11-19-2003, 05:26 AM
Quote:</em></strong><hr>Do you mean the army of Epaminondas? Without him the Theban army was not that strong.<hr><br>
There were other commanders that used Theban hoplites well. They defeated the Athenians at Delium rather soundly. It was Thebes that destroyed the power of Sparta and freed the helots, something Athens couldn't do in over half a century of war. It was from Thebes that Philip of Macedon learned much that he incorporated into his own army later.<br>
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Quote:</em></strong><hr>A weak point of the Thebans was that they didn’t use the advantage of their victories – they couldn’t annihilate the routed.<hr><br>
That was not so much a feature of hoplite warfare until Alexander came along. They did at least make use of cavalry, which almost none of the other <em>poleis</em> did.<br>
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There were other commanders that used Theban hoplites well. They defeated the Athenians at Delium rather soundly. It was Thebes that destroyed the power of Sparta and freed the helots, something Athens couldn't do in over half a century of war. It was from Thebes that Philip of Macedon learned much that he incorporated into his own army later.<br>
<br>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>A weak point of the Thebans was that they didn’t use the advantage of their victories – they couldn’t annihilate the routed.<hr><br>
That was not so much a feature of hoplite warfare until Alexander came along. They did at least make use of cavalry, which almost none of the other <em>poleis</em> did.<br>
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