Well if Xenophon is so bad then he might have exaggerated the "not less than 50 ranks" bit

Dont think Diodoros and Plutarch mentions 50 ranks but they werent interested in going into such detail. But they do add some things that Xenophon doesnt talk about.

IMO we really have some pretty vague descriptions about what happened at Leuctra. If we assume that all Epaminondas did was to make an extremely deep column to ram into the Spartan, that afterall was considered to be the best, and that was the major reason for the victory then that seems to be a great tactic that was forgotten quickly afterwards.

I guess Vegitius was all wrong when he said "valor is superior to numbers" It didnt matter if the enemy was good and even had more men as long as you made a deep column and crashed into his line at some point.


AFAIK both Diodoros and Plutarch relied on same sources and as I said above they add some details that does tell more about what Epaminondas had in mind. Not only did he put his best men in the left flank intending to do the opposite of what was normal but he made an oblique attack that moved to the left.

A lot of battles ended up having each side overlapping on their respective right and Diodoros say the Spartan line was a crescent formation which indicate the army was overall wider than the Theban line and most likely had prepared to advance in a way to hit both flanks of the Theban line.

Lets looks a Epaminondas' options for winning this battle.

He was clearly outnumbered (about 6000 hoplites v 10000) but at least he had better cavalry although its only mentioned as defeating the Spartan cavalry and then not much else. By making the oblique attack he could prevent his right wing getting defeated, at least for some time. He needed a quick victory against the Spartan right wing that would remove the best part of the enemy as well as killing/capturing the Spartan king. With no leadership and the best men defeated then the rest might not be so eager to fight and thats also what seems to have happened.

How could he make sure to defeat the Spartan right wing quickly? He knew how the Spartans would deploy against his outnumbered army, so by preparing his own army for a quick move forward and to the left he would be able to surprise the Spartan right wing and outflank it. Outflanking the right wing is definitely a good way to win quickly and from Plutarchs descriptions the Spartans tried to react against the outflanking maneuver but was caught disordered by Pilopidas and his Sacred band that charged in first.

Why Xenophon is vague is a good question. Did he know all the details about the battle or just some confused accounts from Spartan survivors? When he says the Thebans was in at least 50 ranks was that Epaminondas leading his marching column that was trying to outflank the Spartan wing?

Epaminondas needed to move quickly as well as move to the left. With the tendency of soldiers shifting to the right then its not gonna be easy just to tell all solders to turn say 45 degrees and move forward. Any complicated and rapid maneuvers would have to be done in a deep column, a good example would be how Scipio maneuvered at Ilipa. Pilopidas' charge could very well have been a planned move as they would reach the Spartan wing first to pin it so Epaminondas had room to go into the flank with his column. Or it could have been a desperate charge as Pilopidas saw that the Spartans were reacting and would be able to shift the line and move in front of Epaminondas. But I think its very likely it was planned. What force could handle a quick advance and hope to fight it out for some time being outnumbered against the mighty Spartans? Only the Sacred band.


Then why would the Thebans use their best troops in 50-men rank deep formation at Leuctra?
We dont really know that do we? Xenophon mentions 50 ranks but not how many and who precisely were in the deep formation. Pilopidas and his 300 men are mentioned at attacking first which could mean they were a seperate part of the line. And actually might have been used to cover the main column doing its outflanking maneuver.


The fear factor due to ranks was really unapplicable then as well, due to the usual flat topography of the battle sites, thus one could not be certain of the enemy rank-depth
A deep column is not likely to be noticed from a few 100 meters distance but Im pretty sure soldiers in the enemy front rank would notice from say 20 meters away: a forest of spears as well a noise of men shouting and trampling feet. But the Thebans were attacking the best Spartans so I doubt an attack that counted on fear alone was a good approach and the sources does indicate Epaminondas had a good plan that involved more than just brute force and fear focused at one place.


it seems to me quite logical that he was trying to diminish the value of the victors and throw in some random factors that can justify the spartan loss
Maybe he did try and diminish it as the Spartans were defeated in a quite pathetic way: The outflanking right wing being surprised and outflanked itself. It couldnt get any worse could it?


The fact that the spartan king died and caused a chain rout is , hmm, questionable to say the least
Dont think any sources say the death of the king caused a chain rout. Xenophon says the King died first but it took several other important soldiers/leaders to die before they finally fell back.


CBR