Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Though their numbers continued to grow more than a year after the Exiles ceased fighting, they stopped putting much effort as time wore down their morale. With the number of demoralise increased, fewer and fewer were determined to take revenge.

Pelopidas, on the other hand, kept a close eye on the situation in the west. Hence he knew the rulers of Thebes, with the support of the Spartans, were exercising oppressive rule over the city-state, causing the people to complain about their suffering. On the other hand, the other city-states in the Boeotian region had begun to submit to the Spartans…

With a strong sense of responsibility, Pelopidas could no longer wait, so he decided to act immediately. Fearing the enemy would discover his plan, Pelopidas didn't consult with the other Exile leaders. Instead, he privately sought out six like-minded friends to help him carry out his plan – ‘Recapture of Thebes’.

After disguising themselves as hunters, they set out early in the morning from the Athenian border and made their way over the mountains without stopping. By the time they reached the outskirts of Thebes, the night was fast approaching, so they mingled with the groups of farmers returning to the city from their farms, passed through the gates without incident, and then took refuge in the residence of their good friend Charon. Charon then sent a slave to call their other good friend, Phyllidas, the scribe of a military archon.

After some discussion, they decided to hold a banquet the following evening.

And now they had successfully killed two pro-Spartan military archons. But just as Pelopidas breathed a sigh of relief, Phyllidas picked up the letter and said worriedly, “Pelopidas, our situation isn't good! Someone has discovered our plan and even wrote a letter to inform the enemy!”

Pelopidas hastily read the letter, which warned Archias that Theban exiles were sneaking into the city and attempting to assassinate the leaders of the pro-Spartan factions.

Pelopidas' expression changed, prompting him to ask, “Who wrote it?!” But Phyllidas shook his head, “They didn't sign the letter, and the messenger left immediately after delivering it. But this shows that the perpetrator is not a close friend of Archias, so perhaps he's just an ordinary city official who happened to see you in the city…” After all, despite his youth, Pelopidas was still somewhat famous among the Thebans.

“What are we going to do now?!” The others looked nervously at Pelopidas.

Pelopidas calmed himself, firmly saying, “Before we set off, we prayed to Zeus and even prepared to sacrifice ourselves! Now that we have come this far, should we just pull out in the middle?! We should instead speed up our pace and quickly complete our plan while the enemy hasn't figured out the situation yet!”

Pelopidas' words stirred the others, and the crowd quickly came to a consensus. They then left the place in the night for the residence of the true leaders of the pro-Spartan faction, Leontiades and Sypethos.

The lecherous Sypethos spent the night in a high-end brothel in the city. After Charon bribed the brothel's staff, the Exiles easily entered his bedroom and killed him.

Leontiades, on the other hand, was more cautious than his colleagues. Apart from not going out at night, he had his men heavily guard his residence. But Pelopidas had been planning this assassination for a long time, so instead of standing idle on the Athenian border for more than a year, Pelopidas ordered Charon at Thebes to find a way to persuade Leontiades' guards, which he succeeded by convincing those who hated Sparta. Thus, on that day's evening, those Spartan-hating guards got their colleagues drunk and quietly opened the courtyard to Pelopidas.

After entering the main bedroom, Pelopidas saw Leontiades was still asleep, so he covered Leontiades' mouth and plunged the dagger into his chest. At last, Leontiades, the cunning leader of the pro-Spartan faction that had caused the fall of Thebes and the loss of countless people, died in this way.

Immediately afterwards, Pelopidas and some guards rushed into the prison, pretending to be sent by Leonidas. After tricking the guards with Leontiades' token, they killed them and freed all the people imprisoned for going against Sparta.

The prisoners began to thank Pelopidas, but Pelopidas told them to go to the city immediately and contact all those dissatisfied with Sparta. And everyone gladly accepted the orders.

The pro-Spartan faction noticed the anomaly but couldn't contact their leaders, resulting in their failure to react in time. Meanwhile, the Spartans in Cadmeia remained unaware of the city’s situation because no one had told them. Moreover, they didn't dare act rashly in the dark, so all they could do was stay and defend Cadmeia.

Then, as dawn broke, the city of Thebes began to heat up.

Many rushed towards the square, and Epaminondas was among them. Although Pelopidas had written a letter telling Epaminondas of his plan, Epaminondas remained against a risky plan like some of Pelopidas’ friends. But now that he saw Pelopidas standing on the central platform in the square, showing off the bodies of Leonidas and others to the crowd, Epaminondas couldn't help but marvel at Pelopidas' determination and boldness, which had allowed him to do what seemed so impossible!

Pelopidas began to recount the evil deeds of the Spartans and the pro-Spartan faction in Thebes, which the people in the square could relate to. He then made an impassioned plea to the people of Thebes to take up arms and unite against the traitors and invaders, to avenge the deaths of their fellow citizens and to restore the freedom and independence of Thebes!…

And the people became so excited that they began shouting Pelopidas' name and the initiators who participated in the assassination that Pelopidas' led. They then unanimously elected Pelopidas and Phyllidas as Boeotarch.

Having accepted the appointment without hesitation, the two then announced the creation of a Council of One Hundred, whose members would be elected monthly by the citizens of Thebes. Finally, they established the highest authority of a city-state, the ecclesia.

At last, Thebes became a democratic city-state, making the people applaud and celebrate.

Pelopidas then immediately issued an order to the people: take up arms, form an army, capture all the pro-Spartans and retake Cadmeia, which the Spartan army had occupied. At the same time, they were to defend themselves against the Spartan army that would probably come to intervene.

The people of Thebes acted immediately, and once they found the pro-Spartans, they would instantly kill or imprison them, with only a few managing to escape Thebes.

When the fully armed citizen soldiers reassembled in the square, Pelopidas didn't immediately lead them. Instead, he asked them to appoint Epaminondas as the commander of the unified army, allowing him to fight side by side with him.

Although many didn't even know who Epaminondas was, Pelopidas' prestige made most citizens vote in favour out of their trust in him.

But when they saw a middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance and a scholarly air walk onto the platform, most of them couldn't help but regret their choice.

In contrast, Pelopidas was beaming with joy, knowing Epaminondas' military prowess. So he excitedly said to him as he slowly stepped onto the stage, “Epa, we can finally fight side by side again!”

Although Epaminondas was outwardly calm, he was inwardly excited. Epaminondas was a modest and unassuming man who hated factional struggle, so he didn't even participate in the political adventures Pelopidas undertook. Instead, he spent most of his time reading books, listening to music and exercising. But when he heard the people shout victory, he was overcome by the enthusiasm of the revolution, not to mention the trust his dear friend had placed in him. Thus he didn't hesitate to say yes, even though he knew how precarious the new Theban government would be, “I will do my best to defend Thebes together with the citizens!”

And the position the now forty-one years old Epaminondas took was crucial since it was linked to the rise and fall of the city-state.

Suddenly, a citizen soldier guarding the south gate rushed to report, “A small group of Spartans came out of Cadmeia, broke through our blockage and escaped the city.”

Apparently, a pro-Spartan officer managed to enter Cadmeia and reported to the Spartan strategos that there was an uprising in the city. He then told them the rebels had overthrown the pro-Spartan government and killed their leaders. Unfortunately, the Spartans were no match for the thousands of angry Theban mobs, even with their brave warriors. Therefore, the Spartan strategos quickly took advantage of Thebes' chaos and the fact that the rebels had yet to completely occupy the city to send their people to force their way out of the city. Then they would ask the Spartan army stationed in the neighbouring city-states of Plataea and Thespiae for reinforcements.

The news brought by the soldier made the instigators of the revolt nervous.

But the just recently appointed commander of the army, Epaminondas, volunteered, “Pelo, allow me to lead an army to the southern gate to block the Spartan reinforcements while you go and retake Cadmeia!”

Seeing Epaminondas' determination, Pelopidas replied without hesitation, “Alright!”

After giving Epaminondas three thousand five hundred citizen soldiers, Pelopidas was left with only two thousand. He then assigned officers to Epaminondas, all of whom were his close friends and who were also familiar with Epaminondas, making it easier for him to command them.

Epaminondas didn't even have the time to thank him as he led his army to rush towards the southern gate.

Suddenly another Boeotarch, Phyllidas, asked worriedly, “Can Epaminondas block the Spartan reinforcements?! Or should we make more preparations?!”