The Boeotian Pig | Victories of Epaminondas
“He preferred the society of a grave and austere old man before that of all those of his own age; nor did he part with him until he so far excelled his fellow students in learning, that it might easily be perceived he would in like manner excel them all in other pursuits.”
— Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas
He surveyed the battlefield and saw what he expected. The forces were massed on the right side, with more men, horses, and wider formations of war. He turned to his commanders and nodded. They rode off to the different phalanxes to give the commands they had discussed the night before. He regarded his army in detail, confirming the count of men in each phalanx and being pleased with unconventional formations. This was an army unlike he had ever seen. These were men who before had no recourse in life, no chance to rise from what they born to be, and no idea how to move forward into the future. Now, these were free men. Across the battlefield, his enemy had slaves.
From his horse he could see the whole of the Spartan army. In the distance with the cavalry he could see the general whose name he had heard but whose face he had never seen. Before him was an impossible enemy. Assigned to him was an impossible task. He would meet both with an impossible solution.
The Simple Man
Epaminondas was born in what today would be considered a rural community. Boeotia and its capital Thebes, was seen by most of Greece as a “back water” burgh that contributed very little to Greece other than cowardice and wheat. He grew up impoverished but was able to garner an extensive education from Lysis of Tarentum, who was considered one of the last Pythagorean philosophers. A strong proponent of this philosophy, Epaminondas never accumulated wealth – despite many opportunities – but instead shared much of what he earned and took with those around him. As a young man he excelled in his studies, both mentally and physically, pursing the concept of agility through the mastery of martial arts, running, and wrestling.
Despite its rural status, Boeotia was embroiled in the political and societal unrest shaped by years of Theban governance and Spartan aggression. Since its victory in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta had pursued a unilateralist agenda, discarding old alliances to pursue whatever it deemed important to its city-state. At the same time, Thebes was pursuing a similar agenda – though not as aggressive – with its own expansion. Naturally, such powers clashed as Spartan will pushed against the Theban desire and resolve. This rivalry reached a tipping point in 378 B.C. when a Spartan general passing through Boeotia decided to capture the acropolis of Cadmeia for Sparta. Once there, his armies pushed out all anti-Spartan party members, put in a Spartan government, and assigned a garrison in place to control the behavior of the Thebans. Epaminondas, seen as a simple and impoverished man, was allowed to remain.
The Spartan bravado was typical. Epaminondas was a quiet, anti-Spartan who was seen as harmless by the invaders. A member of the Spartan government said, "his philosophy made him to be looked down upon as a recluse, and his poverty as impotent". Epaminondas’s silence with the Spartans was equal to his covert actions and audible rhetoric to those within his inner circle. Even before the main host of the Spartan army left the acropolis, Epaminondas was secretly training the young men of the city for combat.
Making God Bleed
Three years after the Spartan occupation, members of the anti-Spartan party and a group of Athenian hoplites infiltrated the city and linked up with Epaminondas and his group of trained fighting men. Led by Pelopidas, they assassinated the Spartan leadership and surrounded the garrison that was left behind. As the siege continued, Epaminondas and Pelopidas beseeched the Theban assembly to take up their arms and fight for their freedom. The assembly sided with the two men, and summoned as many fighting men as possible to join the siege.
The significance of this move cannot be overstated. Spartan aggression was ferocious and wide-spread. Though the Battle of Thermopylae was over 100 years old, the legend of that battle was enhanced by continued Spartan victories across Greece and subjugation of anyone who would dare oppose the undefeated Spartan armies. To move against them defied all logic, with even Athens only covertly supporting the coup due to fears of Spartan reprisal. One can only image the rhetoric needed to convince the Theban assembly to pursue blatant aggression against Sparta. The timing for the appeal was no accident. Actions had already been taken with the assassinations and siege. The road forward was utter surrender and further oppression by Sparta or the chance of getting out from under the Spartan thumb. For the Thebans, seeing the covert alliance with Athens and the actions already in play, the way forward seemed clearer than the way backward.
Back at the site of the siege, Epaminondas believed that the garrison would need to be defeated before reinforcements arrived. Thankfully for the Boeotian, the Spartan garrison attacked giving Epaminondas and his forces time to make them an example. Their onslaught was repelled repeatedly as Epaminondas advanced on their position. Eventually, they were forced to surrender and were allowed to return to Sparta.
The defeat of the Spartans, though a relatively small event, was paramount. Plutarch highlights this achievement:
”..the subsequent change in the political situation made this exploit the more glorious. For the war which broke down the pretensions of Sparta and put an end to her supremacy by land and sea, began from that night.”
The Battle of Leuctra
Once the surviving Spartans informed their superiors about the coup, Sparta raised an army and reengaged the Boeotians but were repelled through trench warfare. After this victory, Athens formally sued for peace. At this point in their history Athens and Sparta were war-weary and had no desire to instigate another conflict between one another. A weak peace treaty between Thebes and Sparta was authored but proved unsuccessful. As a result, both sides mobilized for war.
The Spartan and Boeotian Armies met on the field of Leuctra. Traditionally, Greek hoplites would hold their shields on their left side and their spears on their right. Because of this, it was a common practice for Greek armies to veer to the right in battle because according to Thucydides, "because fear makes each man do his best to shelter his unarmed side with the shield of the man next him on the right". To counter this, most forces amassed their elite troops on the right. It was in this fashion that the Spartan army positioned itself, with the strongest of its forces on the right flank and the weakest on the left flank. Epaminondas, knowing this tactic and tradition, made three changes that revolutionized Greek warfare. First, he amassed a massive phalanx of 50 ranks deep (as opposed to 8-12 ranks deep) on the left side opposite the Spartan army. Second, knowing he was outnumbered, he concentrated his other phalanxes to make them deeper and better able to defend and attack. Finally, he ordered his weakened right flank to gradually retreat as the superior Spartan right flank advanced. His strengthened left would break through the weaken Spartan right and then move against the remaining phalanxes as the others advanced. In this way, Epaminondas would cause a circular motion on the battle field, with the right flank pulling back while the rest of the army advanced on the Spartans, starting the with the strengthened left flank.
The result was unprecedented. The cavalry charge was first in the battle and the Spartans were pushed back by the far-superior skills of the Theban cavalry. As the first wave of the Spartans fled, the Theban cavalry began to disrupt the enemy’s phalanxes. In turn, the dense left flank pushed forward and annihilated the weaker Spartan forces. The result was a rout, the death of the Spartan general, and the utter collapse of the previously undefeated Spartans.
The ramifications of the Spartan defeat at Leuctra were widespread. Historically, Sparta had always been dependent on their alliances and conquered territories for support during campaigns. Additionally, the sheer fear of the Spartans brought support from other areas for fear of reprisal if such a request was denied. Their defeat at Leuctra changes this arrangement. Suddenly the ability for Sparta to replenish its forces was hindered and their already small army was outnumbered. Many other Greek city-states pushed back against Spartan requests for support feeling empowered by the fact that the invincible group could not only bleed, but bleed to the point of death. The overarching result was the breakdown of the Spartan hegemony in Greece.
Lessons from History
The name Epaminondas has fallen into obscurity. He went on to lead four Peloponnese invasions and to rally other Greek city-states to end Spartan influence once and for all and was eventually killed in the final battle. Furthermore, the historian Xenophon minimized the long-term effects of his influence, saying:
“…that while each party claimed to be victorious, neither was found to be any better off, as regards either additional territory, or city, or sway, than before the battle took place; but there was even more confusion and disorder in Greece after the battle than before.”
In addition, less than 50 years after the death of Epaminondas, Alexander the Great utterly obliterated the Boeotians in a matter of hours, raising their cities to the ground and killing or enslaving all of them in a single day.
With that in mind, why discuss Epaminondas? What significance does this man have on our life now and why is it important to learn his history?
Epaminondas was a commoner from a rural, defeated area in Greece. He was born with nothing and survived with very little. Yet he was able to muster a force to defeat the dominating military power and push it to near extinction. This was highlighted by the government that he put into place, specifically the empowerment of the common man through voting rights, military service, and expanded influence within Greek society. As Victor Davis Hansen said, “Had such democratic regional leagues themselves united and given all of Greece a truly national state, the values of the polis might have survived both Philip of Macedon and perhaps even the later Roman onslaught.”
The concept of free peoples empowered with equal opportunity in areas that were previously blocked was made manifest in the ancient world through men like Epaminondas. As we read history, we see examples of people who rise above circumstance while empowering others to do the same. This example causes us to question the rule of one group of over the other and reminds us of what happens when the whole of a society is empowered to be free. The effects echo across history, encourage further thought and study, and foster a yearning for such democracy in the future.
