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Listed 81 sub titles with search on: Monuments reported by ancient authors  for wider area of: "THIVES Province VIOTIA" .


Monuments reported by ancient authors (81)

Ancient altars

Altar of Zeus, God of Freedom

PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Not far from the common tomb of the Greeks is an altar of Zeus, God of Freedom.

Altar of Apollo God of Ashes

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Within the sanctuary of Heracles and beyond the Chastiser stone is an altar of Apollo surnamed God of Ashes; it is made out of the ashes of the victims. The customary mode of divination here is from voices.

Altar of Dionysus

The altar was built by the sons of Praxiteles.

Ancient oracles

Acraephnium Oracle

AKREFNION (Ancient city) THIVES
Before the expedition of the Macedonians under Alexander, in which Thebes was destroyed, there was here an oracle that never lied. Once too a mail of Europus, of the name of Mys, who was sent by Mardonius, inquired of the god in his own language, and the god too gave a response, not in Greek but in the Carian speech.

Oracle of Mount Ptoon, near Acraephia, in the territory of Thebes. Mythology affirmed that Tenerus, son of Apollo and Melia, was the first prophet here (Strabo, ix. p. 412). More interesting is it to know, on the same authority, that Pindar sang of this oracle. When Mys the Carian was sent by Mardonius to consult it, at the time of the Persian wars, the prophet answered him in the Carian language, so that the Thebans who accompanied him could not write down the reply, and Mys was obliged to do this himself (Herod. viii. 135). This oracle also was consulted by the Thebans before Leuctra (Pausan. iv. 32, § 5), but was destroyed in the general ruin of the Theban territory by Alexander (Pausan. ix. 23, § 3). In the time of Plutarch the whole district was desolate (Plut. Defect. Orac. 8).

Eutrisian Apollo of Galaxion

EFTRISSIS (Ancient city) PLATEES
Oracle of Eutresis, between Thespiae and Plataea, in the neighbourhood of Leuctra. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Eutresis: Schol. ad Il. ii. 502.)

Oracle of the Nymphs Sphragitides

KITHERON (Mountain) VIOTIA
(Plut. Aristid. 11; Pausan. ix. 3, § 9).

Temple of Oghestius Poseidon (Oracle)

OGCHISTOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
In my day there remained a temple and image of Onchestian Poseidon, and the grove which Homer too praised (Paus. 9,26,5).

A tradition of an oracle of Poseidon Hippios, at Onchestus in Boeotia, is preserved in the Homeric hymn to Apollo (230-238), with which compare Pausan. ix. 26, § 5, and, as emphasising the word Hippios, Hom. Il. xix. 405-417.

Bird-observatory of Teiresias

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
After the sanctuary of Ammon at Thebes comes what is called the bird-observatory of Teiresias, and near it is a sanctuary of Fortune, who carries the child Wealth.

Oracle of Apollo Ismenius, south of Thebes. This was the national sanctuary of the Thebans, and oracles were given here, as at Olympia, by inspection of the entrails of victims (Herod. viii. 134) and by the shape of altar-flames (Soph. Oed. Tyr. 21). A stone at the entrance of the temple was pointed out as the seat on [p. 287] which Manto, the daughter of Tiresias, had prophesied. In this oracle a boy of good family and handsome appearance was selected yearly as priest and termed daphnephoros (laurel-bearer); and if in more than usually good position, dedicated a tripod before his year of office was over. (Pausan. ix. 10, § § 2-4; and compare Pindar, Pyth. xi. 7-10.) Herodotus saw three such tripods, inscribed with ancient Cadmean characters (v. 58-61). One was inscribed with the name of Amphitryon, and Pausanias (l. c.) says that it was dedicated on behalf of Heracles, and was the most remarkable of all the tripods he had seen. Possibly it was from this collection that a yearly tripod was sent to Dodona (Strabo, ix. p. 402). Before the disastrous conflict with Alexander, the Thebans are said to have asked of this oracle the meaning of a certain cobweb in the temple of Demeter, and to have received an ambiguous answer (Diodor. xvii. 10).

This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Oracle of Apollo Spodios

Oracle of Apollo Spodios, also at Thebes. Here divination by voice-omens was practised, as at Smyrna. (Pausan. ix. 11, § 5.) This oracle, like the last, was of course destroyed by Alexander.

Ancient sanctuaries

Sanctuary of Ptoan Apollo

AKREFNION (Ancient city) THIVES
It was located at a distance of fifteen stades away from the city (Paus. 9,23,5).

Sanctuary of Demeter

KOPES (Ancient city) THIVES
(Paus. 9,24,1).

Sanctuary of Dionysus

(Paus. 9,24,1).

Sanctuary of Sarapis

(Paus. 9,24,1).

Sanctuary of Athena Warlike

PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
The Plataeans have also a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Warlike; it was built from the spoils given them by the Athenians as their share from the battle of Marathon. It is a wooden image gilded, but the face, hands and feet are of Pentelic marble. In size it is but little smaller than the bronze Athena on the Acropolis, the one which the Athenians also erected as first-fruits of the battle at Marathon; the Plataeans too had Pheidias for the maker of their image of Athena. In the temple are paintings: one of them, by Polygnotus, represents Odysseus after he has killed the wooers; the other, painted by Onasias, is the former expedition of the Argives, under Adrastus, against Thebes. These paintings are on the walls of the fore-temple, while at the feet of the image is a portrait of Arimnestus, who commanded the Plataeans at the battle against Mardonius, and yet before that at Marathon.

Sanctuary of Demeter Eleusinian

There is also at Plataea a sanctuary of Demeter, surnamed Eleusinian.

Sanctuary of Hermes Champion

TANAGRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
There are sanctuaries of Hermes Ram-bearer and of Hermes called Champion. They account for the former surname by a story that Hermes averted a pestilence from the city by carrying a ram round the walls; to commemorate this Calamis made an image of Hermes carrying a ram upon his shoulders. Whichever of the youths is judged to be the most handsome goes round the walls at the feast of Hermes, carrying a lamb on his shoulders.

Sanctuary of Hermes Champion

There are sanctuaries of Hermes Ram-bearer and of Hermes called Champion. Hermes Champion is said, on the occasion when an Eretrian fleet put into Tanagra from Euboea, to have led out the youths to the battle; he himself, armed with a scraper like a youth, was chiefly responsible for the rout of the Euboeans. In the sanctuary of the Champion is kept all that is left of the wild strawberry-tree under which they believe that Hermes was nourished.

Sanctuary of Telchinian Athena

TEFMISSOS (Ancient city) THIVES
In Teumessus there is also a sanctuary of Telchinian Athena, which contains no image. As to her surname, we may hazard the conjecture that a division of the Telchinians who once dwelt in Cyprus came to Boeotia and established a sanctuary of Telchinian Athena.

Sanctuary of Heracles

THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
The priestess there is a virgin, who acts as such until she dies. Heracles, they say, had intercourse with the fifty daughters of Thestius, except one, in a single night. She was the only one who refused to have connection with him. Heracles,thinking that he had been insulted, condemned her to remain a virgin all her life, serving him as his priest. But I cannot think it credible that Heracles would rise to such a pitch of wrath against a daughter of a friend. Moreover, while he was still among men, punishing them for insolence, and especially such as were impious towards the gods, he would not himself have set up a temple and appointed a priestess to himself, just as though he were a god.

Sanctuary of the Muses

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites

Sanctuary of Heracles

THISVI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Here there is a sanctuary of Heracles with a standing image of stone, and they hold a festival called the Heracleia.

Sanctuary of Heracles

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
The carvings on the gables are by Praxiteles, and include most of what are called the twelve labours. The slaughter of the Stymphalian birds and the cleansing of the land of Elis by Heracles are omitted; in their place is represented the wrestling with Antaeus.

Sanctuary of Tyche (Fortune)

After the sanctuary of Ammon at Thebes comes what is called the bird-observatory of Teiresias, and near it is a sanctuary of Fortune, who carries the child Wealth.

Sanctuary of Demeter Thesmophorus

The sanctuary of Demeter Lawgiver is said to have been at one time the house of Cadmus and his descendants. The image of Demeter is visible down to the chest. Here have been dedicated bronze shields, said to be those of Lacedaemonian officers who fell at Leuctra.

Sanctuary of Dionysus Lysius

Near the Proetidian gate is built a theater, and quite close to the theater is a temple of Dionysus surnamed Deliverer. For when some Theban prisoners in the hands of Thracians had reached Haliartia on their march, they were delivered by the god, who gave up the sleeping Thracians to be put to death. One of the two images here the Thebans say is Semele. Once in each year, they say, they open the sanctuary on stated days.

Sanctuary of Artemis Eucleia

(Eucleia = Fair Fame). They say that within the sanctuary were buried Androcleia and Aleis, daughters of Antipoenus.

Sanctuary of Heracles

TIFA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
(Paus. 9,32,4).

Ancient stadiums

Stadium of Heracles

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Adjoining the sanctuary of Heracles are a gymnasium and a race-course, both being named after the god.

Ancient statues

Image of Artemis

DELION (Ancient city) VIOTIA

Image of Leto

Statue of Hermes

KORSIES (Ancient city) THISVI
(Paus. 9,24,5).

Image of Dionysus

KREFSIS (Ancient city) THISVI
Creusis, the harbor of Thespiae, has nothing to show publicly, but at the home of a private person I found an image of Dionysus made of gypsum and adorned with painting (Paus. 9,2,1).

Statue of Love

THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Lysippus made a bronze Love for the Thespians, and previously Praxiteles one of Pentelic marble. The first to remove the image of Love, it is said, was Gaius the Roman Emperor; Claudius, they say, sent it back to Thespiae, but Nero carried it away a second time.At Rome the image perished by fire. Of the pair who sinned against the god, Gaius was killed by a private soldier, just as he was giving the password; he had made the soldier very angry by always giving the same password with a covert sneer. The other, Nero, in addition to his violence to his mother, committed accursed and hateful crimes against his wedded wives. The modern Love at Thespiae was made by the Athenian Menodorus, who copied the work of Praxiteles.

Statue of Aphrodite

Statue made by Praxiteles himself.

Satue of Phryne

Statue made by Praxiteles himself.

Statue of Zeus Saviour

In Thespiae there is a bronze image of Zeus Saviour. They say about it that when a dragon once was devastating their city, the god commanded that every year one of their youths, upon whom the lot fell, should be offered to the monster.

Statue of Athena Pronaia

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
At the entrance of the sanctuary of Apollo Ismenian, is a stone figure of Athena Pronaia (=of the fore-temple), made by Skopas.

Statue of Hermes Pronaius

At the entrance of the sanctuary of Apollo Ismenian, is a stone figure of Hermes Pronaos (=of the fore-temple), made by Pheidias.

Statue of Apollo Ismenian

The image is made of cedar-wood by Canachus.

Statues of Heracles

The image in the sanctuary of Heracles, of white marble, is called Champion, and the Thebans Xenocritus and Eubius were the artists. But the ancient wooden image is thought by the Thebans to be by Daedalus. It was dedicated by Daedalus himself, as a thank-offering for a benefit. For when he was fleeing from Crete in small vessels which he had made for himself and his son Icarus, he devised for the ships sails, an invention as yet unknown to the men of those times, so as to take advantage of a favorable wind and outsail the oared fleet of Minos. Daedalus himself was saved, but the ship of Icarus is said to have overturned, as he was a clumsy helmsman. The drowned man was carried ashore by the current to the island, then without a name, that lies off Samos. Heracles came across the body and recognized it, giving it burial where even to-day a small mound still stands to Icarus on a promontory jutting out into the Aegean. After this Icarus are named both the island and the sea around it.

Colossal figures of Athena and Heracles

Thrasybulus, son of Lycus, and the Athenians who with him put down the tyranny of the Thirty, set out from Thebes when they returned to Athens, and therefore they dedicated in the sanctuary of Heracles colossal figures of Athena and Heracles, carved by Alcamenes in relief out of Pentelic marble.

Statue of Dionysus

Near is an image of Dionysus; Onasimedes made it of solid bronze.

Statue of Epaminondas

On the statue of Epaminondas is an inscription in elegiac verse relating among other things that he founded Messene, and that through him the Greeks won freedom.

Statue of Ammon

The image, a work of Calamis, was dedicated by Pindar, who also sent to the Ammonians of Libya a hymn to Ammon. This hymn I found still carved on a triangular slab by the side of the altar dedicated to Ammon by Ptolemy the son of Lagus.

Statue of Tyche with Plouto

According to the Thebans, the hands and face of the image were made by Xenophon the Athenian, the rest of it by Callistonicus, a native. It was a clever idea of these artists to place (Plouto) Wealth in the arms of (Tyche) Fortune, and so to suggest that she is his mother or nurse.

Statues of Aphrodite

Three wooden images of Aphrodite, so very ancient that they are actually said to be votive offerings of Harmonia, and the story is that they were made out of the wooden figure-heads on the ships of Cadmus. They call the first Heavenly, the second Common, and the third Rejecter. Harmoina gave to Aphrodite the surname of Heavenly to signify a love pure and free from bodily lust; that of Common, to denote sexual intercourse; the third, that of Rejecter, that mankind might reject unlawful passion and sinful acts.

Statue of Artemis Eucleia

The image was made by Scopas.

Lion of Heracles

Before the temple of Artemis of Fair Fame is a lion made of stone, said to have been dedicated by Heracles after he had conquered in the battle the Orchomenians and their king, Erginus son of Clymenus.

Statues of Henioche & Pyrrha

On the right of the temple of Apollo Ismenian are statues of women made of stone, said to be portraits of Henioche and Pyrrha, daughters of Creon.

Relief portraits of Pharmacides

Here are portraits of women in relief, but the figures are by this time rather indistinct. The Thebans call them Pharmacides (=Witches), adding that they were sent by Hera to hinder the birth-pangs of Alcmena. So these kept Alcmena from bringing forth her child. But Historis, the daughter of Teiresias, thought of a trick to deceive the Witches, and she uttered a loud cry of joy in their hearing, that Alcmena had been delivered. So the story goes that the Witches were deceived and went away, and Alcmena brought forth her child.

Ancient temples

Temple of Dionysus

AKREFNION (Ancient city) THIVES
The town lies on Mount Ptous, and there are here a temple and image of Dionysus that are worth seeing.

Majestic temple of Apollo

DELION (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Those days men laid the greatest stress on piety to the gods. Datis the Persian showed his piety when having found an image of Apollo in a Phoenician ship he restored it to the Tanagraeans at Delium.

Temple of Hera Full-grown

PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
There is at Plataea a temple of Hera, worth seeing for its size and for the beauty of its images. On entering you see Rhea carrying to Cronus the stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, as though it were the babe to which she had given birth. The Hera they call Full-grown; it is an upright image of huge size. Both figures are of Pentelic marble, and the artist was Praxiteles. Here too is another image of Hera; it is seated, and was made by Callimachus. The goddess they call the Bride.

Temple of Dionysus Goat-shooter

POTNIES (Ancient city) THIVA
Here there is also a temple of Dionysus Goat-shooter. For once, when they were sacrificing to the god, they grew so violent with wine that they actually killed the priest of Dionysus. Immediately after the murder they were visited by a pestilence, and the Delphic oracle said that to cure it they must sacrifice a boy in the bloom of youth. A few years afterwards, so they say, the god substituted a goat as a victim in place of their boy.

Temple of Demeter & the Maid

SKOLOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
The temple of Demeter and the Maid among the ruins is not finished, and only half-finished are the images of the goddesses

Temple of Dionysus

TANAGRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
In the temple of Dionysus the image too is worth seeing, being of Parian marble and a work of Calamis. But a greater marvel still is the Triton

Temple of Themis

Beside the sanctuary of Dionysus at Tanagra are three temples, one of Themis, another of Aphrodite, and the third of Apollo; with Apollo are joined Artemis and Leto

Temple of Aphrodite

Beside the sanctuary of Dionysus at Tanagra are three temples, one of Themis, another of Aphrodite, and the third of Apollo; with Apollo are joined Artemis and Leto.

Temple of Apollo, Artemis and Leto

Beside the sanctuary of Dionysus at Tanagra are three temples, one of Themis, another of Aphrodite, and the third of Apollo; with Apollo are joined Artemis and Leto.

Temple of Ammon

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Not far away is a temple of Ammon; the image, a work of Calamis, was dedicated by Pindar, who also sent to the Ammonians of Libya a hymn to Ammon.

Ancient theatres

Theatre of Tanagra

TANAGRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Near by (the Sanctuary of Hermes Champion) is a theater and by it a portico.

Theater

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Near the Proetidian gate is built a theater, and quite close to the theater is a temple of Dionysus surnamed Deliverer.

Ancient tombs

The grave of Phocus

GLISSAS (Ancient city) THIVES
Plutarch mentions that in Glisas was Phocus grave, who was killed by the thirty suitors of his daughter.

Tomb of those who died at the Battle of Platea

PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Roughly at the entrance into Plataea are the graves of those who fought against the Persians. Of the Greeks generally there is a common tomb, but the Lacedaemonians and Athenians who fell have separate graves, on which are written elegiac verses by Simonides.

The tomb of Leitus

Son of Alector, in the Argo, suitor of Helen, leads Boeotians to Troy, brings back bones of Arcesilaus to Lebadea, his tomb.

Tomb of Orion

TANAGRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
There is in Tanagra the tomb of Orion.

Polyandrium

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Not far from the Electrian gate is a common tomb, where lie all those who met their death when fighting against Alexander and the Macedonians.

Tomb of Caanthus

By the sacred fountain of Ares is the grave of Caanthus.

Grave of the children of Heracles by Megara

They show also the tomb of the children of Heracles by Megara. Their account of the death of these is in no way different from that in the poems of Panyassis and of Stesichorus of Himera. But the Thebans add that Heracles in his madness was about to kill Amphitryon as well, but before he could do so he was rendered unconscious by the blow of the stone. Athena, they say, threw at him this stone, which they name Chastiser.

Tombs of Semele & children of Amphion and Niobe

There are also ruins of the house of Lycus, and the tomb of Semele, but Alcmena has no tomb. It is said that on her death she was turned from human form to a stone, but the Theban account does not agree with the Megarian. The Greek legends generally have for the most part different versions. Here too at Thebes are the tombs of the children of Amphion. The boys lie apart; the girls are buried by themselves.

Grave of Androcleia & Aleis

They say that within the sanctuary (of Artemis Eucleia) were buried Androcleia and Aleis, daughters of Antipoenus. For when Heracles and the Thebans were about to engage in battle with the Orchomenians, an oracle was delivered to them that success in the war would be theirs if their citizen of the most noble descent would consent to die by his own hand. Now Antipoenus, who had the most famous ancestors, was loath to die for the people, but his daughters were quite ready to do so. So they took their own lives and are honored therefor.

Links

Monuments

Of Platea

Advancing in the city itself from the altar and the image which have been made to Zeus of Freedom, you come to a hero-shrine of Plataea.

Perseus Building Catalog

Delphi, Treasury of the Thebans (VI)

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Site: Delphi
Type: Treasury
Summary: Temple-like building; in the southwestern corner of the Sanctuary of Apollo.
Date: ca. 371 B.C. - 300 B.C.
Period: Late Clas./Hell.

Plan:
Small Doric building with cella and Pronaos opening east.

History:
Probably built after the battle of Leuktra in 371 B.C.

This text is cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains 4 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.


Sacred fountains

Sacred fountain of Ares

Higher up than the Apollo Ismenian sanctuary you may see the fountain which they say is sacred to Ares, and they add that a dragon was posted by Ares as a sentry over the spring.

Various

Trophy for the battle of Plataea

PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
The trophy which the Greeks set up for the battle at Plataea stands about fifteen stades from the city.

House of Amphitryon & Alcmene

THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
On the left of the gate named Electran are the ruins of a house where they say Amphitryon came to live when exiled from Tiryns because of the death of Electryon; and the chamber of Alcmena is still plainly to be seen among the ruins. They say that it was built for Amphitryon by Trophonius and Agamedes.

Tripod dedicated by Amphitryon for Heracles.

A tripod dedicated to the temple of Apollo Ismenian by Amphitryon for Heracles after he had worn the laurel.

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