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Battle of Ceressus Thespiae itself is an interesting little town. It's in Boeotia, on the south-east slope of the Mount Helicon. The ancient walled community stood in the Thespius valley, on a mound on the right bank of the River Thespius, but by the beginning of the fifth century BC Thespian territory had expanded to include the adjacent lands and settlements of southern Boeotia as well.The Thespians worshipped Eros, god of love, and the symbol of his cult was the narcissus flower. The story went that a Thespian youth called Narcissus spurned the advances of male lover who in despair threw himself upon a sword and cursed Narcissus, who then pined away at his reflection in a pool where the flowers grew, and were named after him. Mount Helicon was also the mythical home of the muses, known locally as the Thespiades, who inspired poets and other artists. The Thespians claimed descent from Heracles by some of the Thespiades, which in this sense meant the fifty daughters of Thespius, with whom he copulated, either on fifty consecutive nights, or in a single orgy in a typically herculean feat. The myth may also symbolise an ancient intermarriage between the incoming Boeotians and the established Thracians. The lion of Cithaeron, which Heracles slew, would make a fitting symbol for the town. If your date is 484 BC and if your protagonist requires a name you could use Dithyrambus, the son of Harmatides, purportedly the greatest of the Thespian warriors who fell at Thermopylae, or, if he's a general, Demophilus the son of Diadromes. The northern city-state of Orchomenus was the traditional enemy. The most important battle in recent Thespian history had been Ceressus , fought by the Boeotians, including the Thespians, against the Thessalian allies of Orchomenus in about 520 BC. This historic victory was celebrated for having 'saved the Greeks'. To have participated your protagonist of 484 would have to be a grizzled veteran, which would not be impossible because hoplites were often eligible for military service up to the age of sixty-two. Any recent duels or skirmishes the character has been involved with are likely to have been fought against the men of neighbouring Creusis, Siphae, Thisbe and Chorsiae, subdued within the last generation by the Thespians, and perhaps not yet fully reconciled to their subjection. You should find the following quotations adapted from Hanson and Buck to be useful for backstory. I'm a bit rushed at the moment, so forgive the repetitions. Hoplites were 'grubby farmers', 1 'free land-owning infantrymen,' 2 'the planters of trees and vines', 3 middling 'men in the ranks who had begun to accumulate some capital for weapons from their farming success', 4 fighting for prestige and land in 'quasi-ritualised warfare', 5 'armoured spearmen advancing in lock-step to the music of flutes'. 6 Their equipment was the panoply, or hopla : 'bronze helmets, breastplates and greaves'. 7 As for the wars the Thespians fought before Thermopylae ... 'The people of Ascra were overwhelmed by the Thespians some time after the death of Hesiod [between 700 and 650]. They fled to Orchomenus where they were kindly received. The bones of Hesiod were removed to Orchomenus with the refugees. The Thespians destroyed Ascra but then had trouble in adopting the hoplite phalanx and accepting the attendant social adjustment.' 8 'Thespiae enlarged her territories by the domination and absorption of smaller neighbours as well as by establishing new settlements. Thespiae destroyed Ascra and annexed its territory about 700.' 9 'The nobility was excluded from manual labour or trade in the laws of Thespiae. The result was to leave the nobility free for judging, governing and fighting. Hoplites were equipped at their own expense. The hoplites required estates large enough to provide surpluses that could be used to purchase and replace equipment, to maintain assistants, to provide such other items as were needful for those in the hoplite class and to produce the rations necessary for the usual short campaign. A maximum number of estates, each large enough to support one or more hoplites, was essential for the state.' 10 'The prosperous Thespian nobles were few. Their best land was concentrated in the hands of a small number. Most of the nobility were too poor to equip themselves as hoplites. In the past the Thespian establishment relied on Thebes for protection.' 11 But 'the system of land tenure was changed so that more land was reassigned to the impoverished nobles, to the discomfort of the wealthy landowners.' 12 'By 600 – 550 the Thespians were able to reorganise themselves and ceased to rely unduly on Thebes. They were able to settle Eutresis.' 13 'Thespiae settled a new village on the abandoned Mycenaean site of Eutresis about 600.' 14 Thespiae became a member of the Boeotian League. 'The League came into existence because of an increasing suspicion of Thessalian intentions on Boeotia after the reduction of Phocis. Theban and Boeotian aggressiveness was favoured by reasonable prosperity. The Orchomenian defeat of Coronea created a fear of further troubles in Boeotia.' 15 'Orchomenus stood apart from the Boeotian League for some time after the League was finally formed. It defeated, in the third quarter of the sixth century, Coronea, one of the first members of the new League. Orchomenus, in fear of a Theban dominated political federation, sought the aid of Thessaly to withstand its pressure. A Boeotia reduced to the status of a Phocis under Thessaly seemed infinitely preferable to the Orchomenian leaders, since Orchomenus would be in a premier position, as opposed to a Boeotia ruled by Thebes.' 16 Among 'the Boeotian cities, Orchomenus had a long-standing, close and friendly relationship with Thessaly. The approach route to Boeotia from Thessaly by way of Thermopylae and Hyampolis led through friendly Orchomenian territory.' 17 'An eager Thessaly, already concerned by Theban efforts to form a military league, readily seized upon a request for aid from Orchomenus as a pretext for invading Boeotia. Under their commander Lattamyas, some time around 520 BC, the Thessalians marched into eastern Boeotia.' 18 'The invasion was opposed by the Boeotians, the members of the Theban-led military league. The membership consisted of the states that the Thebans thought of as “dwelling nearest” and “always fighting eagerly on their side”, namely those of Tanagra to the east, Coronea to the west, and Thespiae to the south (with Thebes itself being to the north). Haliartus, Acraephia and several minor places such as the Tetracomia, the villages north of Thebes, and towns like Aulis that were adjacent to the Euripus all fall within these limits of “those swelling nearest” and were included in the first core of members. These struck the earliest datable League coinage about 525-520.' 19 'The Thessalians got as far as Ceressus , a locality in Thespian territory. It lay near the main route south of Lake Copaïs between east and west Boeotia. The Thessalians, striking from Phocis by way of Orchomenian territory, were proceeding towards Thebes, skirting Lake Copaïs and by-passing Haliartus to the south. The Boeotians concentrated their forces at a defensible spot close to the route, while the Thespians provided supplies and bivouacking materials. The Thessalians turned to deal with the enemy forces and were smartly repulsed, losing Lattamyas in the process. They withdrew from Boeotia, and the victory by the Boeotians marked a beginning of freedom for the Greeks, a beginning only, since the liberation of various territories took some time to bring to pass.' 20 Thus, to recap: 'In about 520 a Thessalian invasion of Boeotia ended with a defeat at Ceressus and the death of the Thessalian ruler Lattamyas, a victory that “set the Greeks free”. The victory was associated with the formation of the Boeotian League.' 21 'The Thessalians invaded Boeotia under the command of Lattamyas, gaining control as far as Thespiae. But the Boeotians defeated the Thessalians in battle and drove them back, killing their commander Lattamyas. But there was no recent hostility between Thebes and Thessaly by 480.' 22 'As long as the Thessalians held Phocis, and Orchomenus was their friend, there was danger. Athens on the other side of Boeotia was a Thessalian ally. Boeotia was surrounded. Some of the Boeotian states, such as Plataea, Lebadea, Anthedon, Copae and Oropus, were uncommitted. It would be to the advantage of the league to recruit as many Boeotian states as possible.' 23 'Thebes and Thespiae were good friends and allies, and had been so for a long time. The Thebans were in the fight against the [Thessalian attack] at Ceressus . The Orchomenians were aided by the Thessalians against the other Boeotians.' 24 In 520/519 'the League put pressure on' Plataea, 'but the Plataeans, on Spartan advice [Cleomenes was with an army in the vicinity of Plataea], reacted by allying themselves with [the Peisistratids of] Athens and with the aid of Athens defeated an attempt to enrol them by force.' 25 About the same time, 'Eleutherae allied with Athens because of a desire to share Athenian citizenship and because of a hatred of Thebes.' 26 'The Thessalians were able to pass cavalry down to [the Peisistratids in] Athens from time to time during this decade. It was possible to run a cavalry force through open, hostile territory'. 27 'The Thespians' attention during the sixth century turned south and south-west, towards Creusis, Siphae, Thisbe and Chorsiae. Thespiae gained control of these towns in the late sixth century.' 28 'Thespiae gained control of Siphae and the adjacent coastal towns by 500.' 29 According to Herodotus, 'Thespiae fielded 700 hoplites at Thermopylae and 1,800 light-armed troops at Plataea.' 30 Most of the Thespians at Plataea probably came from Creusis – where the slain from this battle were interred beneath a lion monument – and other neighbouring villages. They were under the authority of a new and separate Boeotarch from Thespiae proper. This major concession apparently indicates political desperation among the surviving Thespians after the massacre of their hoplites at Thermopylae, and the loss of their town to the invaders. As Thespiae itself had already sacrificed the flower of its manhood, these men from the outer districts sent to Plataea were lightly armed and presumably intended to be kept out of the worst of the fighting, though a considerable number did die on the day. As the above history is somewhat involved, if you have any specific questions, particularly regarding the technical details of hoplite warfare, which I haven't really touched on above, please don't hesitate to ask. 1. Victor Davis Hanson, Wars of the Ancient Greeks (London: Cassell, 1999), p. 60. In fact the only recorded hostilities between the Boeotians, led by Thebes, and the Thessalians appear to have occurred at precisely this time - the battle of Ceressus, in which the Thessalian cavalry, led by Lattamyas, was repulsed from an invasion of Boeotia; this event is dated by Plutarch (Cam. 19.2) to 'more than two hundred years' before Leuctra (371 B.c.).52 Thus several items in the evidence, both external and internal, suggest that the Aspis was composed between 591 and c. 570;53 and internal evidence indicates a Theban or pro-Theban author. 27 Wallace, op. cit. (above, note 1) 62-63, suggests as supporting evidence for an early sixth century date the battle of Ceressus, in which the Thebans defeated the Thessalians some time before 571 (more than two hundred years before Leuctra; Plu. Cam. 19; Paus. 9.14.2-4). It is true that the Thessalians were involved in the Lelantine War; yet this battle might better be connected with the Sacred War. The- ban aid would help explain the long resistance of Cirrha to the combined forces of Cleisthenes of Sicyon, Athens, Thessaly, and Argos. After the war we find Cleisthenes making overtures to Thebes (see M. F. McGregor, "Cleisthenes of Sicyon and the Panhellenic Festivals," TAPhA 72 [1941] 266-287, especially 270 and 282).
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