Kiriakov O. The Theban polis in the structure of the Boiotian league

Studies of ancient history have always occupied a special place among the themes of world history. This is primarily due to the fact that the ideas invented by the Greeks and Romans laid the foundation of the Western world in the cultural sense of that term. Now, in the age of globalization, the culture of antiquity is becoming important for the whole world. However, this will be entirely true if democracy, equality and the republic as the basic form of the state finally win the battle of civilization. So far, unfortunately, to be completely sure of this is quite optimistic. Boiotia, one of the regions of ancient Greece was the middle in every sense of the word. First of all - geographically. Boiotia was part of central Greece, located next to the important sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. This place was defined by the Greeks as the center of the universe. Second, Boiotia was an agricultural region where the majority of the population worked the land. This way of life was considered the ideal, whereas the trades or crafts were perceived as something forced upon them due to the scarcity of land resources in Balkan Greece. For these reasons, Boiotia can be considered the heartland of Greece. The Theban polis, although less well known to the general public than Athens and Sparta, was significantly culturally influential. It is almost impossible to find someone who has not heard of Oedipus, or does not know the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. Boiotia and the Theban polis therefore, were chosen as objects of study because of their cultural influence. This thesis aims to research the connection between the Boiotian’s sense of ethnic identity and the formation of regional political structures by the Theban polis. A wide range of sources were involved to achieve this goal. They were divided into two semantic blocks. The first block looks at those sources that allow for the exploration of the sense of Boiotian’s ethnic identity. These include epic poems written by Homer, Hesiod, lyrical poetry by Pindar and Corinna, Thucydides observation and epigraphic materials. The second block includes sources that describe the formation of common Boiotian political structures. Here we should highlight the great historical narratives of Herodotus, Thucydides, Diodorus of Sicily, Hellenica Oxyrhynchia, and others.