Thebes was originally a Mycenaean city. According to mythological tradition she was founded by Kadmos, son of Agenor, brother of Europa, and ancestor of Oedipus. In here the mythological pan-Hellenic hero Hercules was born.
- Daniel W. Berman: Myth, Literature, and the Creation of the Topography of Thebes, Cambridge University Press 2015
- Nancy Demand: Thebes in the Fifth Century (Routledge Revivals): Heracles Resurgent, Routledge 2014