City in Boeotia, Greece
"Thebans" redirects here. For the inhabitants of the ancient Egyptian city, see
Thebes, Egypt
.
Municipality in Greece
Thebes
(
;
Greek
:
Θ?βα
,
Thiva
[?θiva]
;
Ancient Greek
:
Θ?βαι
,
Thebai
[t???ːbai?]
[2]
) is a city in
Boeotia
,
Central Greece
, and is one of the
oldest continuously inhabited cities
in the world. It is the largest city in
Boeotia
and a major center for the area along with
Livadeia
and
Tanagra
.
It played an important role in
Greek myths
, as the site of the stories of
Cadmus
,
Oedipus
,
Dionysus
,
Heracles
and others. Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed a
Mycenaean
settlement and
clay tablets
written in the
Linear B
script, indicating the importance of the site in the
Bronze Age
.
Thebes was the largest city of the ancient region of Boeotia and was the leader of the Boeotian confederacy. It was a major rival of
ancient Athens
, and sided with the
Persians
during the
480 BC invasion
under
Xerxes I
. Theban forces under the command of
Epaminondas
ended
Spartan hegemony
at the
Battle of Leuctra
in 371 BC, with the
Sacred Band of Thebes
, an elite military unit of male lovers, celebrated as instrumental there. Macedonia would rise in power at the
Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC
, bringing decisive victory to
Philip II
over an alliance of Thebes and Athens. Thebes was a major force in Greek history prior to its
destruction
by
Alexander the Great
in 335 BC, and was the most dominant
city-state
at the time of the Macedonian conquest of Greece. During the
Byzantine
period, the city was famous for its silks.
The modern city contains an archaeological museum, the remains of the
Cadmea
(Bronze Age and forward citadel), and scattered ancient remains. The Holy Church of
Luke the Evangelist
is also in Thebes and contains Luke's tomb and relics. Modern Thebes is the largest town of the
regional unit
of Boeotia.
Municipality
[
edit
]
In 2011, as a consequence of the
Kallikratis reform
, Thebes was merged with
Plataies
,
Thisvi
, and
Vagia
to form a larger
municipality
, which retained the name Thebes. The other three became units of the larger municipality.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
Early history
[
edit
]
Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed
cist
graves dated to
Mycenaean
times containing weapons, ivory, and tablets written in
Linear B
. Its attested name forms and relevant terms on tablets found locally or elsewhere include
??????
,
te-qa-i
,
[n 1]
understood to be read as *
T??g?ai?s
(Ancient Greek:
Θ?βαι?
,
Th?bais
, i.e. "at Thebes",
Thebes
in the
dative
-
locative
case),
??????
,
te-qa-de
,
[n 2]
for *
T??g?asde
(
Θ?βασδε
,
Th?basde
, i.e. "to Thebes"),
[2]
[5]
and
??????
,
te-qa-ja
,
[n 3]
for *
T??g?aja
(
Θηβα?α
,
Th?baia
, i.e. "Theban woman").
[2]
*
T??g?ai
was one of the first Greek communities to be drawn together within a fortified city, and that it owed its importance in prehistoric days?as later?to its military strength.
Deger-Jalkotzy
claimed that the statue base from
Kom el-Hetan
in
Amenhotep III
's kingdom (
LHIII
A:1) mentions a name similar to Thebes, spelled out quasi-syllabically in
hieroglyphs
as
d-q-e-i-s
, and considered to be one of four
tj-n3-jj
(
Danaan
?) kingdoms worthy of note (alongside Knossos and Mycenae). *
T??g?ai
in LHIIIB lost contact with Egypt but gained it with "Miletus" (
Hittite
:
Milawata
) and "Cyprus" (Hittite:
Alashija
). In the late LHIIIB, according to Palaima,
[6]
*
T??g?ai
was able to pull resources from Lamos near
Mount Helicon
, and from
Karystos
and
Amarynthos
on the Greek side of the isle of
Euboia
.
Archaic and classical periods
[
edit
]
As attested already in
Homer
's
Iliad
, Thebes was often called "Seven-Gated Thebes" (Θ?βαι ?πτ?πυλοι,
Thebai heptapyloi
) (
Iliad
, IV.406) to distinguish it from "
Hundred-Gated Thebes
" (Θ?βαι ?κατ?μπυλοι,
Thebai hekatompyloi
) in Egypt (
Iliad
, IX.383).
In the late 6th century BC, the Thebans were brought for the first time into hostile contact with the
Athenians
, who helped the small village of
Plataea
to maintain its independence against them, and in 506 BC repelled an inroad into Attica. The aversion to Athens best serves
[
according to whom?
]
to explain the apparently unpatriotic attitude which Thebes displayed during the
Persian invasion of Greece
(480?479 BC). Though a contingent of 400 was sent to
Thermopylae
and remained there with
Leonidas
before being defeated alongside the Spartans,
[7]
the governing aristocracy soon after joined King
Xerxes I of Persia
with great readiness and fought zealously on his behalf at the
Battle of Plataea
in 479 BC.
[
citation needed
]
The victorious Greeks subsequently punished Thebes by depriving it of the presidency of the
Boeotian League
and an attempt by the Spartans to expel it from the
Delphic amphictyony
was only frustrated by the intercession of Athens.
[
citation needed
]
In 457 BC
Sparta
, needing a counterpoise against Athens in central Greece, reversed her policy and reinstated Thebes as the dominant power in Boeotia. The great citadel of Cadmea served this purpose well by holding out as a base of resistance when the Athenians overran and occupied the rest of the country (457?447 BC). In the
Peloponnesian War
, the Thebans, embittered by the support that Athens gave to the smaller Boeotian towns, and especially to Plataea, which they vainly attempted to reduce in 431 BC, were firm allies of Sparta, which in turn helped them to besiege Plataea and allowed them to destroy the town after its capture in 427 BC. In 424 BC, at the head of the Boeotian levy, they inflicted a severe defeat on an invading force of Athenians at the
Battle of Delium
, and for the first time displayed the effects of that firm military organization that eventually raised them to predominant power in Greece.
After the downfall of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War, the Thebans, having learned that Sparta intended to protect the states that Thebes desired to annex, broke off the alliance. In 404 BC, they had urged the complete destruction of Athens; yet, in 403 BC, they secretly supported the restoration of its democracy in order to find in it a counterpoise against Sparta. A few years later, influenced perhaps in part by Persian gold, they formed the nucleus of the league against Sparta. At the
Battle of Haliartus
(395 BC) and the
Battle of Coronea
(394 BC), they again proved their rising military capacity by standing their ground against the Spartans. The result of the war was especially disastrous to Thebes, as the general settlement of 387 BC stipulated the complete autonomy of all Greek towns and so withdrew the other Boeotians from its political control. Its power was further curtailed in 382 BC, when a Spartan force occupied the citadel by a treacherous
coup de main
. Three years later, the Spartan garrison was expelled and a democratic constitution was set up in place of the traditional oligarchy. In the consequent wars with Sparta, the Theban army, trained and led by
Epaminondas
and
Pelopidas
, proved itself formidable (see also:
Sacred Band of Thebes
). Years of desultory fighting, in which Thebes established its control over all Boeotia, culminated in 371 BC in a remarkable victory over the Spartans at
Leuctra
. The winners were hailed throughout Greece as champions of the oppressed. They carried their arms into
Peloponnesus
and at the head of a large coalition, permanently crippled the power of Sparta, in part by freeing many
helot
slaves, the basis of the Spartan economy. Similar expeditions were sent to
Thessaly
and
Macedon
to regulate the affairs of those regions.
Decline and destruction
[
edit
]
The predominance of Thebes was short-lived, as the states that it protected refused to subject themselves permanently to its control. Thebes renewed its rivalry with Athens, which had joined with them in 395 BC in fear of Sparta, but since 387 BC had endeavoured to maintain the balance of power against its ally, preventing the formation of a Theban empire. With the death of
Epaminondas
at the
Battle of Mantinea (362 BC)
, the city sank again to the position of a secondary power.
In the
Third Sacred War
(356?346 BC) with its neighbor
Phocis
, Thebes lost its predominance in central Greece. By asking
Philip II of Macedon
to crush the Phocians, Thebes extended the former's power within dangerous proximity to its frontiers. The revulsion of popular feeling in Thebes was expressed in 338 BC by the orator
Demosthenes
, who persuaded Thebes to join Athens in a final attempt to bar Philip's advance on Attica. The Theban contingent lost the decisive
battle of Chaeronea
and along with it every hope of reassuming control over Greece.
Philip was content to deprive Thebes of its dominion over Boeotia; but an unsuccessful revolt in 335 BC against his son
Alexander the Great
while he was campaigning in the north was punished by Alexander and his Greek allies with the destruction of the city (except, according to tradition, the house of the poet
Pindar
and the temples), and its territory divided between the other Boeotian cities. Moreover, the Thebans themselves were sold into
slavery
.
[8]
Alexander spared only priests, leaders of the pro-Macedonian party and descendants of Pindar. The end of Thebes cowed Athens into submission. According to Plutarch, a special Athenian embassy, led by
Phocion
, an opponent of the anti-Macedonian faction, was able to persuade Alexander to give up his demands for the exile of leaders of the anti-Macedonian party, and most particularly Demosthenes and not sell the people into slavery.
[9]
Hellenistic and Roman periods
[
edit
]
| This section
needs expansion
with:
- End of the Hellenistic period
- Roman Period. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
April 2013
)
|
Ancient writings tend to treat Alexander's destruction of Thebes as excessive.
[10]
Plutarch, however, writes that Alexander grieved after his excess, granting them any request of favors, and advising they pay attention to the invasion of Asia, and that if he failed, Thebes might once again become the ruling city-state.
[11]
Although Thebes had traditionally been antagonistic to whichever state led the Greek world, siding with the Persians when they invaded against the Athenian-Spartan alliance, siding with Sparta when Athens seemed omnipotent, and famously derailing the Spartan invasion of Persia by
Agesilaus
. Alexander's father Philip had been raised in Thebes, albeit as a hostage, and had learnt much of the art of war from
Pelopidas
. Philip had honoured this fact, always seeking alliances with the Boeotians, even in the lead-up to Chaeronea. Thebes was also revered as the most ancient of Greek cities, with a history of over 1,000 years. Plutarch relates that, during his later conquests, whenever Alexander came across a former Theban, he would attempt to redress his destruction of Thebes with favours to that individual.
Restoration by Cassander
[
edit
]
Following Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC, Thebes was re-established in 315 BC
[12]
by
Cassander
, one of the diadochi who was ruling in Greece.
[13]
In restoring Thebes, Cassander sought to rectify the perceived wrongs of Alexander ? a gesture of generosity that earned him much goodwill throughout Greece.
[14]
In addition to currying favor with the Athenians and many of the Peloponnesian states, Cassander's restoration of Thebes provided him with loyal allies in the Theban exiles who returned to resettle the site.
[14]
Cassander's plan for rebuilding Thebes called for the various Greek city-states to provide skilled labor and manpower, and ultimately it proved successful.
[14]
The Athenians, for example, rebuilt much of Thebes' wall.
[14]
Major contributions were sent from
Megalopolis
,
Messene
, and as far away as Sicily and Italy.
[14]
Despite the restoration, Thebes never regained its former prominence. The death of Cassander in 297 BC created a power vacuum throughout much of Greece, which contributed, in part, to Thebes' besiegement by
Demetrius Poliorcetes
in 293 BC, and
again after a revolt in 292 BC
. This last siege was difficult and Demetrius was wounded, but finally he managed to break down the walls and to take the city once more, treating it mildly despite its fierce resistance. The city recovered its autonomy from Demetrius in 287 BC, and became allied with
Lysimachus
, the king of Thrace, and the
Aetolian League
.
Byzantine period
[
edit
]
During the early
Byzantine
period it served as a place of refuge against foreign invaders. The Holy church of
Luke the Evangelist
was built around the 10th century to commemorate the saint's tomb and relics at the location of his death.
From the 10th century, Thebes became a centre of the new silk trade, its silk workshops boosted by imports of soaps and dyes from Athens. The growth of this trade in Thebes continued to such an extent that by the middle of the 12th century, the city had become the biggest producer of
silks
in the entire Byzantine empire, surpassing even the Byzantine capital,
Constantinople
. The women of Thebes were famed for their skills at weaving. Theban silk was prized above all others during this period, both for its quality and its excellent reputation.
Though severely plundered by the
Normans
in 1146, Thebes quickly recovered its prosperity and continued to grow rapidly until its conquest by the Latins of the
Fourth Crusade
in 1204.
Latin period
[
edit
]
Thanks to its wealth, the city was selected by the Frankish dynasty de la Roche as its capital, before it was permanently moved to Athens. After 1240, the Saint Omer family controlled the city jointly with the de la Roche dukes. The castle built by
Nicholas II of Saint Omer
on the Cadmea was one of the most beautiful of Frankish Greece. After its conquest in 1311 the city was used as a capital by the short-lived state of the
Catalan Company
.
In 1379, the
Navarrese Company
took the city with the aid of the
Latin Archbishop of Thebes
,
Simon Atumano
.
[n 4]
Ottoman period
[
edit
]
Latin hegemony in Thebes lasted to 1458, when the
Ottomans
captured it. The
Ottomans
renamed Thebes "?stefe" and managed it until the
Greek War of Independence
(1821, nominally to 1832) except for a
Venetian
interlude between 1687 and 1699.
Modern town
[
edit
]
In the modern Greek State, Thebes was the capital of the prefecture of
Boeotia
until the late 19th century, when
Livadeia
became the capital.
Today, Thebes is a bustling
market town
, known for its many products and wares. Until the 1980s, it had a flourishing agrarian production with some industrial complexes. However, during the late 1980s and 1990s the bulk of industry moved further south, closer to
Athens
. Tourism in the area is based mainly in Thebes and the surrounding villages, where many places of interest related to antiquity exist such as the battlefield where the
Battle of Plataea
took place. The proximity to other, more famous travel destinations, like
Athens
and
Chalkis
, and the undeveloped archaeological sites have kept the tourist numbers low. A notable portion of the inhabitants of Thebes are
Arvanites
.
[15]
-
Thebes, 1842 by
Carl Rottmann
-
Popular festival at Thebes, 1880s
-
-
Entrance to the archaeological museum
-
Monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ, Sagmata
In Greek myth
[
edit
]
The record of the earliest days of Thebes was preserved among the Greeks in an abundant mass of legends that rival the myths of
Troy
in their wide ramification and the influence that they exerted on the literature of the classical age. Five main cycles of story may be distinguished:
- The foundation of the citadel
Cadmea
by
Cadmus
, and the growth of the
Spartoi
or "Sown Men" (probably an
aetiological
myth designed to explain the origin of the Theban nobility which bore that name in historical times).
- The immolation of
Semele
and the advent of
Dionysus
.
- The building of a "seven-gated" wall by
Amphion
, and the cognate stories of
Zethus
,
Antiope
and
Dirce
.
- The tale of
Laius
, whose misdeeds culminated in the tragedy of
Oedipus
and the wars of the
Seven against Thebes
and the
Epigoni
, and the downfall of his house; Laius'
pederastic
rape
of
Chrysippus
was held by some ancients to have been the first instance of homosexuality among mortals, and may have provided an etiology for the
practice of pedagogic pederasty for which Thebes was famous
.
- The exploits of
Heracles
.
The Greeks attributed the foundation of Thebes to Cadmus, a Phoenician king from
Tyre
(now in Lebanon) and the brother of Queen
Europa
. Cadmus was famous for teaching the Phoenician alphabet and building the
Acropolis
, which was named the Cadmeia in his honor and was an intellectual, spiritual, and cultural center.
Geography
[
edit
]
Thebes is situated in a plain, between
Lake Yliki
(ancient
Hylica
) to the north, and the
Cithaeron
mountains, which divide
Boeotia
from
Attica
, to the south. Its elevation is 215 m (705 ft)
above mean sea level
. It is about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of
Athens
, and 100 km (62 mi) southeast of
Lamia
.
Motorway 1
and the
Athens?Thessaloniki railway
connect Thebes with Athens and northern Greece. The municipality of Thebes covers an area of 830.112 km
2
(320.508 sq mi), the municipal unit of Thebes 321.015 km
2
(123.945 sq mi) and the community 143.889 km
2
(55.556 sq mi).
[16]
Climate
[
edit
]
According to the nearby weather station of
Aliartos
, Thebes has a hot-summer
Mediterranean climate
(
Koppen climate classification
:
Csa
) with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. During the winter months, Thebes is sometimes affected by the
Aegean
sea-effect snow
,
[17]
with snow depths reaching over 50 centimetres (20 in) on several occasions.
[18]
[19]
Due to its inland location, Thebes may also record very low minimums. In recent years, as registered by the meteorological station operated by the
National Observatory of Athens
within the city limits, the record minimum temperature is ?7.9 °C (17.8 °F), recorded on 10 January 2017.
[20]
In contrast, the city can be very hot in the summer during
heat waves
, having reached a record high of 44.5 °C (112.1 °F) on 3 August 2021.
[20]
Climate data for
Aliartos
, Thebes (180 m, 1967?2001)
|
Month
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Year
|
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)
|
11.5
(52.7)
|
12.9
(55.2)
|
15.6
(60.1)
|
20.4
(68.7)
|
25.8
(78.4)
|
30.9
(87.6)
|
32.4
(90.3)
|
31.9
(89.4)
|
28.6
(83.5)
|
22.5
(72.5)
|
17.2
(63.0)
|
13.1
(55.6)
|
21.9
(71.4)
|
Daily mean °C (°F)
|
7.1
(44.8)
|
8.3
(46.9)
|
10.7
(51.3)
|
15.3
(59.5)
|
20.7
(69.3)
|
25.7
(78.3)
|
27.3
(81.1)
|
26.4
(79.5)
|
22.6
(72.7)
|
17.0
(62.6)
|
12.2
(54.0)
|
8.7
(47.7)
|
16.8
(62.2)
|
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)
|
2.9
(37.2)
|
3.6
(38.5)
|
5.0
(41.0)
|
8.1
(46.6)
|
12.2
(54.0)
|
16.0
(60.8)
|
17.9
(64.2)
|
17.4
(63.3)
|
14.5
(58.1)
|
11.0
(51.8)
|
7.2
(45.0)
|
4.4
(39.9)
|
10.0
(50.0)
|
Average
precipitation
mm (inches)
|
77.3
(3.04)
|
74.1
(2.92)
|
63.8
(2.51)
|
40.0
(1.57)
|
28.8
(1.13)
|
13.8
(0.54)
|
6.1
(0.24)
|
13.8
(0.54)
|
17.4
(0.69)
|
69.5
(2.74)
|
74.1
(2.92)
|
96.4
(3.80)
|
575.1
(22.64)
|
Source:
HNMS
[21]
|
Notable people
[
edit
]
Ancient
[
edit
]
- Pindar
(c. 518?443 BC), poet
- Attaginus
(5th century BC), oligarch
- Pelopidas
(c. 420?365) general and statesman, led rebellion against Sparta, commanded the Theban "Sacred band" at Leuctra
- Epaminondas
(c. 418?362 BC) general and statesman, commanded the Theban forces at the battles of Leuctra and Mantinea
- Aristides of Thebes
(4th century BC), painter
- Nicomachus of Thebes
(4th century BC), painter
- Crates of Thebes
(c. 365 ? c. 285 BC),
Cynic
philosopher
- Kleitomachos
(3rd century BC), athlete
- Luke the Evangelist
(died 84 AD), buried here
- Rufus of Thebes
(1st century), bishop of Thebes
Modern
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Αποτελ?σματα Απογραφ?? Πληθυσμο? - Κατοικι?ν 2021, Μ?νιμο? Πληθυσμ?? κατ? οικισμ?"
[Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
- ^
a
b
c
Θ?βαι
.
Liddell, Henry George
;
Scott, Robert
;
A Greek?English Lexicon
at the
Perseus Project
.
- ^
"ΦΕΚ A 87/2010, Kallikratis reform law text"
(in Greek).
Government Gazette
.
- ^
a
b
c
Raymoure, K.A.
"Thebes"
.
Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B
. Deaditerranean. Archived from
the original
on 2016-01-15
. Retrieved
2014-03-19
.
"The Linear B word te-qa-ja"
. Palaeolexicon. Word study tool for ancient languages.
"KN 5864 Ap (103)"
.
"PY 539 Ep + fr. + fr. + fr. (1)"
.
"TH 65 Wu (γ)"
.
"MY 508 X (unknown)"
.
"TH 140 Ft (312)"
.
D?MOS: Database of Mycenaean at Oslo
.
University of Oslo
.
- ^
Θ?βασδε
.
Liddell, Henry George
;
Scott, Robert
;
An Intermediate Greek?English Lexicon
at the
Perseus Project
.
- ^
Palaima, Thomas G. (2004).
"Sacrificial Feasting in the Linear B documents"
(PDF)
.
Hesperia
.
73
(2): 217?246.
doi
:
10.2972/hesp.2004.73.2.217
.
S2CID
162875563
.
- ^
Herodotus
Bibliography
VII:204 ,222,223.
- ^
Alexander the Great
.
Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^
Plutarch.
Phocion
. p. 17.
- ^
Siculus, Diodorus
.
"Book XIX, 54"
.
Bibliotheca historica
.
- ^
Plutarch's Lives, Volume III, Life of Alexander, Chapter 13
- ^
"The Parian Marble"
. The Ashmolean Museum. Archived from
the original
on 18 July 2017.
- ^
Beckett,
Universal Biography, Vol. 1
p. 688
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Thirlwall,
The History of Greece, Vol. 2
p. 325
- ^
Sasse, H. (1991). Arvanitika: die albanischen Sprachreste in Griechenland. Deutschland: O. Harrassowitz, p. 4
- ^
"Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)"
(PDF)
(in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece.
- ^
"Τι ε?ναι το "Aegean Effect Snow"
"
(in Greek). 2020-01-12
. Retrieved
2023-06-20
.
- ^
Φραγκο?λη, Μαρ?α.
"Μεγ?λε? ποσ?τητε? χιονιο? καταγρ?φονται στην Θ?βα απ? τι? πυκν?? χιονοπτ?σει? που ξεκ?νησαν απ? τα ξημερ?ματα τη? Τρ?τη? (video)"
.
www.forecastweather.gr
(in Greek)
. Retrieved
2023-06-20
.
- ^
ΙΝ, Σ?νταξη (2022-01-24).
"Βυθ?στηκαν στο χι?νι Φθι?τιδα και Βοιωτ?α - Χωρ?? θ?ρμανση και ρε?μα πολλ?? περιοχ??"
.
in.gr
(in Greek)
. Retrieved
2023-06-20
.
- ^
a
b
"Meteosearch | Σελ?δα σ?νδεση?"
.
meteosearch.meteo.gr
. Retrieved
2023-06-20
.
- ^
"Κλιματικ? Δεδομ?να αν? Π?λη- ΜΕΤΕΩΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΑ, ΕΜΥ, Εθνικ? Μετεωρολογικ? Υπηρεσ?α"
.
Bibliography
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- Area
- 15,549 km
2
(6,004 sq mi)
- Population
- 547,390 (as of 2011)
- Municipalities
- 25 (since
2011
)
- Capital
- Lamia
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Regional unit of
Boeotia
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Regional unit of
Euboea
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Regional unit of
Evrytania
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Regional unit of
Phocis
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Regional unit of
Phthiotis
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Kings
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In literature
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Related articles
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International
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National
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Other
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