Epaminonda di Tebe. Vita e sconfitte di un politico di successo
After the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), a period of turmoil began. Polycentricity characterized the first half of the Fourth Century BC, before the emergence of Thebes, located in Boiotia. Epaminondas (late V Cent. BC – 362 BC) embodies this frantic season, through his renowned military victories against Sparta and tactical innovations, such as the oblique phalanx. Although often paired with his friend and colleague Pelopidas, Epaminondas was actually the real versatile leader who was able to provide feasible and temperate answers to the challenges of the new international scenario. Starting from 379, Thebes began rebuilding a regional federal league in Boiotia, and Athens, Sparta and the northern territorial states viewed this expansion with suspicion. It was the Peloponnese, however, the area where Epaminondas specifically tried to get inside the internal wars and to profit from the long history of the opposition to Sparta. These efforts were not always successful, and the uneven outcome makes the study of this statesman particularly fascinating.In his Triumph of Fame, Petrarch states that Pompey was for Rome ‘qual Bacco, Alcid’e Epaminonda a Tebe’ (v. 93). Few other ancient leaders, as Pericles for Athens, were as successful in personifying an entire season and the international prestige gained by their homeland. Getting closer to Epaminondas’ lifetime shows us an active opposition to his activism: he was soon loved and hated at the same time. Epaminondas was a unique general for his profound musical background and his sensitivity to philosophical thought, even though he came from Thebes, labelled by the Athenians as the abode of uncivilized people. The Theban leader was accordingly an acute observer of the role of propaganda towards and among his Peloponnesian allies, keen to detect the many faces and declensions of autonomy in their borders. As a man of the establishment, Epaminondas observed the polycentricity of his own age and tried to start something different, without living enough to see the end of it.
Salvatore Tufano (1988) is “assegnista di ricerca” in Greek History at Sapienza Università di Roma and “colaborador externo” of the Grupo de Investigación ‘Estudos Clásicos e Medievais’ (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela). He wrote a book on Boiotian local historiography (Boiotia from Within. The Beginnings of Boiotian Historiography, Münster 2019) and studied ancient federalism and Greek historiography. He is also interested in Plutarch, ancient divination and philosophy of history.
