Battle of Tegyra
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The Battle of Tegyra (also known as the Battle of Tegyrae) was an ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 battle between Theban
Thebes, Greece
Thebes 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. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...

 and Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...

n hoplite
Hoplite
A hoplite was a citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek city-states. Hoplites were primarily armed as spearmen and fought in a phalanx formation. The word "hoplite" derives from "hoplon" , the type of the shield used by the soldiers, although, as a word, "hopla" could also denote weapons held or even...

 forces. In the battle, a Theban army under Pelopidas
Pelopidas
Pelopidas was an important Theban statesman and general in Greece.-Athlete and warrior:He was a member of a distinguished family, and possessed great wealth which he expended on his friends, while content to lead the life of an athlete...

 was challenged by a substantially larger Spartan force while retreating from an abortive attack on Orchomenus, but successfully attacked and routed the Spartans. The battle marked the first occasion in the historical record in which a Spartan force had been defeated by a numerically inferior enemy in a set battle (as opposed to irregular warfare, employed by Iphicrates
Iphicrates
Iphicrates was an Athenian general, the son of a shoemaker, who flourished in the earlier half of the 4th century BC....

).

Prelude

After an insurrection in 379/8 BC removed Spartan control over Thebes, the city set about reestablishing its control over the Boeotian League. Over several years of campaigning, the Thebans succeeded in driving Spartan garrisons out of every city in Boeotia
Boeotia
Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

 but Orchomenus. In 376 BC, Pelopidas, learning that the Spartan garrison of Orchomenus had gone on an expedition to Locris
Locris
Locris was a region of ancient Greece, the homeland of the Locrians, made up of three distinct districts.-Locrian tribe:...

, set out with the Sacred Band of Thebes
Sacred band
The term Sacred Band, also Sacred Company or Sacred Squadron can refer to one of the following military units:In the ancient world:* Sacred Band of Thebes* Sacred Band of Carthage...

 and a small force of cavalry, intending to seize the city while it was unguarded. As the Thebans approached the city, however, they learned that a sizable force had been dispatched from Sparta to reinforce the Orchomenus' garrison, and was approaching the city. Accordingly, Pelopidas retreated with his force, but before the Thebans could reach safety at Tegyra
Tegyra
Tegyra was the site of an oracle of Apollo in ancient Greece, located north of Orchomenus in Boeotia, near to the shores of Lake Copais, but is best known as the site of the Battle of Tegyra in 375 BC....

, they met the original Spartan garrison returning from Locris.

Battle

The Theban force was heavily outnumbered by the Spartans opposite them. The Sacred Band numbered some 300 hoplites, while the Spartan garrison consisted of two companies, meaning that the Spartan force contained between 1,000 and 1,800 hoplites. Plutarch reports that one Theban soldier, upon seeing the enemy force, said to Pelopidas "We are fallen into our enemies' hands," to which Pelopidas replied "And why not they into ours?" Pelopidas then ordered the Theban cavalry to charge while the infantry formed up into an abnormally dense formation. When the two phalanxes came together, the compact Theban formation broke through the Spartan line at the point of contact, then turned to attack the vulnerable flanks of the Spartans to either side. The Spartan force broke and fled, although the Theban pursuit was limited by the proximity of Orchomenus.

Significance

The Theban victory at Tegyra had little immediate military significance, beyond the survival of Pelopidas's force; the Spartan force, once regrouped within Orchomenus, was far too formidable for Pelopidas to press his advantage. Despite this fact, the victory was a symbolically significant event for both sides. Diodorus Siculus records that the victory at Tegyra marked the first time the Thebans had erected a trophy of victory over a Spartan force—for while the Thebans had defeated the Spartans before, these victories had generally been in much smaller skirmishes. For the Spartans, on the other hand, their defeat at Tegyra marked the first occasion on which one of their formations had been defeated by a force of equal or lesser size in set battle. For these reasons, Plutarch saw in Pelopidas' victory at Tegyra a "prelude to Leuctra
Battle of Leuctra
The Battle of Leuctra was a battle fought on July 6, 371 BC, between the Boeotians led by Thebans and the Spartans along with their allies amidst the post-Corinthian War conflict. The battle took place in the neighbourhood of Leuctra, a village in Boeotia in the territory of Thespiae...

", with the limited victory in 375 anticipating the day 4 years later when a similarly outnumbered Theban phalanx would deal Sparta a blow from which it would never recover.
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