The choice of Thebes and its province of Boeotia as a focus point is somewhat quixotic, for unlike its more famous rivals it did not have a significant ancient historian who could tell its story. This may have been due to the character of its people - the Athenian epithet/insult "Boeotian swine" suggests uncultured agricultural hicks, and Thebes was better known for its defensive wall with its famous seven gates than for its centres of learning. This means that actual historical facts relating to Thebes are somewhat thin on the ground. There is certainly plenty of mythology - it was allegedly founded by Cadmus sowing a bunch of dragons' teeth from which men sprang up to build and defend the city, and it was the preferred residence of the god Dionysus, the birthplace of the semi-divine hero Herakles, and the location of the tragic tale of Oedipus. However, myths tell us little about what daily life must have been like, and other than occasional references to the traditional archaeological standbys of tombs, vases and coins, nor does the author. Like the ancient authors, he seems more interested in the politics of Thebes than in its people, which is a shame.

The politics is however, interesting, particularly because Thebes was consistently on the wrong side. As an oligarchic state it supported the Persians during Xerxes' invasions of mainland Greece in the 480s and Sparta in the Peloponesian Wars with Athens in 430-410. It was only in the 370s that Thebes became democratic after Sparta had broken up the Boeotian state and occupied its major cities. With the support of the old enemy Athens, a group of Theban exiles led by Pelopidas succeeded in assassinating the pro-Spartan leaders and declared a revolution. Sparta went to war with the upstart state, but was defeated at the Battle of Leuctra in 371. Thebes remained top dog until eventually crushed by Philip of Macedon in 338. The city was destroyed by Alexander in 335.

Thebes' story is interesting and hopeful, because it shows how ideas of democracy and justice tend to promulgate even in unpromising times. Of course, things were simpler then, but even today tyrants and oligarchs must constantly beware of the democratic threat to their hegemony. However dysfunctional our own democracies may be, that's something worth remembering.