The City of Thespiae in Central Greece

Thespiae was an ancient Greek city in Boeotia in Central Greece, at the foot of Mount Helikon, the home of the Muses.

MGVH, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

History of Thespiae

The city received its name from Thespia, a daughter of the river-god Asopos.

Thespiae was the sanctuary of Eros, the Greek God of love, represented in the form of a monolithic stone, and every fifth year a festival called “Erotidia ” was held in honor of the god.

Heracles in Thespiae

When Heracles, the powerful hero of Greece, was on his way to Kithairon to kill the famous lion, he stopped for a night at Thespiae, where he asked for the hospitality of King Thespios. The latter, as usual, lodged him in his palace and asked him to beget offspring with his fifty daughters. Heracles did not refuse, and nine months later King Thespios had fifty grandchildren, all directly descended from Heracles, The Strongest Hero.

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Evangelia

Evangelia Hatzitsinidou is the creator and author of www.greek-gods.info which has been merged with Olympioi.com. She has been writing about Greek Mythology for almost twenty years. A native to Greece, she teaches and lives just outside Athens.