For generations, the Spartan phalanx was ancient Greece’s most terrifying military unit, and Spartan hoplites the most formidable fighters. Until they were smashed – repeatedly – by an elite unit made up of gay couples: the Sacred Band of Thebes.
The Terrifying Reputation of the Spartans
The military of Ancient Greek polis or city states was made up of citizen soldiers. They pursued daily civilian pursuits, trained part time, and took up arms in times of war. The Spartans were an exception. In Sparta, most work was done by state slaves known as helots. That freed Sparta’s citizens – about a tenth of the total population – to dedicate themselves full time to military training. The result was a superbly trained professional army. Its core was comprised of an elite phalanx unmatched anywhere in the world for discipline and toughness. For generations, the Spartan phalanx crushed foe after foe with relative ease. So when war broke out between Thebes and Sparta in the fourth century BC, things looked grim for the Thebans.
Looks were deceiving on that occasion, however. Thebes had the good fortune of having produced innovative military commanders like Pelopidas (died 364 BC) and Epaminondas (died 362 BC). Creative thinkers, they came up with new tactics that allowed the Thebans to overcome the Spartans’ advantages. At the decisive Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, the Thebans were outnumbered by the Spartans. To counter that, Epaminondas stacked his Theban phalanx’s left flank fifty men deep. When that great mass struck the Spartans, who had deployed in a standard depth of eight to twelve men, it shattered the Spartan phalanx.
The Sacred Band of Thebes Were the Spartans’ Kryptonite
At the head of the Theban advance at Leuctra was the Sacred Band of Thebes, an elite unit made up of 150 gay couples. It is unclear when exactly when the Sacred Band was formed, but the most widely accepted date is sometime around 379 BC. The logic behind the use of gay couples to form an elite unit was that its members’ devotion to each other would ensure that they would fight ferociously to protect their lovers and avoid dishonor or cowardice in their presence.
The Sacred Band was spread out along the front ranks of the Theban phalanx, or concentrated into a shock unit. They lived up to expectations, and were at the forefront of a series of Theban victories that destroyed Sparta’s power and shattered the myth of Spartan invincibility. The Sacred Band was widely seen as ancient Greece’s most formidable military unit for decades. However, their run of successes finally ended at the Battle of Chaeronea, 338 BC, where Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander won a decisive victory over Thebes.
Rediscovery of the Sacred Band of Thebes’ Final Resting Place
Amidst Theban defeat at Chaeronea, the Sacred Band lived up to its fierce reputation and refused to surrender. They fought to the last man, until all were slain. Years later, the Thebans honored them by erecting a statue of a huge lion that stood nearly thirteen feet tall, at Chaeronea. The memorial was described by various ancient writers, including Pausanias, but it eventually vanished, its location forgotten for centuries. Millennia later, in 1818, a British architect vacationing in Greece went on a horseback ride with friends, using Pausanias’ Description of Greece as their guide.
Near the village of Chaeronea, one of the party’s horses stumbled on a piece of marble sticking out of the ground. Curious, they got some locals to dig around it, and uncovered a huge sculpted lion head – just as described by Pausanias. The statue was eventually pieced back together, and re-erected in 1902. More thorough excavations uncovered a mass burial at the monument’s edge that contained the skeletons of 254 men, neatly laid out in seven rows. It was the final resting place of ancient Greece’s most famous gay unit. Today, the Lion of Chaeronea can be seen near the site of the heroic last stand of the Sacred Band of Thebes.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Goldsworthy, Adrian – Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors (2020)
History Halls – Humor That Backfired Horribly: The Tyrant Who Was Killed Over a Gay Joke
History Today, Volume 44, Issue 11, November 1994 – An Army of Lovers: The Sacred Band of Thebes
