One of the most famous military units in the Ancient World was the Sacred Band of Thebes. It was created around 378 B.C. by Gorgidas. He had the genius idea of taking advantage of the homosexual relationships common among Greek soldiers. What if you paired off companions on the battlefield? He created a unit of 150 pairs of lovers. One was an older, veteran soldier and the other was a younger soldier who viewed him as a mentor. Naturally, the two would fight very hard alongside each other. Their training included wresting and dancing, as well as the military arts. The unit played a major role in the Theban victory over Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra on July 6, 371 B.C.
The battle came about because the Thebans were attemptiing to reform the Boeotian League, an alliance that had been disbanded by Sparta. To prevent this, the Spartan army invaded Boeotia. The Theban army, led by the great Epaminondas, marched to meet them. The Thebans had about 8,500 soldiers and cavalrymen versus about 12,000 Spartans. The battle opened with the Spartan peltasts routing the Theban light infantry (some historians believe this force was camp followers). This may have benefited the Thebans by adding this force to the Theban infantry. Under normal circumstances, the Thebans should have lost the battle. Not only did they have less men, but they were facing the fearsome Spartans. It’s possible that the Spartans were overconfident and may have even been a bit tipsy from combat narcolepsy, a fancy word for they had been drinking wine before the battle. Drunken Spartans still should have been able to win, but they faced a military genius in Epaminondas. It was standard in ancient warfare to put your best soldiers on the right of your formation (in this case, a phalanx). This is where the Spartan hippeis (the 300 elite warriors) and King Cleombratus I were stationed. Epaminondas flipped the script by putting the Sacred Band, led by Pelopidas, on his left. (It is possible that the Sacred Band was on the far left and flanked the Spartan right as the steamroller made contact. But he also loaded up this wing 50 ranks deep (instead of the traditional 12 rank deep phalanx). This left the rest of his line dangerously thin, so he had it advance in echelon (diagonally backwards) to occupy the Spartan center and left. It was risky because the Spartans could have advanced and crushed the Thebans facing them. But they didn’t. When the very strong left hook hit the Spartan hippeis, it could not be stopped. It steamrolled them. Cleombratus and about 1,000 Spartans were killed, many of them the best Spartan warriors. Sparta’s dominance of Greece after the Peloponnesian War was over. Epaminondas invaded Laconia and set the helots free, but he was killed in 370 B.C. at the Battle of Mantinea. The Sacred Band came to an end at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C. They were surrounded by the forces of Philip of Macedonia (with his son Alexander), but refused to surrender and were killed to the man.
https://historydaily.org/the-sacred-band-of-thebes-an-army-of-300-gay-lovers
https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes
– The Greatest War Stories Never Told p. x
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