The citadel of ancient Thebes was erected according to the tradition by Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes, after he had consulted the oracle at Delphi.. The site was already inhabited in the early Helladic era (3rd millennium BC). The Kadmeion or “palace of Kadmos” is beneath the modern city; the partial excavations at the beginning of the century revealed traces dating probably from the 16th c. B.C.
See:
- Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 2, 4
