Thespiai

 temple, archaeological site

Thespiai (Latin Thespiae) was an ancient city of Boeotia, one of the most important in ancient Greece. It held an important position in Boeotian affairs and for a long time elected two Boiotarches like Thebes. In the territory of the city were included the settlements of Askra (home of Hesiod), Nisa, Thisbe, Leuktra both ports Tipha (or Siphes) and Kreusis.

Thespiai took its name from a son of Erechtheus, who became the eponymous hero of Thespiai. Erechtheus was, in Greek mythology, a son of Gaia (Earth) and Hephaestus and a mythical king of Athens, who established the Eleusinian mysteries and the Panathenaic festival. Thespiai was an early member of the Boeotians League and took part in the famous battle against the Persians at Thermopylai in 480 BC, contributing 700 men. The city was destroyed by the Persians, but the 1800 of the surviving inhabitants participated in the victory over the Persians at Plataea in 479 BC. Thespiai was subsequently rebuilt. Although an ally of Thebes, it was suspected of pro-Athenian sympathies, and its fortifications were dismantled in 423 BC. In 373 BC the city was taken over by the Thebans; soon after 371 BC they razed it to the ground, but the city had been re-established by the time of the Macedonian hegemony, when the Thespians sided with the Macedonians against the Thebans. In Roman times, Thespiai prospered as a free city within Roman central Greece.

Ancient Thespiai is located south of the modern town of Thespies, which preserves its name.

For more information, see Wikipedia link below.