WAR CRIMES AND ATROCITIES (True Crime) Read Online Free
Author: Anne Williams, Vivian Head, Janice Anderson
well guarded by a dragon. On the advice of the goddess Athena, Cadmus slew the dragon, and sowed its teeth in the ground. From these teeth grew fierce, armed men, five of whom became the ancestors of the Thebans. Thebes was reputed to be the birthplace of two great divinities, Dionysus and Heracles, the setting for the tragedy of Oedipus, and at the heart of the legendary wars of Adrastus. In two separate wars, Adrastus fought Thebes, and during the second series of attacks Thebes was razed. All this was to provide plenty of material for later Greek epic and tragic poets, including the Theban Pindar, who was born in 518 bc in the village of Cynoscephalae in the district of Thebes.
By the time Thebes appeared in recorded history, it was a flourishing city on the fertile plains of Boeotia, large enough to require seven gates in the wall that surrounded it. The Thebans had acquired a reputation for being dull-witted – despite the fact that, according to Herodotus, they were the first use of written letters in Western Europe, which were introduced from Phoenicia (by Cadmus). In classical times, the city was the leading state among the 14 independent states of Boeotia that came together in a league.
EARLY BATTLES
From the earliest years of the founding of their city, the Thebans lived up to their legendary origins in those fighting men sprung from dragon’s teeth. They were constantly at war with their near neighbours, the Athenians, and sided with the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, where they played a sizable part in the downfall of Athens. Later, the Thebans, like other Greek states, became anti-Spartan, and scored a great victory against them at the battle of Leuctra in 371bc. For a time after this Thebes was the major power in Greece.
Within 40 years of this great victory, the story of Thebes had taken a dark turn indeed. The kingdom of Macedonia was north of Thebes, and it had been quietly flexing its muscles for centuries. It had acquired a new and ambitious king, known as Philip of Macedon. Philip, born in 382 bc, instilled a new sense of ambition and discipline into Macedonia and its army. Soon, Macedonia’s modest ambitions to exercise sovereignty over the Greek coastal states nearest to them had turned into an ambition to gain supremacy over the whole of Greece.
Faced with a common danger, Thebes set aside its centuries-old animosity towards Athens, and joined the Athenians in a league against Philip of Macedon. However, their combined forces proved no match for Philip and his reorganized army, and they were comprehensively defeated at the battle of Chaeronea in Boeotia in 338bc. The broken pieces of a marble lion that adorned the sepulchre built for the Thebans who fell in the battle can still be seen among the remains of this once-great Theban city. As for Thebes itself, just as Greece had lost its independence, so the city had lost its liberty.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
In 336 bc, the 46-year-old Philip of Macedon was murdered by poisoning during his daughter’s wedding feast, possibly as the result of a plot in which his wife was implicated. The Thebans thought they saw the chance of regaining their liberty and rose up in revolt. Unfortunately for the Thebans, they did not understand the calibre of the young prince, Alexander, who succeeded Philip.
The 20-year-old Alexander was as unlikely as his father to allow any show of independence from the cities and states under his control. Showing all the ruthless strength and determination that was to gain him the title ‘Great’, Alexander descended on Thebes and destroyed the city. The city wall was part of the fortifications that legend said had been built by Amphion and Zethus, twin sons of Zeus. During Alexander’s attack, the wall was flattened.
Within the walls, Alexander destroyed houses, theatres, shops and the Acropolis, or Cadmea, and almost everything else. He left standing only the temples and the house in which the poet Pindar
By the time Thebes appeared in recorded history, it was a flourishing city on the fertile plains of Boeotia, large enough to require seven gates in the wall that surrounded it. The Thebans had acquired a reputation for being dull-witted – despite the fact that, according to Herodotus, they were the first use of written letters in Western Europe, which were introduced from Phoenicia (by Cadmus). In classical times, the city was the leading state among the 14 independent states of Boeotia that came together in a league.
EARLY BATTLES
From the earliest years of the founding of their city, the Thebans lived up to their legendary origins in those fighting men sprung from dragon’s teeth. They were constantly at war with their near neighbours, the Athenians, and sided with the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, where they played a sizable part in the downfall of Athens. Later, the Thebans, like other Greek states, became anti-Spartan, and scored a great victory against them at the battle of Leuctra in 371bc. For a time after this Thebes was the major power in Greece.
Within 40 years of this great victory, the story of Thebes had taken a dark turn indeed. The kingdom of Macedonia was north of Thebes, and it had been quietly flexing its muscles for centuries. It had acquired a new and ambitious king, known as Philip of Macedon. Philip, born in 382 bc, instilled a new sense of ambition and discipline into Macedonia and its army. Soon, Macedonia’s modest ambitions to exercise sovereignty over the Greek coastal states nearest to them had turned into an ambition to gain supremacy over the whole of Greece.
Faced with a common danger, Thebes set aside its centuries-old animosity towards Athens, and joined the Athenians in a league against Philip of Macedon. However, their combined forces proved no match for Philip and his reorganized army, and they were comprehensively defeated at the battle of Chaeronea in Boeotia in 338bc. The broken pieces of a marble lion that adorned the sepulchre built for the Thebans who fell in the battle can still be seen among the remains of this once-great Theban city. As for Thebes itself, just as Greece had lost its independence, so the city had lost its liberty.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
In 336 bc, the 46-year-old Philip of Macedon was murdered by poisoning during his daughter’s wedding feast, possibly as the result of a plot in which his wife was implicated. The Thebans thought they saw the chance of regaining their liberty and rose up in revolt. Unfortunately for the Thebans, they did not understand the calibre of the young prince, Alexander, who succeeded Philip.
The 20-year-old Alexander was as unlikely as his father to allow any show of independence from the cities and states under his control. Showing all the ruthless strength and determination that was to gain him the title ‘Great’, Alexander descended on Thebes and destroyed the city. The city wall was part of the fortifications that legend said had been built by Amphion and Zethus, twin sons of Zeus. During Alexander’s attack, the wall was flattened.
Within the walls, Alexander destroyed houses, theatres, shops and the Acropolis, or Cadmea, and almost everything else. He left standing only the temples and the house in which the poet Pindar
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