Thebe, Cilicia

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Thebe was the sacred city of Eetion in Greek mythology. Thebe, also called 'Placia' or 'Hypoplacia' or 'Hypoplacian Thebe(s)' or Cilician Thebe(s) - and should not be confused with Thebes. The names 'Placia' and 'Hypoplacia' relate to the city's position at the foot of Mount Placus. The city was located in or near the Troad, in a region termed Cilicia, although this Cilicia was distinct from the more famous Cilicia in southern Asia Minor.

Hypoplacian Thebe was the home city of Chryseis (the captured concubine of Agamemnon) and Briseis (the captured concubine of Achilleus). It was sacked by Achilleus and the Achaians (who carried off the women mentioned above). When Chrysis's father comes to Agamemnon to ransom back his daughter, the Iliad begins. Thebe was also the birthplace of Andromache, daughter of Eetion and the wife of Hector.

According to one account, the city of Thebe was founded by the hero Heracles after his sack of Troy during the reign of King Laomedon; Heracles named the city after his birthplace, Thebes in Boeotia. At the time of the Trojan War, Hypoplacian Thebe was in the hands of a people known as the Cilicians, and ruled by King Eetion.

[edit] References

• Homer's Iliad (translation by Richmond Lattimore, University of Chicago Press, 1951, Phoenix Books)