The Sacred Band of Thebes (ancient Greek: Ιερός Λόχος τών Θηβών) was a troop of picked soldiers, numbering 150 age-structured which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC.^[1] It was organized by the Theban commander Gorgidas in 378 BC and it played a crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra, and was completely annihilated in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. Thebes (Demotic Greek: Θήβα — Thíva; Katharevousa: — Thêbai or Thívai) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period. ... Gorgidas was a Theban military leader of the Sacred Band of Thebes, an elite corps of paired Theban homosexual lovers. ... Combatants Thebes Sparta Commanders Epaminondas Cleombrotus I † Strength 6,000–7,000 10,000–11,000 Casualties Unknown About 2,000 The Battle of Leuctra is a battle fought between the Thebans and the Spartans and their allies in the neighbourhood of Leuctra, a village in Boeotia in the territory... Two famous ancient battles were fought at Chaeronea in Boeotia: Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) Battle of Chaeronea (86 BC) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Plutarch reports that the Sacred Band consisted of homosexual couples and the reason was that lovers would fight more fiercely and more cohesively at each other's sides than would strangers with no ardent bonds. So according to Plutarch (in his Life of Pelopidas^[2]), the inspiration for the Band's formation came from Plato’s Symposium, wherein the character Phaedrus remarks: Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... Pelopidas (d. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... Symposium originally referred to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means to drink together) but has since come to refer to any academic conference, whether or not drinking takes place. ... Phaedrus, ¹ (15 B.C. – AD 50), Roman fabulist, was by birth a Macedonian and lived in the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius and Claudius. ...

And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger? ^[3]

The Sacred Band originally was formed of picked men in couples, each lover and beloved, selected from the ranks of the existing Theban citizen-army. The pairs consisted of the older "heniochoi", or charioteers, and the younger "paraibatai", or companions. They were housed and trained at the city’s expense.^[4] During their early engagements, in an attempt to bolster a general morale, they were dispersed by their commander Gorgidas throughout the front ranks of the Theban army.

After the Theban general Pelopidas recaptured the acropolis of Thebes in 379 BC, he assumed command of the Sacred Band in which he fought alongside his good friend, Epaminondas. It was Pelopidas who formed these couples into a distinct unit: he “never separated or scattered them, but would stand [them with himself in] the brunt of battle, using them as one body.”^[5] They became, in effect, the “crack” force of Greek soldiery ^[6], and the forty years of their known existence (378 – 338 BC) marked the pre-eminence of Thebes as a military and political power in late-classical Greece. Pelopidas (d. ... Events The occupying Spartan garrison at Thebes is driven out by Pelopidas and Epaminondas. ... For information about the modern board game of the same name, see Epaminondas (game). ... Pelopidas (d. ...

The Sacred Band under Pelopidas fought the Spartans at Tegyra in 375 BC, vanquishing an army that was at least three times their number. It was also responsible for the victory of Leuctra in 371 BC, called by Pausanias the most decisive battle ever fought by Greeks against Greeks. Leuctra established Theban independence from Spartan rule, and laid the groundwork for the expansion of Theban power, though possibly also for Philip II's eventual victory. At the Battle of Tegyra in 385 BC, a force of 300 Theban hoplites under Pelopidas cut their way through a larger Spartan force that had cut them off while they were marching back to Thebes. ... Combatants Thebes Sparta Commanders Epaminondas Cleombrotus I † Strength 6,000–7,000 10,000–11,000 Casualties Unknown About 2,000 The Battle of Leuctra is a battle fought between the Thebans and the Spartans and their allies in the neighbourhood of Leuctra, a village in Boeotia in the territory... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC - 370s BC - 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 376 BC 375 BC 374 BC 373 BC 372 BC - 371 BC - 370 BC 369 BC 368... Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ...

Defeat came at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), the decisive contest in which Philip II of Macedon (with his son, Alexander the Great, as he would later be known) extinguished the authority of the Greek city-states. The traditional Greek hoplite infantry were no match for the novel long-speared Macedonian phalanx: the Theban army and its allies broke and fled, but the Sacred Band, though surrounded and overwhelmed, refused to surrender. They held their ground and fell where they stood. Plutarch records that upon encountering their corpses “heaped one upon another”, King Philip, understanding who they were, exclaimed: Combatants Macedon Athens, Thebes Commanders Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great Chares of Athens, Lysicles of Athens, Theagenes of Boeotia Strength 32,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry 35,000 Casualties Unknown 1,000 Athenians killed, 254 Boeotians killed, 2,000 captured The Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), fought near... Philip II of Macedon: victory medal (niketerion) struck in Tarsus, 2nd c. ... For the film of the same name, see Alexander the Great (1956 film). ... The hoplite was a heavy infantryman that was the central focus of warfare in Ancient Greece. ... The Macedonian phalanx is an infantry formation developed by Philip II and used by his son Alexander the Great to conquer the Persian Empire and other armies. ...

"Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything unseemly."^[7]

In about 300 BC, the town of Thebes erected a giant stone lion on a pedestal at the burial site of the Sacred Band. This was restored in the 20th Century and is standing today. Though Plutarch claims that all three hundred died that day, excavation of the burial site at the Lion Monument in 1890 produced only 254 skeletons, arranged in seven rows^[8].

Notes

References

Paul Walter Ludwig, Eros and Polis: Desire and Community in Greek Political Theory. Cambridge, 2002.

See also

• Pederasty in ancient Greece
• Sacred Band of Carthage
• Homosexuality in the militaries of ancient Greece