Boeotian War

Epaminondas defending Pelopidas, William Rainey

Date	378-372 BCE
Location	Mainland Greece
Result	Start of Theban Hegemony

Belligerents

Peloponessian League

Boeotian League

Commanders and leaders

Agesilaus II
Cleombrotus I

Epaminondas
Pelopidas
Pammenes

Casualties and losses

unknown

The Boeotian or Theban War broke out in 378 BCE as the result of a revolt in Thebes against Sparta. The war would last six years.

Upon the seizure of the Theban citadel by the Spartans (383 or 382 BCE), Pelopidas and other leading Theban democrats fled to Athens where Pelopidas took the lead in a conspiracy to liberate Thebes. The Spartans were ruled by kings and, therefore, were supportive of oligarchic governments in other Greek cities. In 379 BCE the democratic party surprised and killed their chief political opponents in Thebes (members of the aristocratic party that supported the Spartans), and roused the people against the Spartan garrison, which surrendered to an army gathered by Pelopidas.

A Spartan expedition against Thebes was mounted, led by the Agiad Spartan king Cleombrotus. It achieved little but left a garrison in Thespiae under Sphodrias. That winter Sphodrias attempted a raid on Piraeus which ended in a fiasco. Sphodrias had not acted under orders and was brought to trial. However, he was acquitted, which led Athens to declare for Thebes.

The Spartan Eurypontid king Agesilaus led two expeditions against Thebes but achieved little. It is likely that the Dema wall was built at this time to defend Attica. An expedition in 376 BCE led by King Cleombrotus was blocked at the passes of Cithaeron. As the Spartans failed to get over the Cithaeron Mountains, this gave the Thebans the chance to take the attack to the Spartans, and in doing so they conquered the Spartans' remaining strongholds in Boeotia while the Spartan base in Thespiae was also lost. The Spartans were only left with some land in the south and Orchomenus in the north-west.

Because the Spartans were having a hard time attacking Thebes over land, they decided to change their strategy and rather use a naval force to try and block support for the Athenians. In response, the Athenians sent a powerful fleet towards Sparta. The Spartan general Pollis then led his small fleet to try and stop the siege, but was killed during a naval battle against the Athenian general Chabrias. This naval victory was the first ever victory by an Athenian naval fleet since the Peloponnesian War. Later in 376 BCE Chabrias raided Laconia, and possibly reached Sellasia which is to the north-east of Sparta. In 375 BCE Athens mounted two successful expeditions - one into the northern Aegean under Chabrias and a second which sailed around the Peloponnese to western Greece. This force was led by Timotheos, son of Conon, who won the battle of Alyzeia in Acarnania.

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