Mantinea, Battle of, 362 BC
v.1.0 May 12, 2002

Ravi Rikhye

In case readers wonder how Sparta and Athens fought on the same side: the rise of Thebes challenged the ambitions of both Athens and Sparta, so the two enemies joined together.  Though Thebes won the battle, Epaminondas, its greatest general and leader, was killed and the Theban Hegemony fell after just ten years. This enabled the rise of Macedon and the great Alexander. I have lost one reference, a book that gave the breakdown of the opposing forces. Reference 1 has a picture from the same book, so perhaps they are in some way linked.

References:

[1] http://monolith.dnsalias.org/~marsares/warfare/battle/mantinea.html

[2] http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/se/~luv20009/Mantinea.html (description of the battle)

[3] http://www.sikyon.com/Thebes/epaminondas_eg.html (bio of Epaminondas)

Allies [Agesilaos]

Infantry (Hoplites)

Mantinea (7000)

Sparta (3000)

Elis (2000)

Achaea (2000)

Athens (6000)

Cavalry

Athens (1000)

Others (1000)

Light Troops

Mercenaries (1000)

Thebans [Epaminondas]

Infantry (Hoplites)

Thebes (10,000)

Thessaly (2000)

Euboea (1500)

Malis (1500)

Locris (3000)

Sicyon (3000)

Argos (5000)

Cavalry

Thebes (1500)

Thessaly (1500)

Light Troops

Thessaly (4000)