Examples Of Philip II Hostage In Thebes

From 368-365 BCE, Philip II was taken as a hostage in Thebes. While this may sound like a horrible and tragic experience, hostage situations in ancient Greece are not the same as they are in the modern day. Philip II’s time as a hostage in Thebes gave him opportunities to learn that he may not have had if he had not been taken. Philip II learned military tactics from the greatest tactician of the time, Epaminondas and his time in Thebes contributed to the spread of Hellenistic culture in Greece.

As stated before, a hostage situation in Ancient Greece is not at all similar to a hostage situation one might think of today. In a book about international laws and customs of Ancient Greece and Rome, it states, “Hostages were usually exchanged

He also was able to learn and observe from Pelopidas who was a commander of the Sacred Band an elite corps of infantry (Gabriel 24). It is conceivable that Philip II’s great military achievements as the king of Macedonia can be traced back to his time in Thebes. In fact, Richard A. Gabriel says, “The secret of Philip’s greatness resides in his brilliant intellect and the excellent military education he received while a hostage in Thebes” (24). Clearly, Philip II benefitted greatly from his time in

Both these features characterized Philip’s campaigns…” (Hammond 357). Epaminondas also used a slanting phalanx tactic that, in part, won him the seemingly impossible battle of Leuctra, that Philip II took and used with his own army (Hammond 358). Philip II many lessons in military training and fighting battles from the battle of Leuctra. “The battle of Leuctra taught Philip a principle of war he applied again and again: to bring about quick and economical military decision, concentrate one’s forces and strike at the enemy’s strongest—not weakest—point. Epaminondas’s tactics were revolutionary” (Gabriel 26). When Philip return to Greece, he implemented many of Epaminondas’s tactics which he would not have learned from if he had not been a hostage in