Battle of Mantinea (362 BC): The Death of Epaminondas

The Battle of Mantinea of 362 BC was, on the ancient figures, one of the largest battles ever fought between Greek city-states, and the last great victory of Thebes. Epaminondas, the general who had broken Sparta at Leuctra nine years earlier, defeated a coalition of Mantinea, Sparta, Athens and their allies in Arcadia, but was mortally wounded at the moment of triumph. With him died the Theban hegemony, and Greece was left without a leading power.

Background

After the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, Thebes became the most powerful state in Greece. In the Peloponnese the Arcadians formed a federal league, with a new capital at Megalopolis, and Epaminondas freed Messenia from Spartan rule.

By 363 BC the Arcadian League had split. The Arcadians had seized the sanctuary of Olympia and used its temple treasures to pay their soldiers. Mantinea and others objected and drifted towards Sparta, Athens and Elis, while Tegea and Megalopolis appealed to Thebes. In 362 BC Epaminondas led his fourth invasion of the Peloponnese to restore Theban influence.

The campaign

Epaminondas first tried a surprise night march on Sparta itself, hoping to find it undefended while its army was away. King Agesilaus II was warned in time, and his son Archidamus III held the city with a small force. Epaminondas then turned north and tried to seize Mantinea while its people were harvesting in the fields, but newly arrived Athenian cavalry beat back his horsemen.

The armies finally met on the narrow plain between Tegea and Mantinea. Diodorus gives Epaminondas more than 30,000 infantry and about 3,000 cavalry, and his opponents over 20,000 infantry and about 2,000 cavalry. Modern historians treat these figures as rough but accept that the Theban side was larger.

The battle

Epaminondas deceived the enemy by marching towards the hills and halting as if to make camp. His opponents relaxed and broke formation. He then reformed his army and attacked, using the same idea that had won at Leuctra: a powerful, deep column of Boeotian infantry on his left wing, aimed at the enemy’s strongest troops, while his weaker units held back.

He also mixed light infantry among his cavalry, which helped drive off the enemy horsemen. The heavy Theban column broke through the Mantinean and Spartan line, and the enemy began to flee.

The death of Epaminondas

At the height of the charge, Epaminondas was hit by a spear in the chest. He was carried from the field still alive. According to ancient writers, he asked first whether his shield was safe, then asked for the two officers he expected to succeed him, Iolaidas and Daiphantus. Told that both were dead, he advised the Thebans to make peace. The spearhead was then removed, and he died.

Without their leader, the victorious Thebans did not pursue. Their cavalry and infantry stopped, and parts of the army were cut up by the enemy. Both sides set up trophies and recovered their dead under truce, an unusual sign of an indecisive outcome. Who struck the fatal blow was disputed; Athenian and Mantinean tradition credited Gryllus, the son of the historian Xenophon, who also died in the fighting.

Consequences

Xenophon ended his history of Greece, the Hellenica, with this battle, remarking that it brought even greater confusion and disorder to Greece than before. After the battle the exhausted states, except Sparta, agreed a common peace, which recognised Messene. Sparta refused, unwilling to accept the loss of its former subjects.

Thebes, which had depended heavily on the talent of Epaminondas and Pelopidas, soon lost its influence. Athens and Sparta were also weakened. Within a few years Philip II of Macedon took the throne in 359 BC, and he exploited the divisions of the Greek states. Philip had spent part of his youth as a hostage in Thebes and is thought to have learned from Theban methods.

Key people

• Epaminondas (c. 410–362 BC), the Theban general and statesman who commanded the Boeotian army and its allies.
• Agesilaus II, the elderly king of Sparta, who returned in time to save his city from the surprise attack.
• Archidamus III, his son, who defended Sparta against Epaminondas’ night march.
• Gryllus, son of Xenophon, an Athenian cavalryman killed in the fighting at Mantinea.

Timeline

• 371 BC: Thebes defeats Sparta at Leuctra.
• 370/369 BC: Epaminondas frees Messenia; Arcadian League founded.
• 364 BC: Pelopidas is killed at Cynoscephalae in Thessaly.
• 363 BC: The Arcadian League splits over the funds of Olympia.
• 362 BC: Epaminondas fails to surprise Sparta and is beaten back at Mantinea by Athenian cavalry.
• 362 BC, 4 July: Battle of Mantinea; Epaminondas is mortally wounded.
• 362/361 BC: A general peace is agreed without Sparta.
• 359 BC: Philip II becomes ruler of Macedon.

Why it matters

Mantinea showed that a single brilliant commander could win battles but not secure lasting power for a city like Thebes. The battle exhausted the major Greek states and left a power vacuum at the heart of Greece. It is often seen as the end of the classical era of rival city-states and the prelude to Macedonian domination.