caption death_date death_place birth_place allegiance battles rank image article_title name
epaminondas stowe house , an idealized figure in the grounds of 362 bc mantinea thebes thebes battle of leuctra , '' strategos '' , '' boeotarch '' epam1.jpg epaminondas
 epaminondas
epaminondas

epaminondas -lrb- ; , `` epameinondas '' ; d. 362 bc -rrb- , was a theban general and statesman of the 4th century bc who transformed the ancient greek city-state of thebes , leading it out of spartan subjugation into a preeminent position in greek politics .
in the process he broke spartan military power with his victory at leuctra and liberated the messenian helots , a group of peloponnesian greeks who had been enslaved under spartan rule for some 230 years , having been defeated in the messenian war ending in 600 bc .
epaminondas reshaped the political map of greece , fragmented old alliances , created new ones , and supervised the construction of entire cities .
he was militarily influential as well , inventing and implementing several major battlefield tactics .
the roman orator cicero called him `` the first man of greece '' , and montaigne judged him one of the three `` worthiest and most excellent men '' that had ever lived , but epaminondas has fallen into relative obscurity in modern times .
the changes epaminondas wrought on the greek political order did not long outlive him , as the cycle of shifting hegemonies and alliances continued unabated .
a mere twenty-seven years after his death , a recalcitrant thebes was obliterated by alexander the great .
thus epaminondas -- who had been praised in his time as an idealist and liberator -- is today largely remembered for a decade -lrb- 371 bc to 362 bc -rrb- of campaigning that sapped the strength of the great land powers of greece and paved the way for the macedonian conquest .
