1. Biographical note and personality

Pelopidas was the most renowned politician and general of Thebes and the Boiotian League in antiquity after his contemporary Epaminondas. His life and death were interwoven with the ascendancy of his home town at the time of the so-called Theban Hegemony (370s and 360s BCE). The main source for his life is Plutarch’s Life of Pelopidas (Cornelius Nepos’ biographical sketch is anecdotal). The composition of both this biography and the (lost) Life of Epaminondas was intended to project the moral ideal of statesmanship. While Pelopidas is portrayed as a charismatic and arduous leader of exemplary virtue, Epaminondas is characterized as more tempered and austere, adhering to philosophical tenets and learning.

Little can be said about him as a person. Born between c. 410 and 405 BCE, Pelopidas hailed from an aristocratic Theban family. His father Hippokles must have been among the leading officials of the Boiotian League, the constitution of which is documented by the Hellenika from Oxyrhynchos for the year 395 BC (19 Chambers). Like that of any other noble Boiotian family, the wealth of Hippokles’ house derived mostly from land ownership and agriculture. Pelopidas’ wife (her name is unknown) came from the same aristocratic background. Boiotia’s healthy economic climate in the first half of the fourth century BC will have contributed to their family fortunes. All the while, Pelopidas was characterized as a zealous man, seeking fame and distinction on the battlefield rather than indulging in private wealth. Plutarch claims (Pel. 3) that his generosity was widely recognized. Indeed, devotion to the public affairs of Thebes – over his wife and children – resulted in financial losses to his estate. Pelopidas is thus depicted more or less as an aristocratic role model of his day.

2. The political framework

In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, distinction on the battlefield was to be found in confrontation with Sparta. Thebes and many other Boiotian cities had fought against Sparta since the outbreak of the Corinthian War in 395 BC. After the concluding peace of 386 and the subsequent dissolution of the Boiotian League, the literary sources paint a picture of growing antagonism between competing parties at Thebes, one labeled oligarchic and in favor of Sparta, the other democratic and pro-Athenian. In 382, the oligarchic party of Leontiades prevailed by inviting in a Spartan garrison under the harmostēs (“military governor”) Phoibidas. While the ‘democrats’ were driven to exile in Athens, the ‘oligarchs’ ruled at the mercy of the Spartan garrison in the city’s citadel. Pelopidas is mentioned at this time as a member of the group of Theban exiles. His young age, energetic nature, and passion for freedom made him their leading figure (Plut. Pel. 7; Diod. 15.81.1). In the winter of 379/8 BC the exiles launched an attack against Thebes, killed Leontiades and his followers, and drove out Phoibidas.

3. Pelopidas as boiotarch: military career

According to the sources, the Thebans elected Pelopidas as one of four boiotiarch (Plut. Pel. 13-14; Ages. 24). Over the course of the next four years, Pelopidas and his fellow boiotarchs led successful campaigns against Spartan strongholds throughout the region and bolstered the re-establishment of the Boiotian League. Pelopidas himself was re-elected as boiotarch every year until his death (Diod. 15.91.4).

At the heart of Boiotia’s rapid military success stood an elite unit of 300 hand-picked hoplites, the Sacred Band. The troop was created by Pelopidas and Gorgidas, and the former served as its permanent leader. The Sacred Band was later believed to be inspired by Platonic ideals, comprising 150 couples of men who were lovers, and hence bound to each other by mutual affection and loyalty (Plut. Pel. 18). But the city’s active engagement in their training – members were housed and trained at the expense and under the supervision of the polis – strikingly resembles other ephebic programs in Greece. At the core of the Boiotian army, the Sacred Band won smashing victories over Sparta at Tegyra (375 BC) and Leuktra (371 BC). Pelopidas’ role as leader of the unit no doubt won him fame that quickly spread throughout the Greek world.

In 370 BC, the boiotarchs led their first campaign into the Peloponnese which was followed by an episodic trial against Pelopidas and the other members of their board because they returned home after their terms had expired. The case was dropped before it led anywhere. Pelopidas was re-elected in 369 BC and undertook the first of a series of campaigns to the north to intervene on behalf of the Thessalian League against Alexander of Pherai. But Thessaly turned out to be treacherous terrain. After a first encounter with Alexander, Pelopidas moved into Macedonia to act as arbitrator between factions competing for the throne; the most eminent result of Pelopidas’ intervention was that the young Philip of Macedon, later king and father of Alexander the Great, was brought to Thebes as a hostage to guarantee the arbitration. In 368 BC Pelopidas set out for Thessaly again but was taken hostage himself by Alexander of Pherai, only to be freed by Epaminondas in the following year. Very shortly after, in the same year, Pelopidas led a diplomatic embassy to Artaxerxes II at Susa to explore terms for the renewal of a Common Peace (koinē eirēnē) amongst the Greeks (Xen. Hell. 7.1.33, the first reference to Pelopidas in Xenophon’s work), but the initiative was met with resistance even from Boiotia’s allies. In 364 Pelopidas intervened again in Thessaly. This time, he was even elected leading general of the Thessalian forces. In the succeeding battle at Kynoskephalai, Alexander was defeated and fled to Pherai. Pelopidas fell in combat, however, while leading the Sacred Band to one of its very last victories on the battlefield.

4. Reception of the personality of Pelopidas

Pelopidas’ Life is paralleled with the Life of Marcellus by Plutarch on the basis of both men’s exemplary military virtue and the circumstances of their deaths. While Marcellus died in an ambush during his fifth consulate, Pelopidas’ premature death on the battlefield (he was roughly in his mid-forties) was considered the result of overzealous action and lack of judgment (Plut. Pel. 32). The tragedy of Pelopidas’ death is captured in Andrey Ivanov’s painting The Death of Pelopidas (1805-6). Pelopidas’ life accentuates several long-term developments in Greek history that accelerated dramatically in his day, including the intensification of Classical hoplite training and warfare; the attempt of Greek states to establish a transregional hegemony and present themselves as champions of Common Peace; and the emergence of a tendency to bestow posthumous honors on generals in the sanctioned spaces of sanctuaries. After his death, the Thessalian League voted him several honors, including a statue sculpted by Lysippos and erected in the sanctuary at Delphi.