Thebes or Thiva (in Newgreek), town of ancient Greece, in Boeotia, is located north of Mount Cithaeron (now Kithairon), north-west of Athens. North of Thiva there are two lakes Yliki and Paralimni. In ancient times there was another lake called Kopaida which had been dried out. Thiva is surrounded by fertile plains while the town is built on seven hills that comprised a natural fort in the ancient times. Number seven -a sacred number- has a significant meaning for the town, since a lot of its attributes are based on this number e.g. seven gates.

Myths in ancient Greece have a historical base since they describe real facts that took place in times when written speech was not possible to be used. So when these myths refer to people or gods, we are almost certain that they refer to early war tribes or clans and describe their movements towards the inside of the greek territorial grounds and their clashes for power and vital space. Thiva is one of the oldest towns in Greece and a lot of myths were born there.
According to the myth, Kadmos was the legendary founder of Thiva. He looked for his sister Europe who was kidnapped by Zeus but as it was impossible to take her back, he was told by the oracle of Delphi to build a town and quit searching. Kadmos became the king of Thiva and married Harmony.
Kadmos was forced out of Thiva by Zythos and Amphion. They were brothers, sons of Antiope and Zeus and they built the cyclopean walls of Thiva. As the myth says, the great musician Amphion was playing his music and the rocks placed themselves forming the wall. The town was named after the wife of Zythos, Thebe (Thivi).
Perhaps the most well known myth of Thiva is the one of Oedipus. Oedipus was king's Laios son and was forced out of Thiva when he was a baby, because there was an oracle which said that he would kill his father. He was given to Laios' men, in order to be left on the mount Kithairon, so that the wolves would eat it. So his men did, but some shepherds found the baby and saved it. The child was adopted by the king of Corinth. After a long time, Oedipus had an oracle saying that he would kill his father and marry his mother, so he decided never to go to Corinth. So, he started wandering around Greece... Near Thiva he came across Laios. They argued about who had to step aside, so that the other would pass and Oedipus killed Laios without knowing that he was his natural father. Then he continued his journey until he reached Thiva, where he killed the Sphynx, that was a curse from the gods and married Laios' widow, Iokasti (his natural mother) and became the king of Thiva. The story ends tragically with Oedipus taking off his eyes and Iokasti's suicide... The story of Oedipus and his forthcoming generations is the main theme of a lot of tragedies in ancient Greece, something that made this myth world known.
Thiva is also the homeland of Dionysos, the god of wine and Hercules who was half god, - his father was Zeus- and half man. Their stories are also well known but it is impossible to mention all these myths about Thiva within this site.

Works have shown that the region around Thiva was inhabitable long before 2800 b.C., although the town itself first appears in 2800-1900 b.C.. From 1600 to 1200 b.C., the time of the "Myceanean Era", Thiva is one of the greatest cultural and economical centers in Greece. Its acropolis, Kadmia, is an impressive palace, which has many rooms, laboratories, warehouses and archives. The valuable artifacts that were found show that Thiva was the center of very strong and rich sovereigns, who had mostly agricultural action and had trade with the East. In about 1200 b.C. Thiva was destroyed by the army of Argos and since then the town was decayed. At around 800 b.C. Thiva became a strong town-state again. The geographical position that it has, namely very close to Athens, led the town to a lasting fight with Athens. That was the reason that during the Persian wars, Thiva joined the Persians against Athens. After the defeat of the Persian army, Thiva was punished very hard and lost all of its power. During the peloponnesian war Thiva joined the Spartians, again against Athens. After the defeat of Athens the Spartians captured Thiva too, something that led to an aliance with Athens! At that time (at the beginning of the fourth century b.C.) Thiva's military power reached its peak and dominated Greece. Its leaders were Epaminondas and Pelopidas. The domination lasted very little because the new uprising power, Macedonians under the leadership of Alexander the Great managed to defeat the Thebans and dominate Greece. Alexander destroyed the whole town in order to make all the other Greeks fear him, join him and avoid any other problems. From then on the town lost its power and the decadence began. Thiva didn't become a powerful town until the Byzantine empire. It was a trade center and a very rich town as it produced silk and wine. It started losing its power again, as the whole Byzantine empire in around 1200 b.C., and was captured by several forces such as Franks, Catalans and finally as the rest of Greece by the Turks.

Thiva is a small town of 25.000 citizens today. The modern town is built over the old one, so there are only very little to see from the ancient and the Byzantine times. The museum has very impressive artifacts, some of them are the only ones of their kind in the world. Something else that is remarkable to see is the so-called "Vlachicos Gamos" a custom with its origins in the ancient times. It is said that it is the continuation of the feasts dedicated to Dionysos. The custom as it is nowadays, began about 115 years ago, and takes place every shrove Monday (the one after the carnival). The town also has a recently built ancient-like theater. It is all of us wish that the ancient tragedies ( referring to myths that were born here) will be played in this theater with success.