Battle of Mantinea (362 BC)
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The (second) Battle of Mantinea or Mantineia was fought on 4 July 362 B.C. between the
Battle of Mantinea | |
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Part of the Arcadia 37°36′N 22°24′E / 37.6°N 22.4°E | |
Result | Theban victory[2] |
Mantineia
Daiphantus †
Iolaidas †
2,000 cavalry[4]
Background
During the Peloponnesian War (431–404 B.C.), Thebes allied with the Spartans against Athens. After Sparta's victory against Athens, the Thebans were told that their forts were to be garrisoned by Spartan troops. This decision changed the relationship between Thebes and Sparta from one of allyship to one of occupation by the Spartans. Greek General and Statesman Epaminondas (in some sources spelt Epameinondas) headed a revolt against the garrison of Spartan troops in Boeotian territory in 378 B.C. A final blow to Spartan hegemony occurred during the Battle of Leuctra in 371 B.C. This was because Epaminondas stacked his left flank 50 men deep with elite Theban Soldiers of the Sacred Band led by General Pelopidas in anticipation that the Spartans' strongest soldiers would traditionally be stacked on the right flank.[5] This strategy proved fruitful for Thebes as the war cost the lives of many Spartans, including King Cleombrotus. The battle of Leuctra "led, undeniably, to a wholly different world, in which the Spartans were badly weakened and Thebans wildly emboldened."[6]
After the Battle of Leuctra in 371 B.C. had shattered the foundations of Spartan hegemony, Thebes' chief politician and general Epaminondas attempted to build a new hegemony centered on his city.[7] General Epaminondas had served both as a statesman and a Theban general from 420 B.C. to his death during battle in 362 B.C. Epaminondas had been highly regarded for his military prowess and his tendency to promote virtues such as simplicity and perseverance.[8] The historian Diodorus Siculus made claim that after the Battle of Leuctra, Epaminondas "became the foremost man, not only of Thebes, but of all who lived in his time".[8] Due to the high regard from his subjects and recent military victory, Epaminondas sought to continue to expand and establish Theban supremacy. Consequently, the Thebans had marched south into the area traditionally dominated by the Spartans and set up the Arcadian League, a federation of city-states of the central Peloponnesian plateau to contain Spartan influence in the Peloponnese and thereby maintain overall Theban control. In years prior to the Battle of Mantinea, the Spartans had joined with the Eleans (a minor Peloponnesian people with a territorial grudge against the Arcadians) in an effort to undermine the League. When the Arcadians miscalculated and seized the Pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia in Elis, one of the Arcadian city-states, Mantinea detached itself from the League. The Spartans and Eleans joined the Mantineans in a military attack on the Arcadian League. Athens decided to support the Spartans, as they resented the growing Theban power. The Athenians also recalled that at the end of Peloponnesian War, the Thebans had demanded that Athens be destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved; the Spartans had resisted these demands. An Athenian army was sent by sea to join the Spartan-led forces, in order to avoid being intercepted on land by Theban forces. Epaminondas then led a Theban army into the Peloponnese to restore order and re-establish Theban/Arcadian hegemony there.[9]
Battle
The two armies met near Mantinea in 362 B.C. The Spartans, Athenians, Eleans and Mantineans were led by the Spartan king,
The Theban cavalry and light infantry drove off the enemy cavalry.[12] The Theban hoplites marched in a column across the face of the enemy line, then performed a smart wheel and crashed into the enemy right, where the Mantineans were positioned. The Mantinean leader Podares offered heroic resistance, but when he was killed, the Mantinean hoplites fled the field. However, in the thick of the fighting, Epaminondas was mortally wounded when facing the Spartan phalanx by a man variously identified as Anticrates, Machaerion, or Gryllus, son of Xenophon. The Theban leaders Iolaidas and Daiphantus, whom he intended to succeed him, were also killed.
According to
Aftermath
Thebes was struck a heavy blow to their supremacy despite the victory on the battlefield because Epaminondas had been slain. On his deathbed, Epaminondas, upon hearing of the deaths of his fellow leaders, instructed the Thebans to make peace, despite having won the battle.
Footnotes
- ^ Mackil, Emily Maureen. Creating a common polity: Religion, economy, and politics in the making of the Greek Koinon. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2016. 82 Fn 49
- ^ Buckler, p. 219.
- ^ Buckler, p. 217.
- ^ Buckler, p. 213.
- JSTOR 1088061.
- ^ Mackil, Emily Maureen. Creating a common polity: Religion, economy, and politics in the making of the Greek Koinon. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2016. p. 99.
- ^ Isocrates (346A). "To Philip". Translated by George Norlin. (section 44)
- ^ a b Diodorus, Siculus. "Library". (book 10, chapter 11, section 2)
- ^ a b Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 26, 35n.d.. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D26 .
- ^ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 22, 35n.d.. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D26 .
- ^ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 23, 35n.d.. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D26 .
- ^ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 24, 35n.d.. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D26 .
- ^ Polyaenus, Stratagems, 2.32.1
References
- Anderson, J.K. (1970). Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 221–224. ISBN 0-520-01564-9.
- Buckler, John (1980). The Theban Hegemony, 371–362 BC. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 206–219. ISBN 0-674-87645-8.
- G. S. Shrimpton (1971). "The Theban Supremacy in Fourth-Century Literature". Phoenix. Classical Association of Canada. 25 (4): 310–318. doi:10.2307/1088061JSTOR 1088061.
- Isocrates. "Isocrates, To Philip George Norlin, Ed." Translated by George Norlin, 346AD. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0144%3Aspeech&highlight=epaminondas.
- Mackil, Emily Maureen. Creating a common polity: Religion, economy, and politics in the making of the Greek Koinon. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2023.
- Siculus, Diodorus. "Diodorus Siculus, Library." http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, 6n.d.. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084%3Abook&highlight=epaminondas.
- Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, 35n.d.. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D26.