Epaminondas

Epaminondas (d. 362 BC),
Theban general, famous for his victories at the battles of Leuctra and Mantinea. Of his early career little is known. He is said to have been a pupil of Lysis of Tarentum, and to have saved the life of Pelopidas at Mantinea, presumably during the Spartan siege in 385, but played a minor role in the liberation of Thebes in 379, and in the subsequent rebuilding of the Boeotian Confederacy. However, by 371 he was one of the boeotarchs (Boeotian federal officials), and, as such, represented Thebes at the peace conference in Sparta, walking out when the Spartan king Agesilaus refused to allow him to take the oath on behalf of the Boeotians as a whole.

Although all seven boeotarchs were at Leuctra, Epaminondas was clearly regarded as the architect of victory, and was re-elected for 370. Late in the year he went to the aid of the Arcadians, and was largely responsible for the crucial decision to press on with the...

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