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3000 BCE: First evidence of habitation at Thebes.
2000 BCE: First shaft graves at Thebes.
1500 BCE - 1300 BCE: Mycenaean Thebes at its peak of prosperity and influence.
1250 BCE - 1200 BCE: Mycenaean chamber tombs constructed at Thebes.
560 BCE: The oracles of Delphi and Thebes both tell King Croesus of Lydia that if he attacks the Medes, he will destroy a great empire. Seeing this as a good omen, he goes to war, loses, and the Lydian Empire is destroyed.
480 BCE: Thebes sides with Persia during Xerxes invasion of Greece.
431 BCE - 404 BCE: Thebes sides with Sparta against Athens in the Peloponnesian War.
420 BCE - 362 BCE: Life of Theban general Epaminondas.
395 BCE - 386 BCE: The Corinthian Wars between Sparta and an alliance of Athens, Corinth, Argos, Boeotia and Thebes.
395 BCE: Spartan general Lysander is killed by Theban forces at the Battle of Hallartos.
394 BCE: Spartan king Agesilaus II defeats a Theban coalition at the battle of Coronea.
386 BCE: Theban general Epaminondas saves the life of Pelopidas at Mantinea.
382 BCE - 379 BCE: Sparta establishes a garrison at Thebes.
379 BCE: Pelopidas is first made Boeotarch at Thebes.
379 BCE: Pelopidas removes the Spartan garrison from the Theban acropolis.
375 BCE: Thebes defeats Sparta at the Battle of Tegyra.
371 BCE: Thebes, led by Epaminondas, defeats Sparta in the Battle of Leuctra.
371 BCE - 362 BCE: Thebes is the dominant city-state in Greece.
369 BCE: Theban general Epaminondas is tried for treason but the charges are dropped.
369 BCE: Theban generals Pelopidas and Epaminondas are both charged with exceeding their term of office but are acquitted.
368 BCE - 365 BCE: Young Philip II is captured by Pelopidas and held hostage in Thebes.
367 BCE: Theban general Epaminondas rescues fellow general Pelopidas from Alexander of Pherai in Thessaly.
367 BCE: Celtic mercenaries fight with the Spartans against Thebes.
366 BCE: Theban general Epaminondas builds a fleet to harass the Athenian Empire.
364 BCE: Theban general Pelopidas is victorious but killed at the Battle of Kynoskephalai.
362 BCE: Indecisive Battle of Matinea where Thebes fought against Sparta and Athens. Theban general Epaminondas is killed.
338 BCE: Philip of Macedonia defeats the Greek allied forces of Athens, Thebes and Corinth in the Battle of Chaironeia.