Battle Of Leuctra By Xenophon And Plutarch

There is a lack of first-hand accounts of the Battle of Leuctra. Most modern scholars base their analysis on known tactics, archeological evidence, and information provided by ancient historians who wrote about the battle. While a number of ancient historians and philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, and Thucydides documented various aspects of Sparta, most modern historians rely on the writings of Xenophon and Plutarch when addressing the Battle of Leuctra. Both Xenophon and Plutarch provided similar accounts of the battle; however, there are discrepancies such as the total number of forces on each side. Due to the likelihood these ancient historians had personal biases, and given that neither had first-hand accounts of the battle, I

Subsequent to their victory in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta entered into a period of expansion and imperialism. While their military might was essentially unopposed in the immediate years following the war, their attempts to maintain their empire through an oligarchy system of governance led to the contempt of formally loyal allies. This eventually led to the uprising in Thebes. The uprising in Thebes, along with Athens, Corinth, and Argos, initiated the Boeotian-Spartan War in 379 B.C. Sparta initiated a tenuous peace agreement after eight years of fighting. The peace agreement did not include Thebes. This resulted in direct conflict between Sparta and Thebes which led to the Battle of

Thebes aligned itself with Athens in an effort to overturn Spartan hegemony in Greece. Thebes then went on to reconstitute the formerly disbanded Boeotian League. The Boeotian League, led by Thebes, consisted of Euboea, Acarnania, Phocis, Thessaly, Arcadia, and Achaea. Following the Theban uprising, Sparta launched a counter-offensive to retake control of Thebes. The Spartan army, led by King Cleombrotus I, marched towards Thebes in an attempt to retake the city. Thebes, reluctant to engage the Spartans in a hoplite confrontation, built a trench, reinforced with defensive positions, around the perimeter of Thebes. This defensive posture was effective in discouraging the Spartan army from engaging the Thebans, and resulted in the stalemate and subsequent withdrawal of the Spartan army. Sparta attempted to retake Thebes several times during this period without success. Concurrently, both Sparta and Thebes were successful in other minor engagements across the Greek mainland. None of these battles marked a decisive turning point of the