Epaminondas was a Theban general and statesman, born about 418 B.C. of a noble but impoverished family. For his education he was chiefly indebted to Lysis of Tarentum, a Pythagorean exile who had found refuge with his father Polymnis. He first comes into notice in the attack upon Mantinea in 385, when he fought on the Spartan side and saved the life of his future colleague Pelopidas. In his youth Epaminondas took little part in public affairs; he held aloof from the political assassinations which preceded the Theban insurrection of 379. But in the following campaigns against Sparta he rendered good service in organizing the Theban defence.
![]() |
In 369 he forced the Isthmus lines and secured Sicyon for Thebes, but gained no considerable successes. In the following year he served as a common soldier in Thessaly, and upon being reinstated in command contrived the safe retreat of the Theban army from a difficult position. Returning to Thessaly next year at the head of an army he procured the liberation of Pelopidas from the tyrant Alexander of Pherae without striking a blow. In his third expedition (366) to Peloponnesus, Epaminondas again eluded the Isthmus garrison and won over the Achaeans to the Theban alliance. Turning his attention to the growing maritime power of Athens, Epaminondas next equipped a fleet of 100 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 order to crush the newly formed Spartan league (362). After some masterly operations between Sparta and Mantinea, by which he nearly captured both these towns, he engaged in a decisive battle on the latter site, and by his vigorous shock tactics gained a complete victory over his opponents. Epaminondas himself received a severe wound during the combat, and died soon after the issue was decided.
His title to fame rests mainly on his brilliant qualities both as a strategist and as a tactician; his influence on military art in Greece was of the greatest. For the purity and uprightness of his character he likewise stood in high repute; his culture and eloquence equalled the highest Attic standard. In politics his chief achievement was the final overthrow of Sparta's predominance in the Peloponnese; as a constructive statesman he displayed no special talent, and the lofty pan-Hellenic ambitions which are imputed to him at any rate never found a practical expression.
—Excerpted from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Born in Thebes. | |
Saved the life of Pelopidas during an attack on Mantinea. | |
Due to treachery, Spartans took over the garrison at Thebes. | |
Theban rebels toss out Spartan garrison and liberate the city. | |
With Pelopidas, drove Sparta out of most of Boeotia, and made Thebes predominant. | |
Refused to surrender control of Boeotian cities. | |
Defeated Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra. | |
Led a large force into Laconia, and liberated Messenians, founded Megalopolis. | |
Let another expedition into the Peloponnese. | |
Killed at the battle of Mantinea. |
One Hero of Thebes in | Pictures from Greek Life and Story by Alfred J. Church |
Theban Friends in | The Story of the Greeks by H. A. Guerber |
Battle of Leuctra in | The Story of the Greeks by H. A. Guerber |
Battle of Mantinea in | The Story of the Greeks by H. A. Guerber |
Epaminondas and Pelopidas in | Famous Men of Greece by John H. Haaren and A. B. Poland |
How Epaminondas Made Thebes Free in | Greek Gods, Heroes, and Men by Caroline H. and Samuel B. Harding |
Pelopidas and Epaminondas in | Stories from Greek History by Ethelwyn Lemon |
Pelopidas and Epaminondas in | The Story of Greece by Mary Macgregor |
Battle of Leuctra in | The Story of Greece by Mary Macgregor |
Death of Epaminondas in | The Story of Greece by Mary Macgregor |
Humiliation of Sparta in | Historical Tales: Greek by Charles Morris |
The Theban Pair in | Stories of the Ancient Greeks by Charles D. Shaw |
When Thebes Was in Power in | The Story of the Greek People by Eva March Tappan |
Image Links | ||
---|---|---|
![]() Epaminondas rescues Pelopidas, Vogel in Famous Men of Greece |
![]() Epaminondas Saves the Life of Pelopidas in Greatest Nations - Greece |
![]() Pelopidas and Epimanondas in Stories from Greek History |
![]() Epaminonas defending Pelopidas in Plutarch's Lives W. H. Weston |
Helped to liberate Thebes. Leader of the "Sacred Band" of Theban Warriors. | |
Leader of Sparta after the Peloponnesian War. Campaigned in Asia Minor and warred with Thebes. | |
Cleombrotus | Spartan King who was killed at the battle of Leuctra. |
Used statesmanship as well as military force to bring Greece under sway of Macedonia. |