Thebes (Greece) in the context of "Amphion"

The military nature of Mycenaean Greece (c. 1800–1050 BC) in the Late Bronze Age is evident by the numerous weapons unearthed, warrior and combat representations in contemporary art, as well as by the preserved Greek Linear B records. The Mycenaeans invested in the development of military infrastructure with military production and logistics being supervised directly from the palatial centres.

Late Bronze Age Greece was divided into a series of warrior kingdoms, the most important being centered in Mycenae, to which the culture of this era owes its name, Tiryns, Pylos and Thebes. From the 15th century BC, Mycenaean power started expanding towards the Aegean, the Anatolian coast and Cyprus. Mycenaean armies shared several common features with other contemporary Late Bronze Age powers: they were initially based on heavy infantry, with spears, large shields and in some occasions armor. In the 13th century BC, Mycenaean units underwent a transformation in tactics and weaponry and became more uniform and flexible and their weapons became smaller and lighter. Some representative types of Mycenaean armor/weapons were the boar's tusk helmet and the "Figure-of-eight" shield. Moreover, most features of the later hoplite panoply of Classical Greece were already known at this time.

The Battle of Leuctra (Ancient Greek: Λεῦκτρα, Ancient Greek: [lêu̯k.tra]) was fought on 6 July 371 BC between the Boeotians led by the Thebans, and the Spartans along with their allies amidst the post–Corinthian War conflict. The battle took place in the vicinity of Leuctra, a village in Boeotia in the territory of Thespiae. The Theban victory shattered Sparta's immense influence over the Greek peninsula, which Sparta had gained with its victory in the Peloponnesian War a generation earlier.

The Triptolemos Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter, belonging to the Attic red-figure style. He was active in Athens between 490 and 470 BC. His real name is not known. He started working in the workshop of Euphronios, where he was probably taught by Douris. Later, he also worked for the potters Brygos, Hieron and Python. Initially, his style was strongly influenced by Archaic art. His later works are mediocre in quality. Nonetheless, his repertoire is broad, reaching from the Apaturia procession via erotic scenes and Theban scenes to the departure of Triptolemos (his name vase).

Augury was a Greco-Roman religious practice of observing the behavior of birds, to receive omens. When the individual, known as the augur, read these signs, it was referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" (Latin: auspicium) means "looking at birds". Auspex, another word for augur, can be translated to "one who looks at birds". Depending upon the birds, the auspices from the gods could be favorable or unfavorable (auspicious or inauspicious). Sometimes politically motivated augurs would fabricate unfavorable auspices in order to delay certain state functions, such as elections. Pliny the Elder attributes the invention of auspicy to Tiresias the seer of Thebes.

Over the development of the Roman empire, the definition of augury broadened to include other forms of divination. Haruspicy—the examination of animal entrails—was learned from the Etruscans. The Etruscan practice of observing thunder and lightning was also adapted. In Cicero's time, the augurs had mostly switched from using the flight of birds to haruspicy for public divination.

Leuctra or Leuktra (Ancient Greek: τὰ Λεῦκτρα, romanized: tà Leûktra, Attic Greek pronunciation: [tà lêu̯k.tra] or τὸ Λεῦκτρον, tò Leûktron [tò lêu̯k.tron]) was a village in ancient Boeotia, situated on the road from Thespiae to Plataea, and within the territory of the former city. Leuctra is most notable for the Battle of Leuctra, fought in its neighbourhood between the Spartans and Thebans in 371 BCE, by which the supremacy of Sparta was demolished. In the plain of Leuctra, was the tomb of the two daughters of Scedasus, a Leuctrian. The daughters were violated by Spartans, and had afterwards slain themselves. Before the battle, Epaminondas crowned the tomb with wreaths, fulfilling an oracle's prophecy that the Spartans would be defeated at this spot.

The site of Leuctra is near the modern village of Lefktra, renamed to reflect to connection with the ancient place.

Kreon, also spelled Creon (/ˈkrɛɒn/; Ancient Greek: Κρέων, romanized: Kreōn, lit. 'ruler') is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the ruler of Thebes in the legend of Oedipus.

Lysis of Taras (/ˈlaɪsɪs/; Greek: Λῦσις; fl. c. 5th-century BC) was a Greek philosopher. His life is obscure. He was said to have been a friend and disciple of Pythagoras. After the persecution of the Pythagoreans at Croton and Metapontum in Magna Graecia he escaped and went to Thebes, where he became the teacher of Epaminondas, by whom he was held in the highest esteem. There are, however, serious chronological difficulties with his being both a disciple of Pythagoras and the teacher of Epaminondas. Some of the commentators and doxographers have failed to distinguish between the two different anti-pythagorean revolutions: the first one around ~500, when Pythagoras himself died, and the second one fifty years later. This could clarify the source of the chronological incoherence.

Lysis was credited as the actual author of a work which was attributed to Pythagoras himself. Diogenes Laërtius quotes from an undoubtedly spurious letter from Lysis to Hippasus as an authority for some statements concerning Damo.

In Greek mythology, Alcmaeon (/ˌælkˈmiːən/; Ancient Greek: Ἀλκμαίων Alkmaíōn), as one of the Epigoni, was the leader of the Argives who attacked Thebes, taking the city in retaliation for the deaths of their fathers, the Seven against Thebes, who died while attempting the same thing.