Epaminondas (410-362 BC) was a Theban general and statesman who overthrew Sparta and whose original battle tactics revolutionized ancient warfare.

Trained in Pythagorean philosophy, Epaminondas was said to be unselfish, devout, and generous, and he certainly had a more intellectual approach to war and politics than most Thebans. He was a friend of Pelopidas, the leader of a group of exiles, who liberated Thebes from Sparta in 379 B.C., and thereafter he played a leading part in the creation of the democratic League of Boeotian States.

As a League delegate at a peace conference in Sparta in 371, Epaminondas insisted upon full recognition of the League. Sparta refused and its army moved from Phocis to disband the League. Isolated and outnumbered, the Boeotians were thought to be helpless against the invincible Spartans, but Epaminondas used a new tactic. Advancing with an oblique line, of which the weak right was...