THEBES ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
This well-presented museum traces the history of Boeotia through to the Ottomans. Superb Mycenaean and antique objects.
This museum (Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θηβών/Archaiologikos Mousio Thivon) is well worth a visit. It boasts rich, superbly presented collections and offers a glimpse into the long history of Boeotia since the Paleolithic. Outside the museum stands the Saint-Omer tower. Damaged by the Catalans in the 14th century, it was erected during the reign of Nicolas II de Saint-Omer, Baron de Thèbes (1258-1294) from what is now Pas-de-Calais. Around the café with terrace, steles, statues and Greco-Roman inscriptions with interesting commentaries are on display. Inside, the first room focuses on the mythical figures associated with the city: Heracles, Oedipus and Antigone, as well as Semele, daughter of Cadmos, legendary founder of Thebes, and mother of Dionysus. All periods are then well described. Boeotia was a hotbed of Mycenaean civilization (1650-1100 BC), with beautiful gold objects, a warrior's weapons, inscriptions in Linear B and superb painted sarcophagi. The Antiquity section is also very rich: ritual objects from the sanctuary of Heracles, a collection of tangaras (statuettes typical of Tanagra, 23 km to the west), kouroi from the temple of Apollo, red-figure ceramics, remains under the glass floor... After its destruction in 355 BC, Thebes was slowly reborn. This is borne out by the many artefacts that punctuate the visit right up to the Frankish and Ottoman periods.
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