According to the Catalog of Ships, the Boeotians contributed 50 ships to the Greek expedition against Troy. Their contingent appears near the beginning of the catalogue in Book 2 of the Iliad.
The Boeotian force represented numerous settlements, including Thebes, Haliartus, Plataea, Thespia, Aulis, and Anthedon. Homer names several commanders associated with the contingent, including Peneleos, Leitus, Arcesilaus, Prothoenor, and Clonius.
The figure is easy to confuse with the number of men per vessel. The catalogue says the Boeotian ships carried 120 men each, but that does not mean the Boeotians supplied 120 ships. Their total was 50 vessels. Across all Greek contingents, Homer’s catalogue lists 1,186 ships, although scholars debate how literally its numbers should be read.