BOEOTIA. Thebes. Circa 364-362 BC. Stater (Silver, 21 mm, 12.14 g), Epaminondas, magistrate. Boeotian shield.
Rev. ΕΠ-ΠΑ Amphora; above, small Boeotian shield; all within shallow circular incuse. BCD Boiotia 542. BMC 138. Hepworth 35. Hepworth, Epaminondas, pl. 3, 4. HGC 4, 1333. Rare and exceptionally well centered and preserved for this important issue. A few light marks
, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.
From a Bavarian collection, ex Solidus 35, 28 October 2018, 34.
This is the only numismatic evidence we have of Epaminondas, the famous Theban statesman who, in 371 BC, 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 ended Sparta's longstanding hegemony and made Thebes the most powerful polis in Greece. However, in 362 BC, 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 maintain its dominance against the rising power of Philip II of Macedon. After losing the Battle of Chaironeia in 338 BC, Thebes was forced to accept a Macedonian garrison on the Kadmeia, its local acropolis
