52 Facts About Epaminondas

Epaminondas was a Greek general of Thebes and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre-eminent position in Greek politics called the Theban Hegemony.

Epaminondas reshaped the political map of Greece, fragmented old alliances, created new ones, and supervised the construction of entire cities.

Epaminondas was militarily influential and invented and implemented several major battlefield tactics.

Epaminondas was one of approximately 50 ancient figures given an extensive biography by Plutarch in his Parallel Lives, in which he is paired with the Roman statesman Scipio Africanus; however, both these "Lives" are now lost.

Epaminondas was born at Thebes to a family of high standing which, according to tradition, claimed descent from the mythical Spartoi.

Epaminondas learned how to handle a cither, to play the flute, and to dance, and, while exercising in the gymnasium, he demonstrated a preference for agility over sheer strength.

Epaminondas was taught philosophy by Lysis of Tarentum, a Pythagorean who had escaped persecution in Magna Graecia and allowed to settle in Epaminondas's father's own house.

Lysis had a significant influence on Epaminondas, who grew devoted to his aged teacher, embraced his Pythagorean philosophy, and later reportedly took special care of his grave.

Epaminondas was said to have displayed all the desirable virtues of the age, including patriotism, incorruptibility, selflessness, and modesty.

Epaminondas never married, which he compensated, in Pythagorean manner, by assiduously cultivating friendships, most famously with his lifelong companion Pelopidas.

Epaminondas lived at a particularly turbulent point in Greek history.

Epaminondas, although associated with that faction, was allowed to remain; since "his philosophy made him to be looked down upon as a recluse, and his poverty as impotent".

Epaminondas supposedly served in a Theban contingent that aided Sparta in its attack against the city of Mantineia in 385 BC, during which he is said to have saved the life of Pelopidas, an act that cemented their friendship.

Meanwhile, in Thebes, Epaminondas began preparing the young men of the city to fight the Spartans.

However, on the following day, Epaminondas caused a drastic break with Sparta when he insisted on signing not for the Thebans alone, but for all the Boeotians.

Agesilaus refused to allow the change of the Theban envoys' signature, insisting that the cities of Boeotia should be independent; Epaminondas countered that if this were to be the case, the cities of Laconia should be as well.

Epaminondas was given charge of the Boeotian army, with the other six Boeotarchs in an advisory capacity.

However, needing to counter the Spartans' numerical advantage, Epaminondas implemented two tactical innovations.

However, the reversing of the position of the elite troops, and an oblique line of attack were innovations; it seems that Epaminondas was therefore responsible for the military tactic of refusing one's flank.

When, after the battle, the Spartans asked if they and the Peloponnesians could collect the dead, Epaminondas suspected that the Spartans would try to cover-up the scale of their losses.

Epaminondas therefore allowed the Peloponnesians to remove their dead first, so that those remaining would be shown to be Spartiates, and emphasise the scale of the Theban victory.

Epaminondas, supported by Pelopidas and the Arcadians, then persuaded the other Boeotarchs to invade Laconia.

Epaminondas freed the helots of Messenia, and rebuilt the ancient city of Messene on Mount Ithome, with fortifications that were among the strongest in Greece.

Epaminondas then issued a call to Messenian exiles all over Greece to return and rebuild their homeland.

The jury broke into laughter, the charges were dropped, and Epaminondas was re-elected as Boeotarch for the next year.

Epaminondas decided to attack the weakest spot, guarded by the Lacedaemonians; in a dawn attack he forced his way through the Spartan position, and joined his Peloponnesian allies.

When Epaminondas returned to Thebes, he continued to be dogged by his political enemies who prosecuted him for the second time.

The Theban force not only failed to overcome Alexander and his allies, but got into serious difficulties, when it tried to withdraw; Epaminondas, serving as a private soldier, succeeded in extricating it.

In early 367, Epaminondas led a second Theban expedition to free Pelopidas, and Ismenias.

Epaminondas finally outmanoeuvred the Thessalians, and secured the release of the two Theban ambassadors without a fight.

Boeotian armies campaigned across Greece as opponents rose up on all sides; Epaminondas even led his state in a challenge to Athens at sea.

The fleet finally sailed in 364, but modern scholars believe that Epaminondas achieved no lasting gains for Thebes on this voyage.

Epaminondas's loss deprived Epaminondas of his greatest Theban political ally.

Epaminondas brought an army drawn from Boeotia, Thessaly and Euboea.

Epaminondas was joined by Tegea, which was the center of local opposition to Mantinea, Argos, Messenia, and some of the Arcadians.

Since time was passing and the Mantinean alliance showed no signs of capsizing, Epaminondas decided that he would have to break the stalemate.

However, the Spartan king Archidamus was alerted to this move by an informant, probably a Cretan runner, and Epaminondas arrived to find the city well-defended.

Epaminondas had the larger army, 30,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry, whilst his opponents numbered 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry.

Epaminondas, who had been at the head of the column, brought some companies of infantry from the extreme right wing, behind the battle line, to reinforce the left wing.

Epaminondas then gave the order to advance, catching the enemy off guard, and causing a furious scramble in the Mantinean camp to prepare for battle.

Diodorus says that the Athenian cavalry on the Mantinean right wing, although not inferior in quality, could not withstand the missiles from the light-troops that Epaminondas had placed among the Theban cavalry.

However, at the height of the battle, Epaminondas was mortally wounded by a Spartan, and died shortly thereafter.

In matters of character, Epaminondas was above reproach in the eyes of the ancient historians who recorded his deeds.

Epaminondas never married and as such was subject to criticism from countrymen who believed he was duty-bound to provide the country with the benefit of sons as great as himself.

Epaminondas is known to have had several young male lovers, a standard pedagogic practice in ancient Greece, and one that Thebes in particular was famous for; Plutarch records that the Theban lawgivers instituted the practice "to temper the manners and characters of the youth".

An anecdote told by Cornelius Nepos indicates that Epaminondas was intimate with a young man by the name of Micythus.

Extant biographies of Epaminondas universally describe him as one of the most talented generals ever produced by the Greek city-states.

In some ways Epaminondas dramatically altered the face of Greece during the 10 years in which he was the central figure of Greek politics.

Epaminondas, therefore, is remembered both as a liberator and a destroyer.

Epaminondas was celebrated throughout the ancient Greek and Roman worlds as one of the greatest men of history.

Epaminondas's actions were certainly welcomed by the Messenians and others whom he assisted in his campaigns against the Spartans.

Those same Spartans had been at the center of resistance to the Persian invasions of the 5th century BC, and their absence was sorely felt at Chaeronea; the endless warfare in which Epaminondas played a central role weakened the cities of Greece until they could no longer hold their own against their neighbors to the north.