The Literary Evidence for the Topography of Thebes
Fabricius' view, based on archaeological evidence, that the lower town of Thebes extended over the high hills East and West of the Kadmeia (Pl. XIX. A) has in general been accepted by subsequent scholars: it has only been modified by the theory of Kalopais and Soteriádes, which makes the town extend yet further eastwards.How weak this archaeological evidence is, was shown by the criticisms of Wilamowitz and Frazer; and the literary evidence suggests quite a different view. It is to this that I wish to draw attention. Any theory based on such evidence is of course liable to be upset at any moment by fresh archaeological discoveries. But in the present uncertainty it may be useful to see to what theory this evidence seems to lead us.Thebes is situate towards the East end of the long range of low, cultivated hills, running eastwards from Helikon as far as Mount Sorós, and dividing the Aonian plain on the North from that of Leuktra and Plataia on the South. Here is a small group of hills, none of them rising much above the general height of the range, divided by the three streams flowing from. South to North, the Plakiótissa (identified with Dirke), a small and nameless brook, and the H. Joánnes (the ancient Ismenos)