BOEOTIA. Thebes. Circa 364-362 BC. Stater (Silver, 21 mm, 12.08 g, 1 h), Epaminondas, magistrate. Boeotian shield. Rev. ΕΠ-ΠΑ Amphora. BCD Boiotia 540. Hepworth, Epaminondas, pl. 3, 4. SNG Lockett 1755. Rare and of great historical interest. Minor flan faults on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.


This is the only numismatic testimony we have of Epaminondas, the famous Theban statesman who in 371 became the first general in history to defeat a Spartan army in open battle. The battle of Leuktra was a milestone in Greek history, as it broke Sparta's longstanding hegemony and made Thebes the most powerful Polis in Greece. In 362, however, Epaminondas was killed in a hard-fought battle against the Spartans at Mantineia by a javelin thrown by Gryllos, the son of the historian Xenophon. Without the inspiring leadership of its greatest statesman, Thebes soon proved unable to defend its hegemony against the aggressions of Philip II of Macedon. After the loss of the battle of Chaironeia in 339, Thebes ended receiving a Macedonian garrison on the Kadmeia, the local akropolis.