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Revision as of 22:23, 24 July 2012 editSir Gawain McGarson (talk | contribs)399 edits Undid revision 504002020 by MrGendel (talk) Are you accusing me or Leitao of inaccuracy? Please explain, MrGendel← Previous edit Revision as of 08:31, 25 July 2012 edit undoObsidian Soul (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users54,665 edits "ton Thebon", is not attested, the band is simply known as the Hieros Lokhos. Beginning rewrite. Early work in progress, please do not edit conflict or revert. Will start fixing contradictory stuff shortlyNext edit →
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] as it appeared circa 1914. It was erected by the Thebans in memory of their dead after the battle of Chaeronea. Excavation of the tomb brought to light 254 skeletons, laid out in seven rows. However it is unlikely that they were members of The Sacred Band.]]
The '''Sacred Band of Thebes''' (]: {{lang|grc|] ] τῶν ]}}, ''Hieròs ] tôn Thebôn'') was (according to some ancient sources) a ] of picked soldiers, consisting of 150 ]<ref>Ludwig, p. 60.</ref> male couples which formed the elite force of the ] army in the 4th century BC.<ref>Ludwig, p. 60.</ref> It is said to have been organised by the Theban commander ] in 378 BC and to have played a crucial role in the ]. It was annihilated by ] in the ] in 338 BC. However, the role of this band in Theban military history appears to have been exaggerated by ancient sources and, moreover, its pederastic or homosexual nature was a "minority tradition" maintained by commentators of questionable authority. The band's organization appears in this context to have been typical of the Greek military in general, where any sexual or amorous relationships between comrades were "sporadic" and co-incidental{{spaced ndash}}they were not systematic.<ref>David Leitao, 'The legend of the Theban Band', in M. Craven Nussbaum and J. Sihvola ''The Sleep of Reason'': Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome'', Chicago University Press (2002), pages 140-50</ref> The '''Sacred Band of Thebes''' (]: {{lang|grc|] ]}}, ''Hieròs ]'') was a ] of picked soldiers, consisting of 150 ]<ref>Ludwig, p. 60.</ref> male couples which formed the elite force of the ] army in the 4th century BC.<ref>Ludwig, p. 60.</ref> It is said to have been organised by the Theban commander ] in 378 BC and to have played a crucial role in the ]. It was annihilated by ] in the ] in 338 BC.

== Formation==
{{See also|Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)}}
] citadel of ]]]
The earliest record of the Sacred Band {{lang|grc|Ἱερὸς Λόχος}}, ''Hieròs ]'') by name was in 324 BC; in the ] ''Against Demosthenes'' by the ] logographer ]. He mentions the Sacred Band as being led by the general ] and, along with ] who commanded the army of Thebes (Boeotia), were responsible for the defeat of the Spartans at the decisive ] (371 BC).<ref name="Dinarchus">{{cite book|author=]|title =Against Demosthenes|year =324 B.C.|url =http://www.bartleby.com/268/1/20.html}}</ref>

] (46–120 AD), a native of the village of ], is the source of the most substantial account of the Sacred Band.<ref name="crompton">{{cite book|author=Louis Crompton|title =Homosexuality and Civilization|publisher =Harvard University Press|year =2006|isbn =9780674022331|url =http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=TfBYd9xVaXcC&lpg=PP1&ots=OppMOxhxfL&dq=Sacred%20Band%20of%20Thebes&pg=PA70#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref><ref name="plutarchLoeb">{{cite book|author=Plutarch (trans. Bernadotte Perrin, 1917)|title =The Life of Pelopidas|publisher = Loeb Classical Library edition|year =75 AD|url =http://penelope.uchicago.edu/thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/pelopidas*.html}}</ref> He records that the Sacred Band was originally formed by ], shortly after the expulsion of the ]n garrison occupying the Theban citadel of ].<ref name="rockwell"/> The 2nd century ] author ] in his ''Stratagems in War'' also records Gorgidas as the founder of the Sacred Band.<ref name="polyaenus">{{cite book|author=] (trans. R. Shepherd, 1793)|title =Στρατηγήματα|trans_title=Stratagems in War|volume=Book 2|publisher =Attalus.org|url =http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus2.html#5.1}}</ref> However, ] (c. 40–120) credits Epaminondas instead.<ref name="dio">{{cite book|author=] (trans. J. W. Cohoon, 1939)|title =Discourses |chapter=22: Concerning Peace and War |publisher =Loeb Classical Library|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/22*.html}}</ref>

The exact date of the Sacred Band's creation and whether it was created before or after the '']'' of Plato (c. 424–347 BC) and the similarly titled '']'' by his rival ] (c. 430–354 BC), has also long been debated. The generally accepted date of the Sacred Band's creation is between 379 to 378 BC.<ref name="armstrong">{{cite book|author=William Armstrong Percy, III|editor =Beert C. Verstraete & Vernon Provencal|title =Same-Sex Desire And Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity And in the Classical Tradition of the West|chapter =Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity|publisher =Routledge|year =2005|page=36&ndash;39|isbn =9781560236047|url =http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=ejPZu3Ktu5cC&lpg=PA37&ots=5yQrGQhgh_&dq=Sacred%20Band%20of%20Thebes%20armstrong&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q=Sacred%20Band%20of%20Thebes%20armstrong&f=false}}</ref> Prior to this, there were references of elite Theban forces also numbering 300. ] (c.484–425 BC) and ] (c. 460–395 BC) both record an elite force of 300 Thebans allied with the ] who were annihilated by ] in the ] (479 BC). Herodotus describes them as the "best and bravest" (πρῶτοι ϰαὶ ἄριστοι) among Thebans. ] also records 300 picked men (ἄνδρες ἐπίλεϰτοι) present in the ] (424 BC), composed of ''heníochoi'' (ήνίοχοι, "charioteers") and ''parabátai'' (παραβάται, "those who walk beside"). Though none of these mention the Sacred Band by name, these may have referred to the Sacred Band or at least its precursors.<ref name="leitao">{{cite book|author=David Leitao|editor =Martha Craven Nussbaum & Juha Sihvola|title =The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome|publisher =University of Chicago Press|year =2002|page=143&ndash;169|isbn =9780226609157|url =http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=ZAiNHQVPlaMC&lpg=PA144&ots=ylLLk71FvR&dq=Phaedimus%20Sacred%20band%20of%20thebes&pg=PA143#v=onepage&q=Phaedimus%20Sacred%20band%20of%20thebes&f=false}}</ref>

In the old debate on surrounding Xenophon's and Plato's works, the Sacred Band has figured prominently as a possible way of dating which of the two wrote their version of ''Symposium'' first. Xenophon's Socrates in his ''Symposium'' dissapprovingly mentions the practice of placing lovers beside each other in battle in the city-states of Thebes and ], arguing that while the practice was acceptable to them, it was shameful for Atheneans (both Plato and Xenophon were Atheneans). According to the British classical scholar Sir ], this was a clear allusion to the Sacred Band, reflecting Xenophon's contemporary awareness of the Theban practice though the dramatic date of the work itself is c. 421 BC.<ref name="xenophon">{{cite book|author=] (trans. H.G. Dakyns)|title =Symposium|year =c. 360 BC| quote =But Pausanias, the lover of Agathon the poet, defended those who wallow together in licentiousness and said that an army composed of lovers and beloveds would be strongest. For he said that they would be ashamed to abandon each other in battle. But it would be quite extraordinary if those who are used to paying no attention to censure and to having no sense of shame before each other should nevertheless be ashamed to perform a shameful action. As proof he brought the example of the Thebans and the Eleans who are experienced with such things, and he claimed that even though they sleep with their beloveds, they still set them together in their ranks for battle. But there is no proof from this, for the situation is not similar: for them this practice is acceptable, but for us it is exceedingly shameful.|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/Xenophon-sym.asp#VIII}}</ref><ref name="Danzig">{{cite journal|author=Gabriel Danzig|year=2005|title=Intra-Socratic Polemics: The Symposia of Plato and Xenophon|journal=Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies|volume=45|pages=331&ndash;357. |url=http://www.duke.edu/web/classics/grbs/FTexts/45/Danzig.pdf}}</ref> However, it is the speech of the character Phaedrus in Plato's ''Symposium'' referring to an "army of lovers" that is most famously connected with the Sacred Band.<ref name="crompton2">{{cite journal|author=Louis Compton |year=1994 |title='An Army of Lovers' - The Sacred Band of Thebes|journal=History Today|volume=44|issue=11|pages=23&ndash;29|url=http://www.historytoday.com/louis-compton/army-lovers-sacred-band-thebes}}</ref> Dover argues Plato wrote his ''Symposium'' first since Plato's Phaedrus uses language that implies that the organization does not yet exist. He acknowledges, however, that Plato may have simply put the hypothesis in the mouth of Phaedrus according to the supposed earlier dramatic date of the work (c. 401 BC). It only proves that Plato's ''Symposium'' had an earlier setting than Xenophon's, it does not prove anything on the date of the works themselves.<ref name="Plato">{{cite book|author=] (trans. Benjamin Jowett, 1939)|title =Symposium|year =c. 360 BC| quote =And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their beloved, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger?|url=http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html}}</ref><ref name="Danzig"/>


== Composition == == Composition ==
According to Plutarch, the 300 hand-picked men chosen from the ranks of nobility were composed of 150 pederastic male couples, each pair consisting of an older ''erastês'' (ἐραστής, "lover") and a younger ''erômenos'' (έρώμενος, "beloved"). They were stationed in Cadmea, likely as a defensive force against future attempts by foreign forces to take the citadel.<ref name="rockwell"/><ref name="ashley">{{cite book|author=James R. Ashley|title =The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C.|publisher =McFarland|year =2004|page=434|isbn =9780786419180|url =http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=nTmXOFX-wioC&lpg=PA434&ots=YYjb9or6kY&dq=Sacred%20Band%20of%20Thebes&pg=PA434#v=onepage&q=Sacred%20Band%20of%20Thebes&f=false}}</ref> They were occasionally referred to as the "City Band" (έϰ πόλεως λόχος), due to their military training and housing being provided at the expense of the ] '']''.<ref name="rockwell">{{cite book|author=Nicholas Ryan Rockwell|title =The Boeotian Army: The Convergence of Warfare, Politics, Society, and Culture in the Classical Age of Greece|publisher =University of California|year =2008 |isbn =9781109021257|url =http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=jyEX5ffzCbQC&lpg=PA20&ots=zwDODEq9B2&dq=DeVoto%20Theban%20Sacred%20Band&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q=DeVoto%20Theban%20Sacred%20Band&f=false}}</ref>
] is our main source for the homosexual structure of the Sacred Band yet even he seems to distance himself from the account by employing frequent qualifiers like "as they say" and "some say" ({{lang|greek|ὤς φασι, ἔνιοι δέ φασι}}).<ref>David Leitao, 'The legend of the Theban Band', in M. Craven Nussbaum and J. Sihvola ''The Sleep of Reason'': Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome'', Chicago University Press (2002), page 150</ref> According to his unnamed sources, the Sacred Band was made up of male couples, the rationale being that lovers could fight more fiercely and cohesively than strangers with no ardent bonds. In his ''Life of ]'', he observes that: "It was natural, then, that the band should also be called sacred, because even Plato calls the lover a friend "inspired of God."<ref>Plutarch, "Pelopidas" 18, Aubrey Stewart & ] translation. This refers to ]'s '']'' 179A, wherein the character ] remarks: "And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their beloved, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger? (Plato, "Symposium", trans. Jowett.</ref> <!--] is our main source for the homosexual structure of the Sacred Band yet even he seems to distance himself from the account by employing frequent qualifiers like "as they say" and "some say" ({{lang|greek|ὤς φασι, ἔνιοι δέ φασι}}).<ref name="leitao"/> According to his unnamed sources, the Sacred Band was made up of male couples, the rationale being that lovers could fight more fiercely and cohesively than strangers with no ardent bonds. In his ''Life of ]'', he observes that: "It was natural, then, that the band should also be called sacred, because even Plato calls the lover a friend "inspired of God."<ref>Plutarch, "Pelopidas" 18, Aubrey Stewart & ] translation. This refers to ]'s '']'' 179A, wherein the character ] remarks: "And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their beloved, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger? (Plato, "Symposium", trans. Jowett.</ref>


The Sacred Band originally was formed of 300 hand-picked men who were couples<ref name="Plutarch">Plutarch, "Life of Pelopidas" 18. </ref>, each lover and beloved selected from the ranks of the existing Theban citizen-army. The pairs consisted of the older "''heníochoi''", or charioteers, and the younger "''parabátai''", or companions, all housed and trained at the city's expense in order to fight as ]s.<ref name="Plutarch" /> During their early engagements, they were dispersed by Gorgidas throughout the front ranks of the Theban army in an attempt to bolster morale. The Sacred Band originally was formed of 300 hand-picked men who were couples<ref name="Plutarch">Plutarch, "Life of Pelopidas" 18. </ref>, each lover and beloved selected from the ranks of the existing Theban citizen-army. The pairs consisted of the older "''heníochoi''", or charioteers, and the younger "''parabátai''", or companions, all housed and trained at the city's expense in order to fight as ]s.<ref name="Plutarch" /> During their early engagements, they were dispersed by Gorgidas throughout the front ranks of the Theban army in an attempt to bolster morale.-->


== Ascent == == Ascent ==
In Plutarch's account, the Theban general Pelopidas assumed command of the Sacred Band after recapturing the acropolis of Thebes in 379 BC. Pelopidas fought alongside his good friend ]. It was Pelopidas who formed these couples into a distinct unit: he "never separated or scattered them, but would stand in the brunt of battle, using them as one body."<ref name="Plutarch" /> They became, in effect, the "special forces" of Greek soldiery,<ref>Plutarch, "Pelopidas" 18: "Up to the battle of Chæronea it is said to have continued invincible".</ref> and the forty years of their known existence (378–338 BC) marked the pre-eminence of Thebes as a military and political power in late-classical Greece. In Plutarch's account, the Theban general Pelopidas assumed command of the Sacred Band after recapturing the acropolis of Thebes in 379 BC. Pelopidas fought alongside his good friend ]. It was Pelopidas who formed these couples into a distinct unit: he "never separated or scattered them, but would stand in the brunt of battle, using them as one body."<ref name="plutarchLoeb"/> They became, in effect, the "special forces" of Greek soldiery,<ref>Plutarch, "Pelopidas" 18: "Up to the battle of Chæronea it is said to have continued invincible".</ref> and the forty years of their known existence (378–338 BC) marked the pre-eminence of Thebes as a military and political power in late-classical Greece.


The Sacred Band under Pelopidas fought the Spartans at ] in 375 BC, routing an army that was at least three times its size,{{fact|date=July 2012}} though they retreated before the Spartans reformed. It was also responsible for the victory at ] in 371 BC, {{fact|date=July 2012}}called by ] the most decisive battle ever fought by Greeks against Greeks. Leuctra established Theban independence from Spartan rule and laid the groundwork for the expansion of Theban power, but possibly also for Philip II's eventual victory. The Sacred Band under Pelopidas fought the Spartans at ] in 375 BC, routing an army that was at least three times its size,{{fact|date=July 2012}} though they retreated before the Spartans reformed. It was also responsible for the victory at ] in 371 BC, {{fact|date=July 2012}}called by ] the most decisive battle ever fought by Greeks against Greeks. Leuctra established Theban independence from Spartan rule and laid the groundwork for the expansion of Theban power, but possibly also for Philip II's eventual victory.


== Destruction == == Destruction ==
] as it appeared circa 1914. It was erected by the Thebans in memory of their dead after the battle of Chaeronea. Excavation of the tomb brought to light 254 skeletons, laid out in seven rows.]]
Defeat came at the ], the decisive contest in which ], with his son ], extinguished Theban hegemony. The traditional ] infantry was no match for the novel ] ]: the Theban army and its allies broke and fled, but the Sacred Band, although surrounded and overwhelmed, refused to surrender. James G. DeVoto says in ''The Theban Sacred Band''<ref>James G. DeVoto, "The Theban Sacred Band," in ''The Ancient World,'' Vol. XXIII, No.2 (1992)</ref> that Alexander had deployed his cavalry behind the Macedonian hoplites, apparently permitting "a Theban break-through in order to effect a cavalry assault while his hoplites regrouped." The Thebans of the Sacred Band held their ground and nearly all 300 fell where they stood beside their last commander, ]. Plutarch records that Philip II, on encountering the corpses "heaped one upon another", understanding who they were, exclaimed, Defeat came at the ], the decisive contest in which ], with his son ], extinguished Theban hegemony. The traditional ] infantry was no match for the novel ] ]: the Theban army and its allies broke and fled, but the Sacred Band, although surrounded and overwhelmed, refused to surrender. James G. DeVoto says in ''The Theban Sacred Band''<ref>James G. DeVoto, "The Theban Sacred Band," in ''The Ancient World,'' Vol. XXIII, No.2 (1992)</ref> that Alexander had deployed his cavalry behind the Macedonian hoplites, apparently permitting "a Theban break-through in order to effect a cavalry assault while his hoplites regrouped." The Thebans of the Sacred Band held their ground and nearly all 300 fell where they stood beside their last commander, ]. Plutarch records that Philip II, on encountering the corpses "heaped one upon another", understanding who they were, exclaimed,


{{quote|Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything unseemly.|<ref>Plutarch, "Pelopidas" 18, trans. Dryden.</ref>}} {{quote|Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything unseemly.|Plutarch, ''Pelopidas'' 18<ref>Plutarch, ''" 18, trans. Dryden.</ref>}}


== Legacy == == Legacy ==
In about 300 BC, the town of Thebes erected a giant stone lion on a pedestal at the burial site of the Sacred Band. This was restored in the 20th Century and still stands today. Although Plutarch claims that all three hundred of the Band's warriors died that day, ] of the burial site at the Lion Monument in 1890 turned up 254 skeletons, arranged in seven rows.<ref>Official notice at Lion Monument at ].</ref> However, the monument makes no mention of the Sacred Band, and neither do Plutarch or Pausanias in the context of this monument, so that it is unlikely that these skeletons were in fact the remains of band members.<ref>David Leitao, 'The legend of the Theban Band', in M. Craven Nussbaum and J. Sihvola ''The Sleep of Reason'': Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome'', Chicago University Press (2002), pages 149</ref> In about 300 BC, the town of Thebes erected a giant stone lion on a pedestal at the burial site of the Sacred Band. This was restored in the 20th Century and still stands today. Although Plutarch claims that all three hundred of the Band's warriors died that day, ] of the burial site at the Lion Monument in 1890 turned up 254 skeletons, arranged in seven rows.<ref>Official notice at Lion Monument at ].</ref> However, the monument makes no mention of the Sacred Band, and neither do Plutarch or Pausanias in the context of this monument, so that it is unlikely that these skeletons were in fact the remains of band members.<ref name="leitao"/>

However, the role of this band in Theban military history appears to have been exaggerated by ancient sources and, moreover, its pederastic or homosexual nature was a "minority tradition" maintained by commentators of questionable authority. The band's organization appears in this context to have been typical of the Greek military in general, where any sexual or amorous relationships between comrades were "sporadic" and co-incidental{{spaced ndash}}they were not systematic.<ref name="leitao"/>


== See also == == See also ==
{{div col|2}}
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
Line 27: Line 43:
* ] - Greek special forces unit of the * ] - Greek special forces unit of the
* ], an Edinburgh gay rugby club named after them. * ], an Edinburgh gay rugby club named after them.
*], a Swedish pop band named after them.{{cn|date=May 2012}} * ], a Swedish pop band named after them.{{cn|date=May 2012}}
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
{{div col end}}



== Notes == == Notes ==
{{Reflist}} {{Reflist|2}}


== References == == References ==

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The Sacred Band of Thebes (ancient Greek: Ἱερὸς Λόχος, Hieròs Lókhos) was a troop of picked soldiers, consisting of 150 pederastic male couples which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC. It is said to have been organised by the Theban commander Gorgidas in 378 BC and to have played a crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra. It was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC.

Formation

See also: Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)
The ruins of ancient Theban citadel of Cadmea

The earliest record of the Sacred Band Ἱερὸς Λόχος, Hieròs Lókhos) by name was in 324 BC; in the oration Against Demosthenes by the Athenian logographer Dinarchus. He mentions the Sacred Band as being led by the general Pelopidas and, along with Epaminondas who commanded the army of Thebes (Boeotia), were responsible for the defeat of the Spartans at the decisive Battle of Leuctra (371 BC).

Plutarch (46–120 AD), a native of the village of Chaeronea, is the source of the most substantial account of the Sacred Band. He records that the Sacred Band was originally formed by Gorgidas, shortly after the expulsion of the Spartan garrison occupying the Theban citadel of Cadmea. The 2nd century Macedonian author Polyaenus in his Stratagems in War also records Gorgidas as the founder of the Sacred Band. However, Dio Chrysostom (c. 40–120) credits Epaminondas instead.

The exact date of the Sacred Band's creation and whether it was created before or after the Symposium of Plato (c. 424–347 BC) and the similarly titled Symposium by his rival Xenophon (c. 430–354 BC), has also long been debated. The generally accepted date of the Sacred Band's creation is between 379 to 378 BC. Prior to this, there were references of elite Theban forces also numbering 300. Herodotus (c.484–425 BC) and Thucydides (c. 460–395 BC) both record an elite force of 300 Thebans allied with the Persians who were annihilated by Atheneans in the Battle of Plataea (479 BC). Herodotus describes them as the "best and bravest" (πρῶτοι ϰαὶ ἄριστοι) among Thebans. Diodorus also records 300 picked men (ἄνδρες ἐπίλεϰτοι) present in the Battle of Delium (424 BC), composed of heníochoi (ήνίοχοι, "charioteers") and parabátai (παραβάται, "those who walk beside"). Though none of these mention the Sacred Band by name, these may have referred to the Sacred Band or at least its precursors.

In the old debate on surrounding Xenophon's and Plato's works, the Sacred Band has figured prominently as a possible way of dating which of the two wrote their version of Symposium first. Xenophon's Socrates in his Symposium dissapprovingly mentions the practice of placing lovers beside each other in battle in the city-states of Thebes and Elis, arguing that while the practice was acceptable to them, it was shameful for Atheneans (both Plato and Xenophon were Atheneans). According to the British classical scholar Sir Kenneth Dover, this was a clear allusion to the Sacred Band, reflecting Xenophon's contemporary awareness of the Theban practice though the dramatic date of the work itself is c. 421 BC. However, it is the speech of the character Phaedrus in Plato's Symposium referring to an "army of lovers" that is most famously connected with the Sacred Band. Dover argues Plato wrote his Symposium first since Plato's Phaedrus uses language that implies that the organization does not yet exist. He acknowledges, however, that Plato may have simply put the hypothesis in the mouth of Phaedrus according to the supposed earlier dramatic date of the work (c. 401 BC). It only proves that Plato's Symposium had an earlier setting than Xenophon's, it does not prove anything on the date of the works themselves.

Composition

According to Plutarch, the 300 hand-picked men chosen from the ranks of nobility were composed of 150 pederastic male couples, each pair consisting of an older erastês (ἐραστής, "lover") and a younger erômenos (έρώμενος, "beloved"). They were stationed in Cadmea, likely as a defensive force against future attempts by foreign forces to take the citadel. They were occasionally referred to as the "City Band" (έϰ πόλεως λόχος), due to their military training and housing being provided at the expense of the Boeotian polis.

Ascent

In Plutarch's account, the Theban general Pelopidas assumed command of the Sacred Band after recapturing the acropolis of Thebes in 379 BC. Pelopidas fought alongside his good friend Epaminondas. It was Pelopidas who formed these couples into a distinct unit: he "never separated or scattered them, but would stand in the brunt of battle, using them as one body." They became, in effect, the "special forces" of Greek soldiery, and the forty years of their known existence (378–338 BC) marked the pre-eminence of Thebes as a military and political power in late-classical Greece.

The Sacred Band under Pelopidas fought the Spartans at Tegyra in 375 BC, routing an army that was at least three times its size, though they retreated before the Spartans reformed. It was also responsible for the victory at Leuctra in 371 BC, called by Pausanias the most decisive battle ever fought by Greeks against Greeks. Leuctra established Theban independence from Spartan rule and laid the groundwork for the expansion of Theban power, but possibly also for Philip II's eventual victory.

Destruction

The Lion of Chaeronea as it appeared circa 1914. It was erected by the Thebans in memory of their dead after the battle of Chaeronea. Excavation of the tomb brought to light 254 skeletons, laid out in seven rows.

Defeat came at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), the decisive contest in which Philip II of Macedon, with his son Alexander, extinguished Theban hegemony. The traditional hoplite infantry was no match for the novel long-speared Macedonian phalanx: the Theban army and its allies broke and fled, but the Sacred Band, although surrounded and overwhelmed, refused to surrender. James G. DeVoto says in The Theban Sacred Band that Alexander had deployed his cavalry behind the Macedonian hoplites, apparently permitting "a Theban break-through in order to effect a cavalry assault while his hoplites regrouped." The Thebans of the Sacred Band held their ground and nearly all 300 fell where they stood beside their last commander, Theagenes. Plutarch records that Philip II, on encountering the corpses "heaped one upon another", understanding who they were, exclaimed,

Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything unseemly.

— Plutarch, Pelopidas 18

Legacy

In about 300 BC, the town of Thebes erected a giant stone lion on a pedestal at the burial site of the Sacred Band. This was restored in the 20th Century and still stands today. Although Plutarch claims that all three hundred of the Band's warriors died that day, excavation of the burial site at the Lion Monument in 1890 turned up 254 skeletons, arranged in seven rows. However, the monument makes no mention of the Sacred Band, and neither do Plutarch or Pausanias in the context of this monument, so that it is unlikely that these skeletons were in fact the remains of band members.

However, the role of this band in Theban military history appears to have been exaggerated by ancient sources and, moreover, its pederastic or homosexual nature was a "minority tradition" maintained by commentators of questionable authority. The band's organization appears in this context to have been typical of the Greek military in general, where any sexual or amorous relationships between comrades were "sporadic" and co-incidental – they were not systematic.

See also

Notes

  1. Ludwig, p. 60.
  2. Ludwig, p. 60.
  3. Dinarchus (324 B.C.). Against Demosthenes. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  4. Louis Crompton (2006). Homosexuality and Civilization. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674022331.
  5. ^ Plutarch (trans. Bernadotte Perrin, 1917) (75 AD). The Life of Pelopidas. Loeb Classical Library edition. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
  6. ^ Nicholas Ryan Rockwell (2008). The Boeotian Army: The Convergence of Warfare, Politics, Society, and Culture in the Classical Age of Greece. University of California. ISBN 9781109021257.
  7. Polyaenus (trans. R. Shepherd, 1793). Στρατηγήματα. Vol. Book 2. Attalus.org. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. Dio Chrysostom (trans. J. W. Cohoon, 1939). "22: Concerning Peace and War". Discourses. Loeb Classical Library.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. William Armstrong Percy, III (2005). "Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity". In Beert C. Verstraete & Vernon Provencal (ed.). Same-Sex Desire And Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity And in the Classical Tradition of the West. Routledge. p. 36–39. ISBN 9781560236047.
  10. ^ David Leitao (2002). Martha Craven Nussbaum & Juha Sihvola (ed.). The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome. University of Chicago Press. p. 143–169. ISBN 9780226609157.
  11. Xenophon (trans. H.G. Dakyns) (c. 360 BC). Symposium. But Pausanias, the lover of Agathon the poet, defended those who wallow together in licentiousness and said that an army composed of lovers and beloveds would be strongest. For he said that they would be ashamed to abandon each other in battle. But it would be quite extraordinary if those who are used to paying no attention to censure and to having no sense of shame before each other should nevertheless be ashamed to perform a shameful action. As proof he brought the example of the Thebans and the Eleans who are experienced with such things, and he claimed that even though they sleep with their beloveds, they still set them together in their ranks for battle. But there is no proof from this, for the situation is not similar: for them this practice is acceptable, but for us it is exceedingly shameful. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  12. ^ Gabriel Danzig (2005). "Intra-Socratic Polemics: The Symposia of Plato and Xenophon" (PDF). Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies. 45: 331–357.
  13. Louis Compton (1994). "'An Army of Lovers' - The Sacred Band of Thebes". History Today. 44 (11): 23–29.
  14. Plato (trans. Benjamin Jowett, 1939) (c. 360 BC). Symposium. And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their beloved, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger? {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
  15. James R. Ashley (2004). The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C. McFarland. p. 434. ISBN 9780786419180.
  16. Plutarch, "Pelopidas" 18: "Up to the battle of Chæronea it is said to have continued invincible".
  17. James G. DeVoto, "The Theban Sacred Band," in The Ancient World, Vol. XXIII, No.2 (1992)
  18. Plutarch, Pelopidas" 18, trans. Dryden.
  19. Official notice at Lion Monument at Chaeronea.

References

  • Paul Walter Ludwig, Eros and Polis: Desire and Community in Greek Political Theory. Cambridge, 2002.
  • James G DeVoto, "The Theban Sacred Band," The Ancient World, XXIII.2, (1992), pp. 3–19


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