Leuctra
Leuctra, a small town in Boeotia, Greece, is historically significant for the Battle of Leuctra, which occurred in 371 BC. This battle marked a pivotal moment in ancient Greek history as it ended the long-standing perception of Spartan military invincibility. The conflict arose when Sparta, under King Cleombrotus I, was ordered by the Persian King Artaxerxes II to confront Thebes unless they disbanded the Boeotian League. The Theban forces, led by the general Epaminondas, faced a larger Spartan army with strategic innovation, deploying the elite Sacred Band and achieving a decisive victory. The battle's outcome not only resulted in significant Spartan casualties, including the death of Cleombrotus, but it also shifted the balance of power in Greece, leading to the Theban Hegemony. Today, the site is associated with a historical trophy commemorating the victory, and remains a point of interest for those studying ancient military history and the dynamics of Greek city-states.
Leuctra
Leuktra (now three villages collectively known as Lefktra, formerly Parapoungla)
A small town in Boeotia (central Greece), belonging to the city of Thespiae four miles to the northwest. Leuctra, situated on one of the low hills on the fringe of the Theban plain, was famous for the battle which, in 371 BC, destroyed the tradition of Spartan military invincibility. In that year the Persian King Artaxerxes II had insisted that the Greek city-states should swear obedience to the King's Peace or Peace of Antalcidas (387), and the Thebans' request that they should be allowed to sign for the Boeotian League as a whole was rejected. Thereupon King Cleombrotus I of Sparta was instructed by the Persians to attack Thebes unless it agreed to disband the League, which it had no intention of doing. With his army of 11,000 Spartans and allies he confronted 6,000 Boeotians under Epaminondas in the plain of Leuctra. The battle was won by the Boeotian left wing, exceptionally standing forty shields deep and headed by the Sacred Band, whose charge Pelopidas led at the double; the Spartan line was rolled up by sheer superior weight, and Cleombrotus fell mortally wounded.
In spite of this loss and many other casualties, the surviving Spartans wanted to renew the battle. But their allies were unwilling, and they therefore concluded a truce to take up the dead. On the battlefield Epaminondas set up a trophy—replaced at the beginning of the third century by a monumental bronze trophy that was depicted on Boeotian coins. A thin, domed round tower discovered in the neighborhood has been identified, with some probability, as the base of this trophy; and parts of a frieze and trapezoidal blocks, discovered nearby, have now been placed in position on the reconstructed tower. A nearby tumulus may be the Spartan burial place. Pausanias described the battle as `the most famous ever won by Greeks over Greeks.’