Epaminondas (410-362 BC) was a Theban general and statesman of the 4th century BC who, as Strategos, led Thebes out of Spartan subjugation and into a preeminent position in Greek politics. He broke Spartan military power at the Battle of Leuctra, freed the Messenian helots, and died shortly after his victory at the Battle of Mantinea; hos last words are said to have been: "I have lived long enough, for I die unconquered."
Biography[]
Epaminondas was born in Thebes in 410 BC to a family of impoverished aristocrats. Of the many commanders who fought in the wars between Greek city-states, the Theban Epaminondas was the most inspired innovator. The Spartans had long been the dominant military power in Greece when they faced Epaminondas on the battlefield at Leuctra in 371 BC. Greek-versus-Greek encounters were traditionally trials of strength between bodies of hoplite infnatry formed up in lines eight ranks deep. However, at Leuctra Epaminondas massed his hoplites on the left of his line in a powerful body some 50 lines deep, while his center and right avoided combat, screened by cavalry and lightly equipped skirmishers. The Thebans crushed the Spartan right and weighed into the rest of the enemy line from the flank with devastating effect.
Epaminondas then pursued a subtle strategy of undermining Spartan power by freeing the subject states from which Sparta drew its slave workforce. His success inevitably led to the formation of alliances to oppose him. In 362 BC, Epaminondas faced not only Sparta but Athens and the Peloponnesian city of Mantinea. He gambled on a pitched battle outside Mantinea, where a repeat of his strategy at Leuctra was successful once more, and the enemy was driven from the field. Epaminondas himself was fatally wounded leading the advancing infantry and died soon after the battle.