The destruction of the whole Theban army is said to only have been averted by the ability of Epaminondas, who was serving in the campaign, but not as general.

The Theban general, Epaminondas, heads the large allied army in the Peloponnesus.

* An Athenian army under Nicias, Hipponicus and Eurymedon defeats a combined Tanagran and Theban army in the Battle of Tanagra.

The Spartans, unwilling to engage the massive Theban army in battle, remain inside their city while the Thebans and their allies ravage Laconia.

* In response, Epaminondas is reinstated in command of Theban troops and leads the Theban army into Thessaly, where he outmanoeuvres the Thessalians and secures the release of Pelopidas without a fight.

The inhabitants of Hippotae refused to deliver them up, so the Boeotian army under command of the Theban governor Phoedus captured the town, enslaved its citizens and stoned the suitors to death.

In 368, the Theban army marched into Thessaly to rescue Pelopidas and Ismenias, who had been imprisoned by Alexander of Pherae while serving as ambassadors.

This time an Argive army captured part of the Isthmus on Epaminondas's request, allowing the Theban army to enter the Peloponnesus unhindered.

This time the mere presence of the Theban army was not enough to cow the opposition.

Rather than take the expected, easy route into Boeotia through the usual defile, the Spartans marched over the hills via Thisbae and took the fortress of Creusis ( along with twelve Theban warships ) before the Thebans were aware of their presence and then proceeded to Leuctra where they were confronted by the Boeotian army.

According to Xenophon, the Boeotian camp followers were trying to leave the field, as they did not intend to fight ; this Spartan action drove them back into the Theban army, inadvertently making the Theban force stronger.

After the departure of the Theban army the Spartans attempted to retake Messenia, which then allied itself with the Macedonians.

The Sacred Band of Thebes ( Ancient Greek:, Hieròs Lókhos ) was a troop of picked soldiers, consisting of 150 pairs of male lovers which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC.

Phoebidas engaged the advancing Theban army with his peltasts.

After a series of skirmishes which he won with some difficulty, he was forced again to withdraw when the Theban army came out full force as he approached the city.

In response to the Theban army outside the city's walls, the Phocian general Onomarchus brought out all the inhabitants of the city ( including the elderly, women, and children ) and locked the gates.

Epaminondas led the assembled Theban army out to Coronea.

Theban outposts were sent to guard the western narrow passes that Cleombrotus ' army was expected to take.

There they were met by the main Theban army.

A fresh Theban expedition into Thessaly, under Epaminondas resulted, according to Plutarch, in a three-year truce and the release of prisoners, including Pelopidas.

This was closely followed by another Theban victory under Malcites and Diogiton.

The fact that Hermes was worshipped in Samothrace under the name of Cadmus or Cadmilus seems to show that the Theban Cadmus was interpreted as an ancestral Theban hero corresponding to the Samothracian.

The old men Cadmus and Tiresias, though not under the same spell as the Theban women ( who include Cadmus ' daughters Ino, Autonoe and Agave, Pentheus ' mother ), have become enamored of the Bacchic rituals and are about to go out celebrating when Pentheus returns to the city and finds them dressed in festive garb.

However, at the Battle of Leuctra, the Theban generals, Epaminondas and Pelopidas, win a decisive victory over the Spartans under the other Spartan king, Cleombrotus I ( who is killed in the battle ).

Both were trying to establish a state that would unite Greece under the Theban hegemony.

Herodotus tells that, in order to avoid coming under Theban hegemony, Plataea offered to " put themselves into Spartan hands ".

A few, like Achilles, Alcmene, Amphiaraus Ganymede, Ino, Melicertes, Menelaus, Peleus, and a great number of those who fought in the Trojan and Theban wars, were considered to have been physically immortalized and brought to live forever in either Elysium, the Islands of the Blessed, heaven, the ocean, or literally right under the ground.

It was not until the Theban Mapping Project, under Kent R. Weeks, decided to clear the tomb ( in part to see if it would be damaged by proposed building works nearby, and in part so that it could be mapped ) that the stage was set for the discovery of its true nature.

These two kingdoms would eventually come into conflict, with the Theban kings conquering the north, resulting in reunification of Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the eleventh dynasty.

Prior to the creation of the Sacred Band under Gorgidas, the Athenians had helped the Theban exiles retake control of Thebes and the citadel of Cadmea from Sparta.

Phoebidas, on his part, started making various raids into Theban territory using the Spartans under his command and Thespian conscripts.

Aside from Polyaenus, none of these accounts mention the Sacred Band by name, but given that they were under the command of Gorgidas, they are likely to have been part of Theban forces involved.

The Sacred Band under Pelopidas is the smaller phalanx at the bottom right corner, beside the largest concentration of infantry in the Theban left wing.

Acting under his own initiative, Pelopidas quickly led the Sacred Band ahead of the Theban left wing to intercept the Spartan maneuver before it could be completed.

Pausanias records a Theban tradition that the river Cephissus formerly flowed under the a mountain and entered the sea until Heracles blocked the passage and diverted the water into the Orchomenian plain ; but he does not believe it.

The miraculous whole-hearted unanimity of the Legion, to the last individual, was downplayed by Hugo Grotius, for whom the moral of the Theban Legion was employed to condemn atrocities committed under military orders.

* The Theban general and statesman, Pelopidas flees to Athens and takes the lead in attempts to liberate Thebes from Spartan control.

* A small group of Theban exiles, led by Pelopidas, infiltrate the city of Thebes and assassinate the leaders of the pro-Spartan government.

In the Theban assembly the next day, Epaminondas and Gorgidas bring Pelopidas and his men before the audience and exhort the Thebans to fight for their freedom.

* The Theban general, Pelopidas, is made the leader of the Sacred Band, a selected infantry body of 300.

The Theban general Pelopidas drives the Macedonians from Thessaly.

* Theban leader Pelopidas goes on an embassy to the Persian king Artaxerxes II and induces him to propose a settlement of the Greek states ' disputes according to the wishes of the Thebans.

* Pelopidas, Theban statesman ( killed in the Battle of Cynoscephalae in Thessaly )

Epaminondas saved the life of his fellow Theban Pelopidas ; Pelopidas, after receiving seven wounds in front, sank down upon a great heap of friends and enemies who lay dead together ; but Epaminondas, although he thought him lifeless, stood forth to defend his body and his arms, and fought desperately, single-handed against many, determined to die rather than leave Pelopidas lying there.

The following day, Epaminondas and Gorgidas brought Pelopidas and his men before the Theban assembly and exhorted the Thebans to fight for their freedom ; the assembly responded by acclaiming Pelopidas and his men as liberators.

It seems safe to assume, given their close friendship, and their close collaboration after 371 BC, that Epaminondas and Pelopidas also collaborated closely on Theban policy in the period 378 – 371 BC.

Pelopidas, meanwhile, was captain of the Sacred Band, the elite Theban troops.

The Theban force arrived late in 370 BC, and it was led by Epaminondas and Pelopidas, both at this time Boeotarchs.

In early 367, Epaminondas led a second Theban expedition to free Pelopidas, and Ismenias.

For among the generation of Epaminondas were famous men: Pelopidas the Theban, Timotheus and Conon, also Chabrias and Iphicrates ... Agesilaus the Spartan, who belonged to a slightly older generation.

Pelopidas ( died 364 BC ) was an important Theban statesman and general in Greece.