#Sacred Band of Thebes

[queerasfact]

The Sacred Band of Thebes

The Sacred Band of Thebes was an ancient Greek military unit consisting of 150 pairs of male lovers. The elite band remained undefeated for forty years, with their success partially attributed to the strength of the bonds between the lovers. To quote the Greek philosopher Plutarch:

“…a band that is held together by the friendship between lovers is indissoluble and not to be broken, since … both stand firm in danger to protect each other."

The band was eventually defeated in 338BCE by Philip II of Macedon and his young son – the future Alexander the Great - at the Battle of Chaeronea. After the battle when Philip learnt about the make-up of the band, and erected a statue in their honour, commenting (according the Plutarch again):

“May all those who think that these men did or suffered anything shameful die a horrible death.”

The fragments of a lion statue believed to be Philip's monument were excavated in the 19th century. Its restoration, completed in 1902, still stands at Chaeronea today.

Learn more

[bihansthot]

So here he is! Aristides, Ari for short, he’s Thiollier’s younger twin brother. While journeying on their quest to find St. Trina, Ari becomes mesmerized by Messmer and abandons his quest to stay with his beloved. He’s very frail in appearance but wields a great axe with surprising ease.

I don’t have a whole lot filled out about him yet but he no longer seeks the power of the Elden Ring since he just wants to stay by Messmer’s side. He loves the snakes and is often chastised by a frustrated Messmer to stop coddling them.

I very much wanted to base their relationship off the old Roman/Theban kind of battle husband type situation, the name of which escapes me at the moment, where you have the older more capable soldier as the dominant member of the relationship and the younger more enthusiastic one being the submissive member. Messmer is the dominant one while Ari is the submissive one but that doesn’t mean he won’t defeat foe after foe to keep Messmer unharmed.

I might flesh things out more when I finally finish the DLC (watching my partner play it currently) but yeah that’s my new tarnished! Hopefully y’all like him and hopefully Messmer does too 🤣

[scribl1ta]

 Pelopidas and Epaminondas for @attichoney4u🌷I wanted to draw them having a restful moment in between organizing the sacred band of thebes :)

[amrrhao]

I'm so jealous. I guess it's time I learned how to carve how to carve quartz intaglios.

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

A TV series about the Sacred Band of Thebes... now that would be blast.

[leonxlykos]

Chapter VI - 4/10

[ithaca-my-beloved]

The Battle of Chaeronea was some real fruit on fruit violence smh

[ancient-rome-au]

“Do you think Alexander the Great had Queer Power?”

“Yes, of course!”

“Do you think he effectively utilized that Queer Power when he commanded the Macedonian left flank at the Battle of Chaeronea, which annihilated the Sacred Band of Thebes?”

“I don’t know about that…”

alexander the great is classified under "lgbt military personnel" on wikipedia. it's correct and also cracking me up.

[jeannereames]

Hi there! I've really enjoyed your blog-- there's a lot of good information on it. In fact, I just wrote a novel set in ancient Thebes, set in 335 BCE, right before Alexander's attack. However, I'm a little scared to write the sequel, because Alex is going to show up in it as a major character. He is SO famous, and there's so many books about him, that I hardly know where to begin.

So, do you have any specific books you recommend, like any good starter bios or anything else that would be good for this specific setting? (Specifically against the destruction of Thebes and right before the invasion of Persia.)

Thank you so much!

Some Useful Bibliography on Alexander (and Thebes)

Thank you! And sorry for the delay. The queries in my inbox tend to be feast or famine. LOL

In terms of information on Alexander, I would start with the brand new Cambridge Companion to Alexander the Great, edited by Daniel Ogden. It has many of the leading scholars. On Alexander and the Greeks in particular, see my dear friend Borja Antela’s chapter. This is now what I’d consider the best intro resource on Alexander for the interested non-specialist, especially as it’s reasonably priced. The bibliography will help a lot. For Macedonia itself, Carol Thomas has Alexander and His World (which I’ve used teaching) and Carol King has Ancient Macedonia. Both are good, one-book introductions.

If you’ve not already, you’ll want to consult Mark Munn’s chapter “Thebes and Central Greece” in The Greek World in the Fourth Century, Larry Tritle, ed. Paul Cartledge also has a book Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, but he’s a Spartan specialist. Lately, publishers have had him write on other subjects—not always to good effect, as per his book on Alexander, imo. But I’ve not read this one so can’t comment. I think Thebes is closer to his usual bailiwick.

James Romm did a book The Sacred Band., although like Cartledge Romm is all over the place. Same cautions apply. And I’ll also offer the counter-proposal that the band was not pairs of lovers, by David Leitao, "The Legend of the Sacred Band," in The Sleep of Reason by Martha Nussbaum and Juha Sihvola, eds. His view is not a homophobic diss; it’s a source problem. Plutarch is our sole source for the lovers bit, and he’s notoriously unreliable on some facts, especially when he has an ulterior message.

The more I study Plutarch, the less I trust him. LOL

Last, another friend and colleague, Jenn Finn has written a bang-up chapter on the destructions of both Thebes and Persepolis, for the upcoming collection I edited, so I got a preview. “Urbicide, Memory Sanctions, and the Perso-Macedonian Dynasty.” I’m not sure when the collection will be out, but certainly not before late 2024, and more likely 2025. She might be willing to share the draft, however, if you need it immediately. She’s at Loyola U. in Chicago. As always, Jenn does fantastic work.

[glitter-stained]

Two male characters in Greece, confused as to what they're supposed to be doing.

Character A: Well you know what they say: when in Rome...

Character B, blushing: ...Have you by chance heard of the Sacred Band of Thebes?

Character A: Nah, sorry. I'm not much into church music.

[heroineimages]

I always think it's important to emphasize that on top of being unbeaten for forty years, the Sacred Band of Thebes was unbeaten against the Spartans! Thebes's primary foe during the Sacred Band's run was no less than the warrior-state of Sparta, and the Sacred Band beat them in every engagement and knocked them into a downward spiral of geopolitical irrelevance from which Sparta never recovered.

Sacred Band of Thebes

The Sacred Band of Thebes was an elite unit of the Theban army comprised of 150 gay male couples totaling 300 men. They were formed under the leadership of Gorgidas but first achieved fame under the general Pelopidas. They remained invincible from 378-338 BCE when the entire troop fell together at the Battle of Chaeronea.

Continue reading…

[attila-werther]

nooooo what do you mean I have to make the sacred band of thebes art that I want to see

[leonxlykos]

Chapter IV - 4/10

[camleecomics]

Hey, everyone!

I made an email newsletter for my webcomic, Leon x Lykos. There's also a sketch of Nathan Ake too! Please give it a read and subscribe if you enjoy!