event
Battle of Leuctra
Leuctra
also: Leuctrica pugna, battle of Leuctra
The Theban victory over Sparta in 371 BC, by which Epaminondas broke Spartan hegemony; Cicero jokingly dates this letter '765 days after the battle of Leuctra' in mock-antiquarian style.
Reading notes
- Ad Atticum 6.1 §26 The seven hundred and sixty-fifth day after the battle of Leuctra
A mock-antiquarian dating: the battle of Leuctra (371 BC), Thebes's defeat of Sparta, was a famous chronological landmark, and Cicero playfully reckons his letter's date from it instead of by the Roman calendar.
- On Duties §2.26 the catastrophe at Leuctra
The battle of 371 BC at which Thebes under Epaminondas crushed Sparta and ended her hegemony; Sparta's allies, Cicero says, stood by as idle spectators because of her unjust rule.