when they were last in the Peloponnese, as the Arcadian federal capital) and Tegea (the traditional leading city-state of the Arcadians). Though both generals were highly competent, Epaminondas prevailed at Mantinea. Using a modified version of the tactics he had successfully pioneered at Leuctra, he organised the Boeotian troops on the left wing of his army into an unusually deep column of hoplites. This formation of troops, in conjunction with the echelon, sought to establish local superiority of numbers while delaying the battle on the weaker center and right side. This tactic allowed the large, dense section of the line to force its way through the thinner classical phalanx. Epaminondas personally led this column from the front line. Xenophon (Hellenika 7.5.23) described the left wing of that Theban army as "like a trireme, with the spur of the prow out in front." The Theban cavalry and light infantry drove off the enemy cavalry. The Theban hoplites marched in a column across the face of the enemy line, then performed a smart wheel and crashed into the enemy right, where the Mantineans were positioned. The Mantinean leader Podares offered heroic resistance, but when he was killed the Mantinean hoplites fled the field. However, in the thick of the fighting, Epaminondas was mortally wounded when facing the Spartan phalanx by a man variously identified as Anticrates, Machaerion, or Gryllus, son of Xenophon. The Theban leaders Iolaidas and Daiphantus, whom he intended to succeed him, were also killed. According to Polyaenus after the battle the Mantineians wanted to send heralds to the Thebans, in order to make an agreement about carrying off the dead. But Cineas persuade them against such an action. Aftermath On his deathbed, Epaminondas, upon hearing of the deaths of his fellow leaders, instructed the Thebans to make peace, despite having won the battle. Without his leadership, Theban hopes for hegemony faded. The Spartans, however, having again been defeated in battle, were unable to replace their losses. The ultimate result of the battle was to pave the way for the Macedonian rise as the leading force who subjugated the rest of Greece, by exploiting the weakness of both the Thebans and the Spartans. Footnotes References External links Hellenika 7.5.23 on Perseus Xenophon 362 BC Mantinea (362 BC) Mantinea 362 BC Mantinea 362 BC Mantinea 362 BC Late Classical Greece Theban hegemony Ancient Arcadia