Thebes
Article
Thebes is a recurring place in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 3 times across 3 issues between March 03, 2023 and January 10, 2024. The archive places it in contexts such as “Sparta (200m) and Thebes (250m) would also be fine”; “Around the end, Thebes is stricken by plague”; “it was usually either Memphis or Thebes”. It most often appears alongside Egypt, Rome, Assyria.
Metadata
- Category: Places
- Mention count: 3
- Issue count: 3
- First seen: March 03, 2023
- Last seen: January 10, 2024
Appears In
Related Pages
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- Egypt (3 shared issues)
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- Rome (3 shared issues)
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- Assyria (2 shared issues)
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- Athens (2 shared issues)
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- Babylon (2 shared issues)
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- China (2 shared issues)
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- Persia (2 shared issues)
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- Plato (2 shared issues)
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- Socrates (2 shared issues)
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- Sparta (2 shared issues)
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- 1700s Great Britain (1 shared issues)
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- Abel (1 shared issues)
External Links
Source Context
Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.
The Acropolis of Athens is 150m above sea level, and would be preserved for future archaeologists. Sparta (200m) and Thebes (250m) would also be fine.
Are all myths and Bible stories really about this process? Girard says yes. For example, consider the myth of Oedipus. Around the end, Thebes is stricken by plague (Girard says plagues should usually be interpreted metaphorically as social plagues, ie discord). Everyone goes to the oracle and asks for a solution. The oracle says that someone has killed his father and married his mother, and the plague won’t end until that person is removed. It is revealed that Oedipus is the culprit. The mob expels Oedipus from the city, and the plague ends.
Lots of ancient civilizations started as city-states, and - even after reaching imperial glory - were still in some sense city-empires. Rome, Carthage, and Babylon are all obvious. But even the less obvious ones still fit the pattern. Assyria was centered around the city of Assur. Egypt shifted imperial centers over the dynasties, but it was usually either Memphis or Thebes. So what city did Persia start out as? What was the urban seed of Cyrus’ conquests?