The Battle of Tegyra marked the first open-field defeat of a Spartan army by a smaller Greek force.
In 375 B.C., only four years before the decisive Battle of Leuctra, Pelopidas led a small Theban force against Orchomenus, hoping to exploit the temporary absence of its Spartan garrison. Forced to abandon the operation after learning that reinforcements had already entered the city, he began withdrawing toward Thebes. Near the sanctuary of Apollo at Tegyra, however, his army unexpectedly encountered two returning Spartan morae, setting the stage for one of the most remarkable engagements of Classical Greece.
This book examines the Battle of Tegyra not simply as a tactical victory, but as the moment that shattered the long-held belief in Spartan invincibility. It explores how superior leadership, battlefield initiative, disciplined formations, and aggressive exploitation of fleeting opportunities enabled Pelopidas and the Sacred Band to defeat a numerically superior Spartan force in open battle.
The campaign unfolded during a period of growing tension between Sparta and the resurgent Theban Confederacy. While Sparta still dominated mainland Greece following the Corinthian War, Thebes was rapidly rebuilding its military power under a new generation of commanders. At Tegyra, these two rivals met unexpectedly in a narrow corridor between the marshes of Lake Copais and the surrounding hills, where retreat was impossible and battle became unavoidable.
Although heavily outnumbered, Pelopidas immediately seized the initiative. The Theban cavalry drove back its Spartan counterpart, disrupting the enemy deployment at the critical moment. Exploiting the confusion, Pelopidas personally led the Sacred Band in a concentrated assault against the Spartan center, where both polemarchs were killed. Their deaths shattered the cohesion of the two morae, forcing the Spartans into retreat and securing one of the most significant victories in Greek military history.
Drawing primarily upon Plutarch's Life of Pelopidas, supported by Diodorus Siculus, Xenophon, Pausanias, and modern military scholarship, this study reconstructs the entire campaign through detailed analysis of the battlefield, troop movements, command decisions, and every major phase of the engagement. The volume includes:
- The political and military background of Boeotia after the Corinthian War
- The rise of Pelopidas and the Sacred Band
- Sparta's occupation of Orchomenus and the strategic situation in Boeotia
- The operational movements leading to Tegyra
- Battlefield reconstruction and troop deployments
- Tactical maps, battlefield diagrams, and terrain analysis
- A chronological timeline of the campaign
- Analysis of Theban and Spartan command decisions
- Operational and strategic lessons for modern military thought
Written for readers of military history, strategy, and Classical warfare, this volume explains how leadership, initiative, morale, and disciplined offensive action enabled a smaller army to achieve one of the most influential victories of the fourth century B.C.
The Battle of Tegyra was more than a Theban victory.
It marked the first decisive defeat of a Spartan field army in open battle, demonstrated the extraordinary leadership of Pelopidas and the Sacred Band, and paved the way for the revolutionary Theban victories that would culminate at Leuctra and permanently alter the balance of power in Greece.
外文書商品之書封，為出版社提供之樣本。實際出貨商品，以出版社所提供之現有版本為主。部份書籍，因出版社供應狀況特殊，匯率將依實際狀況做調整。
無庫存之商品，在您完成訂單程序之後，將以空運的方式為你下單調貨。為了縮短等待的時間，建議您將外文書與其他商品分開下單，以獲得最快的取貨速度，平均調貨時間為1~2個月。
為了保護您的權益，「三民網路書店」提供會員七日商品鑑賞期(收到商品為起始日)。
若要辦理退貨，請在商品鑑賞期內寄回，且商品必須是全新狀態與完整包裝(商品、附件、發票、隨貨贈品等)否則恕不接受退貨。
