In the Cadmea the nervous Spartan garrison did not know what to do, but were eventually persuaded to leave town quietly. So ended a scandal that seriously damaged the reputation of Sparta.
When they learned what had happened, the Spartans collectively lost their temper, the classic sign of a guilty conscience. They executed two of their three garrison commanders and banished the third, for capitulating without a fight. They complained to Athens about volunteers that had gone to Thebes to help.
And then, as if to compound the offense of Phoebidas, a Spartan called Sphodrias thought he would compensate for the loss of Thebes by acquiring Piraeus. He decided to march overnight deep into Attica and capture the port of Athens by attacking it from its landward side (despite its rebuilt walls Piraeus still had no town gates). He seems to have been no brighter than Phoebidas; by sunrise he had only reached Eleusis and still had miles to go. He was forced into a humiliating retreat, but not before showing the world what he had intended.
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While the star of Athens was in the ascendant, that of Sparta was overclouded. A storm was on its way.
During the 370s, Thebes resisted the might of the Spartan army and grew stronger as a result. It deepened its control over the poleis of Boeotia, whatever the Athenians and their new league said about liberty. At sea the Athenian navy scored major successes against the Spartans and their allies, whose prestige slowly declined.
King Agesilaus seems to have harbored an obsessive hatred for the Thebans and a Spartan army invaded Thebes a number of times during this decade, although it was careful to avoid risking too many casualties and undertook no sieges. Meanwhile the Thebans built a defensive rampart around part of their Boeotian territory.
In response to continual Spartan bullying, a Theban general called Epaminondas with his great friend (and possibly lover) Pelopidas developed innovative tactics for hoplite battles. Three hundred male couples, each an erastes with his (grown-up) eromenos, were brought together in a new elite regiment, the Sacred Band. The theory was that they would not want to act disgracefully in each other’s presence. It seems to have worked, for they soon won a fearsome reputation for courage under fire.
In 375 a small but fierce encounter took place during which the Sacred Band and a few cavalry routed a Spartan force of more than one thousand hoplites and killed two of its commanders. This was the first time in history that a Spartan army had been defeated by an enemy of equal or lesser size. The wind was shifting.
The regular formation for hoplites was the phalanx in which men were deployed eight or more ranks deep in a long line (see this page). Epaminondas tailored his own version, which he marshaled up to fifty ranks deep and placed on one of his wings. The rest of his army was thinned out and stepped back in an oblique formation. The phalanx bristling with long spears drove into its opponents with irresistible force.
In 371 a peace congress was held in Sparta and a general settlement was agreed on the familiar principle of autonomy for individual city-states. The question of the Boeotian League arose. Should Thebes be excluded from the treaty on the grounds that it dominated the other poleis in Boeotia? Epaminondas the Theban took the oath endorsing the peace on behalf of all Boeotians. His view was that because Boeotia was a geographical unity it was also and rightly a political unity—just like Laconia, which was governed by the Spartan polis.
Agesilaus, who was recovering from a long illness, lost his temper. He asked Epaminondas whether, in the light of the principle of autonomy, he thought it just and equitable for the cities of Boeotia to be independent. The Theban replied with another question. “Does Agesilaus think it just and equitable for the cities of Laconia to be independent?” The king furiously erased the name of Thebes from the treaty text and issued a declaration of war.
According to the terms of the accord, all parties were to withdraw or disband their forces, but Sparta thought otherwise and an allied army of ten thousand hoplites and one thousand horse under King Cleombrotus, Agesilaus’s co-monarch, was ordered to march against the Thebans and liberate the Boeotian cities. They encountered Epaminondas and an opposing force of about six thousand men at a village called Leuctra seven miles southwest of Thebes.
Seven Boeotarchs or generals of the Boeotian League were in charge of the Theban campaign (it was typical for Greek armies and navies to have multiple commanders). Epaminondas and two other generals argued for an immediate battle, but three others were in favor of pulling back and looking for a more advantageous position. The seventh Boeotarch was absent guarding a mountain pass. When he returned to the camp he backed Epaminondas, who now had a majority for battle. He prepared a highly original plan that was designed more than to make up for his inferior numbers.
Cleombrotus held a council of war after breakfast on July 6, 371, at which it was decided to accept battle (there was a rumor that wine was drunk). He received a surprise when the armies began to take their positions. As was traditional, the Spartan hoplites, including seven hundred Equals, formed up on the right wing under the king’s command. They stood in a phalanx twelve ranks deep. In front of them was a weak squadron of Spartan cavalry.
Astonishingly, though, the Spartan right was confronted by a massed Theban phalanx fifty ranks deep, also covered by cavalry. The rest of the Theban army was echeloned back from this formidable mass of men and was evidently not expected to play a major part in the forthcoming battle.
The Boeotian horse were well trained and in the opening phase of the battle soon cleared the Spartan cavalry from the field. Cleombrotus extended his phalanx farther to the right to outflank the Boeotians. But while he was undertaking this maneuver, the oversized Theban phalanx, headed by Pelopidas and the Sacred Band, ran at the double towards the Spartan king and his staff.
The impact when it bulldozed into the Spartan hoplites was terrible. Almost immediately Cleombrotus fell mortally wounded and his hoplites were overwhelmed. When half the Spartans, including four hundred of the Equals, had been felled, the remainder broke and fled to their camp. The Equals who were still alive wanted to resume the fight, but the allies had had enough.
In a single day, Spartan power had been destroyed. The slaughter of the Equals reduced their number to a point where Sparta could no longer field a proper army. A rout on this scale amazed the Greek world. As the news spread, remaining harmosts were expelled and democracies reinstalled throughout the mainland and the Aegean, and even in Sparta’s backyard, the Peloponnese.
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Immediately after the battle, a garlanded Theban herald was sent to Athens to bring the good news to the Athenian boulē, which happened to be in session at the time on the Acropolis. He asked for their support and said: “It is now possible to take vengeance on the Spartans for all the things they have done to us.” But this was the last thing on the councilors’ minds. They were dismayed by the fact that Thebes was now the dominant force in mainland Greece and had upset the centuries-old balance of power. They made no reply to the herald and did not even give him a customary meal of hospitality. He returned home, unthanked.
In Sparta they were celebrating the Festival of the Naked Youths (Gymnopaedia). Unclothed teenagers and men took part in competitive sports, choral events, and displayed their military skill by performing mock-combat dances. A messenger arrived to announce the disaster during a performance in the theater by the men’s chorus. The ephors were greatly distressed when they heard the news, but allowed the concert to run its course before revealing the names of the dead to their families. The Spartans reacted with characteristic serenity. Xenophon writes: