The World Turned Upside Down
The Theban general Epaminondas surveys the field at Leuctra. In this
battle he pulled off something never done before, he crushed the Spartan
army in open warfare and killed more than 400 of their irreplaceable
soldiers.
In all the hoplite battles to date, both sides would put their best men on the place of honor, the right flank. This turned the fight into a sort of revolving door, each side pushing against the weaker opposite flank. The battle ended when one line broke and ran. By massing his best on his left, Epaminondas deepened the line with many files and steamrolled the Spartans, of course their allies ran for it, they
had to. Thebes was only concerned with Sparta in any case, the Spartan League was an alliance of fear. Sparta was a cruel and backward nation that was hated by everyone. After the battle Epaminondas allowed the allies to retrieve their dead but not the Spartans until he let everyone get a good look at over 400 dead Spartan hoplites, a nifty bit of psychology if there ever was one. The Spartans only had 700 of their troops there, for them to lose 57 percent dead was a calamity and a huge loss of face. The Thebans were all farmers and hillbillies so they were stronger than your average Spartan, Epaminondas made a virtue out of a flaw by putting all of those yahoos in one group. Once he was not re-elected as a general so he served in the ranks until the inevitable crisis came and he was asked to take command, which he did without saying a word of reproach. Politics was the curse of the democracies, during the Peloponnesian War Athens won a stunning naval victory over the Spartan fleet against much greater odds and then she executed 6 of the winning generals out of petty jealousy. (Arginusae, 406 BC).
The big bunny is Pelopidas, best friend of Epaminondas and his co-commander in many battles. Pelopidas commanded at Tegyra and routed a much larger Spartan army, so he must have been an awesome general himself. Pelopidas was a playboy bodybuilder, charismatic and fun. Epaminondas would patrol the city walls by himself so that others could have a good time, he was a vegetarian and an ascetic, with two boyfriends, one who died with him at Mantinea and they were buried together. He was witty and no doubt every inch a leader, one of your more intelligent warrior/statesmen. He did not have girlfriends or a wife which impressed everyone as focus and self discipline instead of being wildly gay, which would be my informed guess. My rabbits regard sex as the primary thing in life, I only draw them wearing clothing so I don't get kicked off my various websites. 'Action' is a way of life for these virile if bloodthirsty bunnies. The tearful enlisted lagomorph is a member of the 150 pairs of boyfriends known as the Sacred Band whose guy has just been killed. People did think that was remarkable, the first thing you will always read about that outfit. The Sacred Band was the meatgrinder unit of Greek warfare and no one you would want to fight with just iron and bronze.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes/
Epaminondas had one cloak, when it was being cleaned he stayed at home naked. 'Naked' in Greece at this time meant 'unarmed', the word 'gymnasium' means 'place of exercise for bunnies not wearing clothing'. Clothing was for protection and warmth, no one noticed unclothed fellow rabbits. Epaminondas was eventually killed at the battle of Mantinea, his last advice was for Thebes to make peace as they had no generals left. I guess he thought that Pelopidas was not really up for coalition warfare. Alexander leveled Thebes 27 years later, 3 Greek cities claimed that one of their soldiers killed Epaminondas and made a big deal about it.
That is a pretty good epitaph.
The Spartan army at Leuctra was 10,000 men. Thebes had 6,000 footsoldiers with better cavalry. Sparta got spanked!
In all the hoplite battles to date, both sides would put their best men on the place of honor, the right flank. This turned the fight into a sort of revolving door, each side pushing against the weaker opposite flank. The battle ended when one line broke and ran. By massing his best on his left, Epaminondas deepened the line with many files and steamrolled the Spartans, of course their allies ran for it, they
had to. Thebes was only concerned with Sparta in any case, the Spartan League was an alliance of fear. Sparta was a cruel and backward nation that was hated by everyone. After the battle Epaminondas allowed the allies to retrieve their dead but not the Spartans until he let everyone get a good look at over 400 dead Spartan hoplites, a nifty bit of psychology if there ever was one. The Spartans only had 700 of their troops there, for them to lose 57 percent dead was a calamity and a huge loss of face. The Thebans were all farmers and hillbillies so they were stronger than your average Spartan, Epaminondas made a virtue out of a flaw by putting all of those yahoos in one group. Once he was not re-elected as a general so he served in the ranks until the inevitable crisis came and he was asked to take command, which he did without saying a word of reproach. Politics was the curse of the democracies, during the Peloponnesian War Athens won a stunning naval victory over the Spartan fleet against much greater odds and then she executed 6 of the winning generals out of petty jealousy. (Arginusae, 406 BC).
The big bunny is Pelopidas, best friend of Epaminondas and his co-commander in many battles. Pelopidas commanded at Tegyra and routed a much larger Spartan army, so he must have been an awesome general himself. Pelopidas was a playboy bodybuilder, charismatic and fun. Epaminondas would patrol the city walls by himself so that others could have a good time, he was a vegetarian and an ascetic, with two boyfriends, one who died with him at Mantinea and they were buried together. He was witty and no doubt every inch a leader, one of your more intelligent warrior/statesmen. He did not have girlfriends or a wife which impressed everyone as focus and self discipline instead of being wildly gay, which would be my informed guess. My rabbits regard sex as the primary thing in life, I only draw them wearing clothing so I don't get kicked off my various websites. 'Action' is a way of life for these virile if bloodthirsty bunnies. The tearful enlisted lagomorph is a member of the 150 pairs of boyfriends known as the Sacred Band whose guy has just been killed. People did think that was remarkable, the first thing you will always read about that outfit. The Sacred Band was the meatgrinder unit of Greek warfare and no one you would want to fight with just iron and bronze.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes/
Epaminondas had one cloak, when it was being cleaned he stayed at home naked. 'Naked' in Greece at this time meant 'unarmed', the word 'gymnasium' means 'place of exercise for bunnies not wearing clothing'. Clothing was for protection and warmth, no one noticed unclothed fellow rabbits. Epaminondas was eventually killed at the battle of Mantinea, his last advice was for Thebes to make peace as they had no generals left. I guess he thought that Pelopidas was not really up for coalition warfare. Alexander leveled Thebes 27 years later, 3 Greek cities claimed that one of their soldiers killed Epaminondas and made a big deal about it.
That is a pretty good epitaph.
The Spartan army at Leuctra was 10,000 men. Thebes had 6,000 footsoldiers with better cavalry. Sparta got spanked!
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