THEBAN
562
THEBES
those of the Scete. In the wilderness along the two
banks of the Nile there were many monks, living some
alone, some in groups. Others dwelt in populated
regions, some even in the towns. The monks dis-
appeared with the fall of the Byzantine domination in
these countries and the success of the Saracen in-
vaders. Nothing remains of Tabenna. The two
monasteries of St. Anthony and of Nitria by their
name and location recall those ancient days. The
rules observed there are entirely different from those
of the fourth and fifth centuries.
Butler, The ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt (Oxford, 1884); Idem, The Lausiac History of Palladius (2 vols., Cambridge, 1884, 1904) ; Am^lineau, Hist, de Saint Pakhome et de ses commu- iiautis (Paris, 1884); Idem, Les moines egyptiens: Vie de Schnoudi (Paris, 1884); Ladeuze, Etude sur le c^nobitisme pak~ homien pendant le IV" si^cle et la premiere moiti^ du Ve (Louvain, 1898);BEsaE, Les moines d'Orient ant^rieurs au concile de Chal- cedoine (Poitiers, 1900); Leclercq in Diet, d'arck. chrH. et de liturgie, s. v. Cenobtisme.
3. M. Besse. Theban Legion. See Agaunum.
Thebaud, Augustus, Jesuit educator, and pub- licist, b. at Nantes, France, 20 Nov., 1807; d. at St. John's College, Fordham, New York, 17 Dec, 1885. Father Thebaud was the son of a worthy but not wealthy merchant who was married to his pious wife in the dark days of the Terror by a loyal priest, a cir- cumstance which eloquently proves their earnest Catholicity. Their children were brought up with great care and given the best religious education which France at that time afforded. Young Thebaud studied at first in the preparatory' seminary at Nantes, then entered the grand seminaire and was ordained to the secular priesthood at the usual age. After three years of parochial work in his native city, he entered the Society of Jesus in Italy, on 27 Nov., 1835, whence he returned to France in 1837 to pursue a course of scientific studies at the Sorbonne under Ampere and other distinguished professors. He landed in the United States on 18 Dec, 1838, and was called to the chair of chemistry at St. Mary's College, Kentucky, where he became rector in 1846. Before the end of that year however the Jesuits left Kentucky to take charge of St. John's College, Fordham, New York, which had been transferred to them by Archbishop Hughes. Father Thebaud was the first Jesuit Presi- dent of St. John's, a position which he held from 1846 to 1851 and again from 1860 to 1863. In the interval he taught the sciences for two years, 1851-.52, imcler Father Larkin, and the following eight years he spent as the pastor of St. Joseph's Church at Troy. To this charge he returned after his second rectorship at Fordham and filled the position from 1863-69, and again from 1873-74. The intervening yeare we find him at first in Montreal and then at St. Joseph's Church, Hudson City, New Jereey. After spending another year at Fordham, he was assigned to St. Francis Xavier's parish, New York, where he passed the rest of his days.
Father Thdbaud, who always had a strong literary bent, wrote a series of books on religious and historical subjects and published, besifles numerous articles in the "Catholic World" and the "Catholic (Quarterly Review", two novels, "Louisa Kirkbridge, A Tale of New York" (1879), and "Twit Twats. An Allegorical Story of Birds" (1881). His more imiKirtaiit works are: "The Irish Race in the Past and in (lie Present" (1873); "The Church and the Gentile World" (2 vols., 1878); "The Chvirch and the Moral World" (1881). From 1875 to his death, he also prepared his remi- niscences in three vohimes. Of these th<> United States Catholic Historical Society published vohiiiie III (1901 1, giving an account of his Aincriciiiicxperiences, and volume 1 (1911), cont aining t he recollections of his life in France. Father Th("baud was a man full of energy, even in old age, an untiring student, and well-informed scholar. Withal he was a most agree-
able companion, witty and full of life, and universally
beloved by his friends and his pupils.
Hill, Some Heminiscences of St. Mary's College, Kentucky in the Woodstock Letters, XX (1891), 25-38; Letters in the .innales de la propagation de la foi, XIV, 383^01 ; XVI, 449-76; Three Quarters of a Century, I. Ill, edited by Hebberma.vn (1904 and 1911).
Charles G. Herbebmann.
Thebes (Theb.b), a metropohtan titular see of Achaia Secunda. Tlie city was founded by the Phoe- nician Cadmus in the sixteenth century B. c, afterwards made illustrious by the legends of Laius, ffidipus, and of Antigone, the rivalry of Eteocles and Polynices, and the unfortunate siege by the seven chiefs of Argos. After the taking of Troy, Thebes became the capital of Boeotia, but did not succeed in imposing its hegemony, for Athens supported certain towns in their opposition. Thebes allied itself to the Persians against the Greeks, but was conquered with them and submitted to Sparta, until its two generals Pelopidas and Epaminondas restored it to the first rank. The death of the latter before Mantinea in 363 B. c, opened a new series of misfortunes for the city. Con- quered by Philip of Macedon, in 338 b. c, it revolted two years after and drew on itself the ven- geance of Alexander who kiDed or sold all the inhabi- tants and destroyed all the houses save that of the poet Pindar. Rebuilt in 316 b. c, by Cassander, it was taken and retaken again. In the second century B. c, the acropolis alone was inhabited. In the Mid- dle Ages the city was repeopled through the silk in- dustry. In 1040 the Bulgarians took possession of it; six years after the Normans sacked it. In 1205 it was taken by Boniface III of Montferrat and assigned with Athens to Othon de la Roche; by marriage it passed later to the lords of Saint-Omer; one of them, Nicho- las II, constructed the Prankish chateau of the Cadmi which was destroyed in 1311 by the Catalans. In 1364 the Turks took it in behalf of Frederick III of Sicily and later on their own account, but its neigh- bour, Livadia, soon supplanted it.
The first known bishop, Cleonicus, was at Nica>a in 325 (Gelzer. "Patrum nica;norum nomina", LXIV). Le Quien (Oriens Christ., II, 207-11) quotes ten other titulars, among them: Julius at Sardica in 344; Anysius at Ephesus in 431 ; Architimus in 458 ; Mar- cianus in 867. At first a suffragan, Thebes was an autocephalous archbishopric at the beginning of the tenth century and until 970 (Gelzer, " LTngedruckte . . . Texte der Notitiae episcopatuum", 551, 571); about 1080 it was a metropolitan see (Le Quien, op. cit., II, 210); and about 1170 it numbered five suffra- gan sees (Ciclzer, op. cit., 585). In 1S33 Thebes was reduced to the rank of bishopric with the title of Bceotia; since 1882 the diocese has had the title of Thebes and Livadia. The bishop resides at Livadia and exerci-ses his jurisdiction over the entire districtof Boeotia. The city numbers 5000 inhabitants in- cluding the suburbs. Since 1210 it has had a Latin metropolis which became by degrees a titular. Eubel (Hierarchia catholica medii sevi, I, 508; II, 274; III, 331) mentions a number of bishops. During the Prankish occupation, the Franciscans had a custody named Thebae.
Sanket, The Spartan and Theban Supreinacies (London, 1877) ; MClleh, Gesch. Thebens (Leipzig. 1879); Fabrichis, Thehen (Fri- bourg, 1890); DcRnY, Hisloire dcs Grecs (3 vols., Pari.o, ISSfi).
S. Vailh6.
Thebes (Thehvb), titular see of Thebais Secunda, suffragan of Ptolemais, and the seat of a Coptic Catholic diocese. Thebes was the No-Amon of the Jews, the Nouit-Amen of the Egy|)l ians (City or Kingdom of .'\inon), the Ni;i of the A.s.syrians, and the Dios[)olis of I he Greeks, which is the exact transla- tion of Nouit-.\nien. The Egyjilians also called it Per or Pi-Amen, the dwelling of Anion, and also Apet, whence, with the article Ta before the feminine name Apet, is derived Ta-Apet, or Tape, as it is called
