Thebes, the Boeotian League, and central Greece : political and military development and interaction in the fourth century B.C
The history of central Greece in the fourth century BC has long been viewed through the lens of Athenian and Spartan interests which distorts the historical narrative and often misleads the reader regarding the causes and effects of events in this region. The following examination rejects this view and instead uses a regional approach to achieve new and unique understandings of major events in central Greece during the first half of the fourth century BC. The main focus of the examination is the internal developments of the Boeotian League and its interaction with the other states of central Greece. This refers to the relationship between Thebes and the other cities of Boeotia within the federal state as well as between the Boeotian League and Locris, Phocis, and Thessaly. These relationships, when assessed from a regional perspective using both literary and archaeological evidence, craft a new narrative for the political and military history of central Greece, a narrative which can be defined as âBoeotian.' In doing so, many long-standing ideas regarding this period will be challenged including ideological shifts within the government of Boeotia, motivations for the beginning of the Corinthian War, the
Furman, Michael Stephen
Boeotian League ; Boeotia ; Thebes ; Thessaly ; Phocis ; Locris ; Greek federalism ; Corinthian War ; Pherae ; Jason of Pherae ; Epaminondas ; Pelopidas
Thebes, the Boeotian League, and central Greece : political and military development and interaction in the fourth century B.C. The history of central Greece in the fourth century BC has long been viewed through the lens of Athenian and Spartan interests which distorts the historical narrative and often misleads the reader regarding the causes and effects of events in this region. The following examination rejects this view and instead uses a regional approach to achieve new and unique understandings of major events in central Greece during the first half of the fourth century BC. The main focus of the examination is the internal developments of the Boeotian League and its interaction with the other states of central Greece. This refers to the relationship between Thebes and the other cities of Boeotia within the federal state as well as between the Boeotian League and Locris, Phocis, and Thessaly. These relationships, when assessed from a regional perspective using both literary and archaeological evidence, craft a new narrative for the political and military history of central Greece, a narrative which can be defined as âBoeotian.' In doing so, many long-standing ideas regarding this period will be challenged including ideological shifts within the government of Boeotia, motivations for the beginning of the Corinthian War, the
league central_greece political_military development interaction history central_greece long view lens athenian spartan interest distort historical_narrative often mislead reader regard cause_effect event region follow_examination reject view instead use regional achieve new unique understanding major_event central_greece first_half main_focus examination internal development league interaction state central_greece refers relationship city within federal state well league thessaly relationship assess regional_perspective use literary archaeological_evidence craft new narrative political_military history central_greece narrative define many long_standing idea regard period challenge include ideological shift within government motivation begin corinthian war