Battle of Mantinea (362 BC)

Last updated
Battle of Mantinea
Part of the Theban–Spartan War
Date4 July 362 BC
Location
Near Mantineia, Arcadia
37°36′N22°24′E / 37.6°N 22.4°E / 37.6; 22.4
Result

Theban tactical victory [1]

Strategic draw
Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Epaminondas   †
Daiphantus  †
Iolaidas  † 		Agesilaus II
Strength
25,000–30,000 men [2] 20,000 hoplites
2,000 cavalry [3]
Casualties and losses
6,000 12,000
Greece relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
class=notpageimage|
Location of the battle near Mantinea

The Battle of Mantinea was fought on 4 July 362 BC between the Thebans, led by Epaminondas and supported by the Arcadians, Argives, Messenians, Thessalians, and the Boeotian league against the Spartans, led by King Agesilaus II and supported by the Eleans, Athenians, Euboeans, and Mantineans. [4] The battle was to determine which of the two alliances would dominate Greece. However, the death of Epaminondas and his intended successors would cost Thebes the military leadership and initiative to maintain Theban supremacy in the region. Similarly, the Spartans were weakened by yet another defeat and loss of troops. Epaminondas' death coupled with the impact on the Spartans of yet another defeat weakened both alliances, and paved the way for Macedonian conquest led by Philip II of Macedon.

Contents

Troop formations of the Theban and Spartan armies at the Battle of Leuctra. Epaminondas used a similar oblique formation at Mantinea. Battle of Leuctra, 371 BC - Decisive action.png
Troop formations of the Theban and Spartan armies at the Battle of Leuctra. Epaminondas used a similar oblique formation at Mantinea.

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 significant blow to Spartan hegemony occurred during the Battle of Leuctra in 371 B.C., where 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 battle 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 around Thebes. [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. At the behest of the Arcadian League in 370 B.C., Epaminondas led a winter campaign in Laconia, plundering the countryside while King Agesilaus II could only watch in Sparta. [9] Epaminondas ended this campaign by repopulating Messene, the capital of Messenia, fortifying it with the finest stone walls in all of Greece, causing Sparta to be surrounded with enemies on all sides. [9] [10] Subsequently, a Persian diplomatic intervention in 368 B.C. spearheaded by Artaxerxes II attempted to negotiate peace among the Greeks, but Sparta desired to continue the war to regain Messenia, while Thebes desired to conquer all of Boeotia, ending any chance of successful negotiations. [11]

Beginning in 367 B.C., Epaminondas led a bloodless expedition into Achaea with Argive support, installing pro-Theban factions and Theban governors in the region, but these regimes were quickly replaced by Achaean aristocrats who aligned themselves with Sparta as soon as Epaminondas left Achaea. [12]

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 seized the Pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia in Elis and celebrated the Olympic Games in 364 B.C., the Eleans counterattacked and instilled fear into the Arcadians. [13] [14] In the aftermath of this incident, one of the Arcadian city-states, Mantinea, passed a resolution to stop funding the elite epariti with funds from the sanctuary, causing the attempted ejection of Mantinea from the league and eventual disillusionment of Mantinea with the Arcadian League and Thebes. [14] [15] Diplomatically isolated, the Mantineans sent envoys to Athens and Sparta, causing them to join the Mantineans in a military attack on the Arcadian League, rallying at Mantinea. [16] [17] 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. [18] Knowing that Sparta was undefended due to their troops assembling at Mantinea, Epaminondas led an unsuccessful sneak attack into Sparta in 362 B.C., foiled by a Cretan who happened to witness the Theban march and encounter Agesilaus, warning him of the attack. Defeated at Sparta, Epaminondas retreated to Tegea, where his allies assembled. [19]

Theban Hegemony by the time of the Battle of Mantinea 362BCThebanHegemony.png
Theban Hegemony by the time of the Battle of Mantinea

Battle

Initial skirmish

While his army camped in Tegea, Epaminondas sent his cavalry to Mantinea with a mission to raze and plunder the Mantinean countryside. [20] [21] [22] However, the Mantineans begged the Athenian cavalry, who had just stopped at nearby Cleonae for recuperation, to attack the Theban cavalry. Despite being tired and hungry, the Athenian cavalry rode out to Mantinea and successfully engaged the Thebans in a bitter skirmish in which many Athenians, including Gryllus, son of Xenophon, died before routing the Thebans. [21] [22] [23] Due to the consecutive setbacks the Thebans faced so far in this campaign, Epaminondas is said to have believed that he must regain his honor through winning a decisive battle. [22] Xenophon wrote that Epaminondas believed that, since he had so far been unsuccessful in this campaign, "if he were victorious, he would make up for all these things, while if he were slain, he deemed that such an end would be honourable for one who was striving to leave to his fatherland dominion over Peloponnesus." [24]

Main action

The two armies met near Mantinea in a flat plain hemmed in by two mountains. [25] The Spartans, Athenians, Eleans and Mantineans, alongside smaller contingents of some of the Achaeans and Euboeans, were led by the Spartan king, Agesilaus II, who was assisted by Podares of Mantinea and Cephisodorus of Marathon, the commander of the Athenian cavalry. The strength of the Spartan alliance numbered at 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, with the Athenians contributing 6,000 and the Spartans contributing 1,000. [26] Epaminondas' Thebans were assisted by the Arcadians loyal to the League, principally those from the city-states of Megalopolis (founded by the Thebans when they were last in the Peloponnese, as the Arcadian federal capital) and Tegea (the traditional leading city-state of the Arcadians), with additional support from most of the Achaeans, Argives, Messenians, and Thessalians. [26] The Theban army included contingents from city-states of the pro-Theban Boeotian League. The Theban cavalry was supported by lightly armed running infantry, known as hamippoi, integrated into the cavalry formation. [26]

Epaminondas maneuvered his army to the west near some mountains, a position that was likely the modern day site of Skopi, giving the impression among his enemies that his army would not battle that day and begin to make camp. [27] [28] [29] Secretly, Epaminondas began to reorganize his formation, moving troops behind other soldiers so that the enemy would not be able to see. He concentrated his best Boeotian troops onto his left in a large phalanx, probably fifty ranks deep. The Arcadians formed their phalanxes on the immediate right of the Boeotians, the Argives held the right, and the rest of the allies filled the middle, with cavalry on the flanks. [28] [30] [31] Ordering his army to advance with the left marching faster than the right, Epaminondas arranged an oblique order attack with the strong Boeotian wedge to break the Spartan right while the enemy army was under the impression that there would be no battle. [31] [32] [33] This tactic allowed the large, dense section of the line to force its way through the thinner classical phalanx. Epaminondas personally led the left from the front line. Xenophon (Hellenika 7.5.23) described the left wing of that Theban army as "like a trireme, with the spur of the prow out in front." [34]

The Theban cavalry and light infantry drove off the enemy cavalry. [35] [30] The wedged Boeotian hoplites smashed into the enemy right, where the Mantineans were positioned. [36] The Mantinean leader Podares offered heroic resistance, but when he was killed, the Mantinean hoplites fled the field.[ citation needed ] However, as the Mantineans fled, the Spartans made a last-ditch effort to kill Epaminondas before fleeing by throwing their javelins at him, some of which struck his body. [36] Epaminondas was mortally wounded when facing the Spartan phalanx by a man variously identified as Anticrates, Machaerion, or Gryllus, son of Xenophon. [36] [37] Epaminondas' soldiers rescued him as he was dying, placing him at the high point of Skopi, where he watched the battle unfold. [38] The Theban leaders Iolaidas and Daiphantus, whom he intended to succeed him, were also killed.[ citation needed ] After the death of Epaminondas, the Theban left froze and failed to pursue the retreating Spartans and Mantineans. [36] [37] Meanwhile on the Theban right, the Theban cavalry was also victorious against the Spartan cavalry and pursued the retreating Spartan cavalry, but the hamippoi attached to the Theban right hastily attacked the Athenian hoplites in euphoria and were slaughtered by the Athenians. The Athenians remained as the only contingent of the Spartan army to hold their ground. [39]

The death of Epaminondas at the Battle of Mantinea Bartolomeo Pinelli - La Morte di Epaminonda 1812.jpg
The death of Epaminondas at the Battle of Mantinea

According to Polyaenus, after the battle, the Mantineians wanted to send heralds to the Thebans in order to make an agreement about carrying off the dead, but Cineas persuaded them against such an action. [40]

Aftermath

Depiction of Epaminondas Epameinondas, Nordisk familjebok.png
Depiction of Epaminondas

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. [18] Without his leadership and military capabilities, Theban hopes for hegemony faded. The Spartans, however, having again been defeated in battle, were unable to replace their losses. Since many elite Spartan warriors were slain during the battle, Sparta's military strength was greatly weakened by the conflict. This was because it would take years of training, experience, and resources to produce the seasoned veterans lost in the battle, thus the remnants of the military were left in the hands of the less experienced.

Contemporary historians, such as Xenophon and Ephorus, were disappointed in the indecisive nature of the battle despite the assemblage of the greatest cities of Greece into a single battle. Ancient Greek historiography, focused on a long tradition of sectioning history into epochs, could not make sense of the historical significance of the Battle of Mantinea due to the lack of political or territorial changes the battle brought. [41] The failure for a single hegemon to develop from this battle convinced writers like Xenophon to come to the conclusion that Greece inherently existed in a state of disorder and no clear hegemon would ever emerge. [42]

The ultimate result of the battle was to pave the way for the Macedonian rise as the leading force who subjugated the rest of Greece by exploiting the weakness of both the Thebans and the Spartans. This was because from 368–365 B.C. Phillip II of Macedon was held captive in Thebes, in which he became mentored by Epaminondas. Under Epaminondas' wing, Phillip was able to earn a military education in Epaminondas' successful unconventional (at the time) styles of warfare. In 364 B.C., Phillip returned to Macedon. Thereafter he would utilize his military skills to dominate Greece.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Buckler, p. 219.
  2. ↑ Buckler, p. 217.
  3. ↑ Buckler, p. 213.
  4. ↑ 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
  5. ↑ G. S. Shrimpton (1971). "The Theban Supremacy in Fourth-Century Literature". Phoenix. Classical Association of Canada. 25 (4): 310–318. doi : 10.2307/1088061. JSTOR   1088061.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Isocrates (346A). "To Philip". Translated by George Norlin. (section 44)
  8. 1 2 Diodorus, Siculus. "Library". (book 10, chapter 11, section 2)
  9. 1 2 Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 116–117. ISBN   978 1 47382 729 5.
  10. ↑ Butera, C. Jacob; Sears, Matthew A. (2019). Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece. Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 332. ISBN   978 1 78383 186 9.
  11. ↑ Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 118. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  12. ↑ Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 119. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  13. ↑ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 4, section 32. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.4.32&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  14. 1 2 Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. pp 120-121. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  15. ↑ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 4, section 33-40. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  16. ↑ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 1-8. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  17. ↑ Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 122. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  18. 1 2 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 .
  19. ↑ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 8-14. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  20. ↑ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 14. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.5.14&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  21. 1 2 Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 124. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  22. 1 2 3 Butera, C. Jacob; Sears, Matthew A. (2019). Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece. Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 336. ISBN   978-1-78383-186-9.
  23. ↑ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 15-17. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  24. ↑ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 18. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.5.18&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  25. ↑ Butera, C. Jacob; Sears, Matthew A. (2019). Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece. Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 319. ISBN   978-1-78383-186-9.
  26. 1 2 3 Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 123. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  27. ↑ Butera, C. Jacob; Sears, Matthew A. (2019). Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece. Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 339-340. ISBN   978-1-78383-186-9.
  28. 1 2 Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 21-22. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  29. ↑ Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 124. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  30. 1 2 Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 125. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  31. 1 2 Butera, C. Jacob; Sears, Matthew A. (2019). Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece. Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 340. ISBN   978-1-78383-186-9.
  32. ↑ Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 22. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206
  33. ↑ Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 125-126. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  34. ↑ 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 .
  35. ↑ 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 .
  36. 1 2 3 4 Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. p. 126. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  37. 1 2 Xenophon. "Xenophon, Hellenica Carleton L. Brownson, Ed." Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 7, chapter 5, section 25, 35n.d.. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Hell.+7.5.25&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206.
  38. ↑ Butera, C. Jacob; Sears, Matthew A. (2019). Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece. Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 341. ISBN   978-1-78383-186-9.
  39. ↑ Rees, Owen (2016). Great Battles of the Classical Greek World. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 126-127. ISBN   978-1-4738-2729-5.
  40. ↑ Polyaenus, Stratagems, 2.32.1
  41. ↑ Dillery, John (1995). Xenophon and the History of His Times. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. pp. 21–25. ISBN   9780415091398.
  42. ↑ Dillery, John (1995). Xenophon and the History of His Times. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. pp. 27. ISBN   978-0-415-09139-8.

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The Arcadian League was a league of city-states in ancient Greece. It combined the various cities of Arcadia, in the Peloponnese, into a single state. The league was founded in 370 BC, taking advantage of the decreased power of Sparta, which had previously dominated and controlled Arcadia. Mantinea, a city that had suffered under Spartan dominance, was particularly prominent in pushing for its founding. The league was responsible for the foundation of Megalopolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phlius</span> Ancient city in Greece

Phlius or Phleius (Φλειοῦς) was an independent polis (city-state) in the northeastern part of Peloponnesus. Phlius' territory, called Phliasia (Φλιασία), was bounded on the north by Sicyonia, on the west by Arcadia, on the east by Cleonae, and on the south by Argolis. This territory is a small valley about 900 feet (270 m) above the level of the sea, surrounded by mountains, from which streams flow down on every side, joining the river Asopus in the middle of the plain. The mountain in the southern part of the plain, from which the principal source of the Asopus springs, was called Carneates (Καρνεάτης). The territory of Phlius was celebrated in antiquity for its wine. According to Strabo, the ancient capital of the country was Araethyrea (Ἀραιθυρέα) on Mt. Celosse, which city is mentioned by Homer; but the inhabitants subsequently deserted it and built Phlius at the distance of 30 stadia. Pausanias, however, does not speak of any migration, but says that the ancient capital was named Arantia (Ἀραντία), from its founder Aras, an autochthon, that it was afterwards called Araethyrea from a daughter of Aras, and that it finally received the name of Phlius, from Phlias, a son of Ceisus and grandson of Temenus. The name of Arantia was retained in the time of Pausanias in the hill Arantinus, on which the city stood. Hence the statement of grammarians that both Arantia and Araethyrea were ancient names of Phlius. According to Stephanus of Byzantium, Phlius derived its name from Dionysus and Chthonophyle. Phlius was subsequently conquered by Dorians under Rhegnidas, who came from Sicyon. Some of the inhabitants migrated to Samos, others to Clazomenae; among the settlers at Samos was Hippasus, from whom Pythagoras derived his descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical Greece</span> Period of ancient Greece from 510 to 323 BC

Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years in Ancient Greece, marked by much of the eastern Aegean and northern regions of Greek culture gaining increased autonomy from the Persian Empire; the peak flourishing of democratic Athens; the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars; the Spartan and then Theban hegemonies; and the expansion of Macedonia under Philip II. Much of the early defining mathematics, science, artistic thought, theatre, literature, philosophy, and politics of Western civilization derives from this period of Greek history, which had a powerful influence on the later Roman Empire. Part of the broader era of classical antiquity, the classical Greek era ended after Philip II's unification of most of the Greek world against the common enemy of the Persian Empire, which was conquered within 13 years during the wars of Alexander the Great, Philip's son.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Satraps' Revolt</span> Rebellion by satraps against Achaemenid king Artaxerxes II (372–362 BC)

The Great Satraps' Revolt, or the Revolts of the Satraps, was a rebellion in the Achaemenid Empire of several satraps in western Anatolia against the authority of the Great King Artaxerxes II. The Satraps who revolted were Datames, Ariobarzanes, Orontes, Autophradates, and Mausolus. The timing of their revolts varied, as did the circumstances that induced them to rebel. Though often portrayed as a general uprising, there was little coordination among them and at no time did they actually threaten Artaxerxes directly. Their efforts were aimed at secession rather than a takeover of the Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theban–Spartan War</span> 4th century BCE conflict between Thebes and Sparta

The Theban–Spartan War of 378–362 BC was a series of military conflicts fought between Sparta and Thebes for hegemony over Greece. Sparta had emerged victorious from the Peloponnesian War against Athens, and occupied an hegemonic position over Greece. However, the Spartans' violent interventionism upset their former allies, especially Thebes and Corinth. The resulting Corinthian War ended with a difficult Spartan victory, but the Boeotian League headed by Thebes was also disbanded.

Epariti, was an elite military unit of the Arcadian League. The name was of Arcadian origin and meant "selected", "picked". Diodorus Siculus called them ἐπίλεκτοι . Hesychius of Alexandria called them ἐπαρόητοι. Stephanus of Byzantium called them ἐπαρῖται but is a misquotation and also misunderstood them as an Arcadian tribe from the town Eparis (Ἔπαρις).

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