Good academic book about the forgotten city of ancient Greece, Thebes. It was a bit of a slog for me but well-written and good for those obsessed with all things ancient greek.

Thebes was the third city state of Classical Greece and has been rather neglected in comparison with its more glamorous rivals of Athens and Sparta.
Thebes seems to have been largely disregarded by modern writers, partly due to a lack of historical evidence and also perhaps because of the reputation of ancient Thebans as somewhat unsophisticated thugs.
In this book Paul Cartledge has attempted to right the balance and give Thebes the credit that it is due. He believes that we should consider Thebes "central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks’ multiple achievements..." The book also covers the rich pickings of mythical Thebes which include stories involving both the Sphinx and Oedipus amongst others.
The book is very comprehensive and I found it a fascinating read.

Most of us understand the significance of ancient Athens, a few of us have heard of the trials and tribulations of Sparta, but it is fair to assume, that less of us understand the history of Thebes. Not to be confused with the ancient Egyptian city of the same name, Thebes (as known to the Greek – or Boeotian – population of its time), is an incredibly interesting city to learn about.

Paul Cartledge wrote this book to put Thebes on the main stage, alongside Athens and Sparta. He aims to provide the reader with an informative history based on the scarce information available, in the hope to enlighten us on the politics, wars and residents of this ancient city.

I have always had a keen interest in the many facets of ancient history and particularly, the Greek mythological world, so I thought I’d devour this book. The reality is, I struggled to enjoy the writing and the author’s tendency to jump from one subject to another. Strangely enough, constant reassurances were given during the narration that such subjects would be addressed or could be referred to in a previous chapter – it was hard to fathom if this was actually achieved.

However, this is by no means a poorly researched book; it just suffers slightly in terms of structure. This is my only criticism – I really believe non-fiction, particularly history, benefits from clear narration and a chronological timeline. It is still a worthwhile read if you wish to find out more about the political upheavals and challenges that Thebes faced right up until its destruction by Alexander the Great. But, if you are looking for a book that focuses on Greek mythology as you learn, this may not be the one for you.

Thebes is often considered the black sheep of the Ancient Greek cities. It's not as infamous as Athens or Sparta, and is often overlooked in favour of its more glamorous cousins. However, Paul Cartledge manages to present a high detailed and interesting account of the ancient city and the famous inhabitants and events that went on here.

We have the birthplace of Hercules and the riddle loving Sphinx, as well as a rich military history to rival it's neighbours. We have the settings of some of the more popular Greek tragedies too (including my personal favourite Antigone). It's an incredibly well thought out and researched book, especially when you consider the limitations involved in accessing original source material to work with. The writing style, given that this is more of an academic text, is also very easy to read. I could very easily find myself reading several chapters of this, immersing myself in the ancient world, and come back to it easily enough a few hours later. There is so much I never knew about Thebes, and I found this text to be incredibly insightful and helpful.