11-15-2003, 05:53 PM
Kalvan,<br>
<br>
Do you mean the army of Epaminondas? Without him the Theban army was not that strong.<br>
<br>
Thessalians and Thebans happened to fight against each other.<br>
But Thessaly was unlucky that Jason of Pherae, Tagus of all Thessaly had already died. Macedonia was partially dependent on him too. He was a man of boundless ambition and meditated nothing less than extending his dominion over the whole of Greece, for which his central situation seemed to offer many facilities.<br>
<br>
The Thebans despatched an army of 8000 hoplites and 600 cavalry against Alexander, who, by the murder of his two brothers, had become despot of Pherae and Tagus of Thessaly. They were beaten and forced to retreat, and the army was in such danger from the active pursuit of the Thessalians and Athenians, that its destruction seemed inevitable. Luckily, however, Epaminondas was serving as a hoplite in the ranks. By the unanimous voice of the troops he was now called to the command, and succeeded in conducting the army safely back to Thebes.<br>
<br>
Only after being saved by Epaminondas, Thebans beat the Thessalians in B.C. 364 on the hills of Cynoscephalae.<br>
<br>
But as you can see the armies were approximately equal.<br>
<br>
A weak point of the Thebans was that they didn’t use the advantage of their victories – they couldn’t annihilate the routed.<br>
<p></p><i></i>
<br>
Do you mean the army of Epaminondas? Without him the Theban army was not that strong.<br>
<br>
Thessalians and Thebans happened to fight against each other.<br>
But Thessaly was unlucky that Jason of Pherae, Tagus of all Thessaly had already died. Macedonia was partially dependent on him too. He was a man of boundless ambition and meditated nothing less than extending his dominion over the whole of Greece, for which his central situation seemed to offer many facilities.<br>
<br>
The Thebans despatched an army of 8000 hoplites and 600 cavalry against Alexander, who, by the murder of his two brothers, had become despot of Pherae and Tagus of Thessaly. They were beaten and forced to retreat, and the army was in such danger from the active pursuit of the Thessalians and Athenians, that its destruction seemed inevitable. Luckily, however, Epaminondas was serving as a hoplite in the ranks. By the unanimous voice of the troops he was now called to the command, and succeeded in conducting the army safely back to Thebes.<br>
<br>
Only after being saved by Epaminondas, Thebans beat the Thessalians in B.C. 364 on the hills of Cynoscephalae.<br>
<br>
But as you can see the armies were approximately equal.<br>
<br>
A weak point of the Thebans was that they didn’t use the advantage of their victories – they couldn’t annihilate the routed.<br>
<p></p><i></i>
