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EPAMINONDAS (c. 418-362)

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 666 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EPAMINONDAS (c. 418-362) , Theban See also:general and statesman, See also:born about 418 B.C. of a See also:noble but impoverished See also:family. For his See also:education he was chiefly indebted to Lysis of See also:Tarentum, a See also:Pythagorean See also:exile who had found See also:refuge with his See also:father Polymnis. He first comes into See also:notice in the attack upon See also:Mantineia in 385, when he fought on the Spartan See also:side and saved the See also:life of his future colleague See also:Pelopidas. In his youth Epaminondas took little See also:part in public affairs; he held aloof from the See also:political assassinations which preceded the Theban insurrection of 379. But in the following See also:campaigns against See also:Sparta he rendered See also:good service in organizing the Theban See also:defence. In 371 he represented See also:Thebes at the See also:congress in Sparta, and by his refusal to surrender the Boeotian cities under Theban See also:control prevented the conclusion of a general See also:peace. In the ensuing See also:campaign he commanded the Boeotian See also:army which met the Peloponnesian See also:levy at See also:Leuctra, and by a brilliant victory on this site, due mainly to his daring innovations in the See also:tactics of the heavy See also:infantry, established at once the predominance of Thebes among the See also:land-See also:powers of See also:Greece and his own fame as the greatest and most See also:original of See also:Greek generals. At the instigation of the Peloponnesian states which armed .against Sparta in consequence of this See also:battle, Epaminondas in 370 led a large See also:host into See also:Laconia; though unable to See also:capture Sparta he ravaged its territory and dealt a lasting See also:blow at Sparta's predominance in See also:Peloponnesus by liberating the Messenians and rebuilding their See also:capital at See also:Messene. Accused on his return to Thebes of having exceeded the See also:term of his command, he made good his defence and was re-elected boeotarch. In 369 he forced the See also:Isthmus lines and secured See also:Sicyon for Thebes, but gained no considerable successes. In the following See also:year he served as a See also:common soldier in See also:Thessaly, and upon being reinstated in command contrived the safe See also:retreat of the Theban army from a difficult position.

Returning to Thessaly next year at the See also:

head of an army he procured the liberation of Pelopidas from the See also:tyrant See also:Alexander of Pherae without striking a blow. In his third expedition (366) to Peloponnesus, Epaminondas again eluded the Isthmus See also:garrison and won over the See also:Achaeans to the Theban See also:alliance. Turning his See also:attention to the growing maritime See also:power of See also:Athens, Epaminondas next equipped a See also:fleet of too triremes, and during a cruise to the Propontis detached several states from the Athenian confederacy. When subsequent complications threatened the position of Thebes in Peloponnesus he again mustered a large army in See also:order to crush the newly formed Spartan See also:league (362). After some masterly operations between Sparta and Mantineia, by which he nearly captured both these towns, he engaged in a decisive battle on the latter site, and by his vigorous See also:shock tactics gained a See also:complete victory over his opponents (see MANTINETA). Epaminondas himself received a severe See also:wound during the combat, and died soon after the issue was decided. His See also:title to fame rests mainly on his brilliant qualities both as a strategist and as a tactician; his See also:influence on military See also:art in Greece was of the greatest. For the purity and uprightness of his See also:character he likewise stood in high repute; his culture and eloquence equalled the highest See also:Attic See also:standard. In politics his See also:chief achievement was the final overthrow of Sparta's predominance in the Peloponnese; as a constructive statesman he displayed no See also:special See also:talent, and the lofty See also:pan-Hellenic ambitions which are imputed to him at any See also:rate never found a See also:practical expression. See also:Cornelius See also:Nepos, Vita Epaminondae; Diodorus xv. 52-88; See also:Xenophon, Hellenica, vii. ; L.

Pomtow, Das Leben See also:

des Epaminondas (See also:Berlin, 1870) ; von See also:Stein, Geschichte der spartanischen and thebanischen Hegemonie (Dorpat, 1884), pp. 123 sqq. ; H. Swoboda in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopeidie, v. pt. 2 (See also:Stuttgart, 1905), pp. 2674-2707; also ARMY: See also:History, § 6. (M. O. B.

End of Article: EPAMINONDAS (c. 418-362)

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