Epaminondas, e-pam-i-non'das (418-362 B. C.), a famous Greek general. He was a native of Thebes,--the greatest statesman and military genius that city ever produced. By his military genius he enabled Thebes to set aside Sparta, as Sparta had set aside Athens. The period of Theban supremacy in Grecian affairs began with the battle of Leuctra in 371 B. C. The flower of the Spartan army had marched on Thebes--it matters little what the immediate pretext might be. The Spartans were drawn up as usual in battle array, eight or twelve men deep. Epaminondas hit upon the plan of massing his forces, fifty men deep, opposite the wing in which the king and the choicest soldiers of the Spartans were arrayed. A thin line of Thebans threatened the rest of the Spartan front, but came slowly into action. The Spartan wing was crushed by the heavy attack. The king and 400 men were slain, and the day was lost to the Spartans and the supremacy of Greece was lost to Sparta. In 362 the same military tactics won for Thebes the victory of Mantinea, but Epaminondas fell on the field of battle, pierced with a javelin. He was told that he would die as soon as the javelin was extracted. Hearing that his army had won a complete victory, he drew out the javelin with his own hand, exclaiming, "I have lived long enough." A monument was erected to mark the spot. See THEBES.