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Virtue & Power

The Theban hegemony

Mantinea (362 BCE)

The largest hoplite battle fought between Greek states, won by Thebes and rendered indecisive by the death of the commander who won it.

362 BCE · Near Mantineia, Arcadia, Greece

The forces, and what the figures are worth

Thebes and its allies

Epaminondas

Evidence level: Disputed

Theban and allied troops

About 30,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry

Diodorus Siculus 15.84

Xenophon, the contemporary source, gives no totals. Diodorus writes three centuries later and his figures for this period are frequently schematic.

Sparta, Athens, Mantinea and allies

Agesilaus II of Sparta · Athenian and Mantinean commanders

Evidence level: Disputed

Allied troops

About 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry

Diodorus Siculus 15.84

The same caution applies as to the Theban figure: Diodorus writes three centuries later, Xenophon the contemporary gives no totals, and the relative disparity is more likely to be reliable than either absolute number.

What happened

Epaminondas invaded the Peloponnese for the fourth time, attempting first a surprise march on an undefended Sparta, which failed when the city was warned.

The armies met at Mantinea. Epaminondas repeated the tactical scheme of Leuctra on a larger scale, massing his left and refusing his right, and preceded the attack by manoeuvres that led the enemy to believe he would not fight that day.

The deep Theban left broke the allied right. In the pursuit Epaminondas was struck by a spear and mortally wounded.

Xenophon reports that the Theban army, having won, halted and did nothing further, and that both sides claimed victory and set up trophies. He ends his history at this point, remarking that the battle produced still greater confusion in Greece than had existed before.

Tactics

A refinement rather than a repetition of Leuctra: the same weighted wing, with the addition of a cavalry force massed on the same flank and a feint that induced the enemy to stand down. The battle also demonstrates the structural limit of the Theban system, which depended on one commander who had to lead the attack in person.

Consequence

The Theban hegemony collapsed with its author. No Greek state emerged dominant, and the exhaustion of the leading cities prepared the ground for Macedon. Xenophon's closing verdict — that the outcome settled nothing — has been the standard judgement ever since.

Location

Evidence level: Probable

The plain of Mantinea in Arcadia

Modern: Near Mantineia, Arcadia, Greece

Three major battles were fought on this plain — in 418, 362 and 207 BCE. This page covers the battle of 362. The engagement of 418 BCE, described in detail by Thucydides, is a separate subject.

Open questions

Evidence level: Unknown

Would the Theban system have survived Epaminondas?

A counterfactual, and treated here as such. What can be said is that Theban power did not survive him, and that the tactical system was inherited by Macedon rather than by Thebes.

Primary sources

  • Xenophon, Hellenica 7.5

    The contemporary account, and the last passage of the work.

  • Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 15.82-88

    A fuller later narrative with the only troop figures we have.

How to read the evidence labels

Evidence level: Documented
Supported by a named primary text or by excavated material evidence.
Evidence level: Probable
Supported by strong inference that most specialists accept.
Evidence level: Disputed
Substantial specialist disagreement exists; competing readings are stated.
Evidence level: Literary
Belongs to poetic or mythological construction rather than to history.
Evidence level: Mythological
Belongs to shared religious or mythic tradition rather than to any single text.
Evidence level: Unknown
The available evidence is insufficient to decide.

These labels describe the status of the evidence, not our confidence in a conclusion. A claim marked Literary is not a claim we doubt; it is a claim about what kind of thing a poem is.