Thebes

The sunlit city of myths and heroes

“Shaft of the sun, fairest light of all that have dawned seven-gated
Thebes you have shone forth at last
eye of golden day,
advancing…”

Antigone, Sophocles, line 100

Thebes of seven gates and seven hills, one of the three greatest city-states in ancient Greece, was named after the daughter of the river Asopus. This important administrative centre during the Mycenaean period, gradually transformed into one of the most well-known artistic centres of the ancient world.