[9] Tanagra was also called Poemandria or Poimandria (Ποιμανδρία), and its territory Poemandris, from the fertile meadows which surrounded the city, or after its founder Poimandros, who took part in the Trojan campaign.

In 457 BC the Lacedaemonians on their return from an expedition to Doris, took up a position at Tanagra, near the borders of Attica, with the view of assisting the oligarchical party at Athens to overthrow the democracy.

In the First Battle of Tanagra, both sides fought with great bravery; but the Lacedaemonians gained the victory, chiefly through the treacherous desertion of the Thessalians in the very heat of the engagement.

[11][12] At the beginning of the following year (456 BC), and only sixty-two days after their defeat at Tanagra, the Athenians under Myronides again invaded Boeotia, and gained at Oenophyta, in the territory of Tanagra, a brilliant and decisive victory over the Boeotian League, which made them masters of the whole country (see Battle of Oenophyta).

[15] Dicaearchus, who visited Tanagra in the time of Cassander, says that the city stood on a rugged and lofty height, and had a white chalky appearance.

Dicaearchus adds that the inhabitants are wealthy but frugal, being for the most part landholders, not manufacturers; and he praises them for their justice, good faith, and hospitality.

[17] Tanagra is called by Pliny the Elder a free state;[18] it is mentioned by Ptolemy;[19] and it continued to flourish in the sixth century.

[21] The principal temple was that of Dionysus, which contained a celebrated statue of Parian marble, by Calamis, and a remarkable Triton.

[24] Tanagra possessed a considerable territory; and Strabo mentions four villages belonging to it, Eleon or Heleon, Harma, Mycalessus, and Pharae.

In the early 1870s, a spate of looting at Tanagra's necropolis saw the theft of artefacts, including figurines, from around 10,000 tombs.

[citation needed] On Sunday 18 September 2005, the Archangelos air show, the largest ever organized in Greece, took place in Tanagra.